Abstract
Purpose: Reflection enhances critical-thinking and problem-solving skills which are considered essential to integrate theory learnt in the classroom with the ambiguities of practice. There is currently international attention on methods of fostering reflective capacity in undergraduate pharmacy education. Aim of the review is to overview the evolution of reflective practice, educational impact of reflection, tools used to enhance reflection, and the possible implications of reflective practice activities in the Sri Lankan undergraduate pharmacy curricula. Methods: A narrative review was undertaken. Articles were retrieved using ‘Google Scholar’ web search engine. All types of literature i.e. consensus reports, original research articles, reviews, books were reviewed in order to gather relevant findings. Results: Limited publications were available in relevance to reflective practice in undergraduate pharmacy education in both Sri Lanka and across the globe. Special emphasis was given to the tools and methods of reflective practice used in similar professional education programs which could be adapted to undergraduate pharmacy education. Conclusion: Despite the inherent challenges in implementation, education programs of many health professions include reflective practice activities in their curricula although it is seldom practiced in undergraduate pharmacy education.
Highlights
Reflection is a metacognitive process that builds up a better understanding of both the self and the situation in order to make decisions regarding future action.(1) Reflective capacity is regarded by many as an essential characteristic for professional competence reflective practice activities are being incorporated into undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education, and across a variety of health professions.(2) There are numerous educational approaches used to facilitate reflection from text based reflective journals to the creative use of electronic versions such as blogs
Minimal availability of teaching resources is shown as a probable cause for reflective activities to be limited in pharmacy education.(5) Main objectives of this narrative review are to overview how researchers have defined reflection, the evolution of reflective practice, educational impact of reflective practice in health professionals’ education, tools and methods used globally to enhance reflection, common problems encountered with reflection and the possible implications of reflective practice activities in the Sri Lankan undergraduate pharmacy curricula
Definition of reflective practice Analysis of the vast array of literature available shows that reflective practice has been used interchangeably with reflection as an umbrella or generic term, whereas, reflective writing, is an example of a reflective instrument and is a representation of reflection.(19) Another term, critical reflection, refers to a more intense level of reflection
Summary
Reflection is a metacognitive process that builds up a better understanding of both the self and the situation in order to make decisions regarding future action.(1) Reflective capacity is regarded by many as an essential characteristic for professional competence reflective practice activities are being incorporated into undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education, and across a variety of health professions.(2) There are numerous educational approaches used to facilitate reflection from text based reflective journals to the creative use of electronic versions such as blogs.Translating theory into practice is considered the most critical step in professional education though many students fail in this exercise.(3) Evidence suggest that while the skills of analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating improved over the course of a pharmacy program, students’ motivation to think critically did not.(4) integrating reflective practice activities presents a better solution in bridging theory with practice. Reflection is a metacognitive process that builds up a better understanding of both the self and the situation in order to make decisions regarding future action.(1) Reflective capacity is regarded by many as an essential characteristic for professional competence reflective practice activities are being incorporated into undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education, and across a variety of health professions.(2) There are numerous educational approaches used to facilitate reflection from text based reflective journals to the creative use of electronic versions such as blogs. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Minimal availability of teaching resources is shown as a probable cause for reflective activities to be limited in pharmacy education.(5) Main objectives of this narrative review are to overview how researchers have defined reflection, the evolution of reflective practice, educational impact of reflective practice in health professionals’ education, tools and methods used globally to enhance reflection, common problems encountered with reflection and the possible implications of reflective practice activities in the Sri Lankan undergraduate pharmacy curricula
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