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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 2018 | Volume
: 4
| Issue : 2 | Page : 187-188 |
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Scope of reflection in medical education
Shrivastava Saurabh RamBihariLal1, Shrivastava Prateek Saurabh2
1 Department of Community Medicine, Member of The Medical Education Unit, Member of the Medical Research Unit, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
2 Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
| Date of Web Publication | 30-Aug-2018 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Shrivastava Saurabh RamBihariLal
3rd Floor, Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Ammapettai Village, Thiruporur - Guduvancherry Main Road, Sembakkam Post, Kancheepuram - 603 108, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/IJAM.IJAM_3_18
How to cite this article:
RamBihariLal SS, Saurabh SP. Scope of reflection in medical education. Int J Acad Med 2018;4:187-8 |
To the Editor,
The process of reflection has been acknowledged as an essential aspect of medical education regardless of the involved stakeholders (undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and teachers).[1] Reflection being a metacognition process, which encourages thinking about thinking, that can occur before, during, and after any situation, so that a better comprehension can be achieved, not only about that particular situation but also about ourselves.[1],[2]
It plays a significant part in the emotional and cognitive growth of the students and facilitates deep forms of learning.[1] Reflection motivates the student to do self-assessment, assist them in modifying their behavior based on the gained experience, promotes critical thinking skills, encourages professionalism, and even communication skills.[1],[2],[3] Reflection is an integral component of experiential and self-directed forms of learning [Figure 1].[2],[3],[4],[5],[6] | Figure 1: Reflection – The link for developing emotional intelligence, and Experiential and Self-directed learning
Click here to view |
The process of reflection plays a crucial role in the development of emotional intelligence, which refers to the capability of a person to be aware of their own and others emotions, differentiate between dissimilar feelings, utilize emotional information to aid in their thinking and behavior, and eventually alter emotions to acclimatize to the surroundings to achieve their intended goals.[4] Furthermore, the findings of studies have indicated that the developed emotional intelligence plays a very important role in the prevention of burnout due to the associated stress either during medical education or at any workplace.[5],[6]
Furthermore, reflection has an immense scope in the promotion of experiential learning as it is a key stage of the Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle.[2],[7] It is important to understand that learning cannot occur only by mere experiences, and it is essential that the gained experience should be merged with the existing knowledge.[2] At the same time, reflection plays a defining role in developing a therapeutic relationship between the clinician and the involved patients, by taking into account the personal beliefs and the values of both the stakeholders.[2],[7] The process of reflection also helps a medical student to develop professional practice in the future, as the success of professional expertise requires definitely more than the combination of knowledge and skills.[2],[7]
In addition, considering the fact that most of the educational bodies are advocating for medical graduates to be a lifelong learner, each of the medical graduates have to constantly update themselves in whichever field they belong.[2],[8] This makes self-regulated learning an important aspect, which enables the learners to adopt a metacognitive process to identify, monitor, and evaluate their approach to a particular task.[8] In addition, reflection can even aid in improving the learning of the members of the team in future.[1],[2],[3]
To conclude, reflection plays an indispensable role in the betterment of undergraduate or postgraduate students and even for the continuous professional development.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Winkel AF, Yingling S, Jones AA, Nicholson J. Reflection as a learning tool in graduate medical education: A systematic review. J Grad Med Educ 2017;9:430-9.  |
| 2. | Sandars J. The use of reflection in medical education: AMEE Guide No. 44. Med Teach 2009;31:685-95. |
| 3. | Veno M, Silk H, Savageau JA, Sullivan KM. Evaluating one strategy for including reflection in medical education and practice. Fam Med 2016;48:300-4. |
| 4. | Shakir HJ, Recor CL, Sheehan DW, Reynolds RM. The need for incorporating emotional intelligence and mindfulness training in modern medical education. Postgrad Med J 2017;93:509-11. |
| 5. | Hong E, Lee YS. The mediating effect of emotional intelligence between emotional labour, job stress, burnout and nurses' turnover intention. Int J Nurs Pract 2016;22:625-32. |
| 6. | Goren L. Ten strategies for building emotional intelligence and preventing burnout. Fam Pract Manag 2018;25:11-4. |
| 7. | Herzog LS. The need for narrative reflection and experiential learning in medical education: A lesson learned through an urban indigenous health elective. Med Teach 2017;39:995-6. |
| 8. | Lucieer SM, Jonker L, Visscher C, Rikers RM, Themmen AP. Self-regulated learning and academic performance in medical education. Med Teach 2016;38:585-93. |
[Figure 1]
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