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1 June 2021
Download a copy of the PDF: Information Sheet - Reflective Reports (Mentoring) (63.2 KB,PDF)
If you have been the subject of a notification to Ahpra and the National Boards, you may be required by conditions to undertake mentoring. This is usually accompanied by a requirement to provide the Board with a report demonstrating that you have reflected on the issues that gave rise to the condition and outlining how you have incorporated the lessons learnt into your practice.
This information sheet provides guidance on developing a reflective report; the approach recommended in this information sheet is not the only acceptable format of a report. This approach is based on Gibbs’ reflective cycle; see Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Oxford Further Education Unit. This information sheet is endorsed by all National Boards except for the Medical Board of Australia.
The purpose of a reflective report is to consider what happened that gave rise to the notification, what practice or conduct issues were raised by the notification, what mentoring was undertaken in response to the conditions imposed, and what you learned. A good reflective report also looks at what changes (if any) you have made or will make to your practice following the completion of the mentoring, the reasons for those changes, and how you would handle the same situation if it arose again in the future.
Where appropriate make reference to registration standards, standards, professional codes and guidelines that are relevant to your practice.
A short description of these sections follows. As a general guide, 200-250 words per section should be sufficient; however, there is no strict word limit.
Step 1: Description
For the Board’s purposes, this step has two parts.
In the first part, you should describe objectively and in detail the situation, event or activity which led to the notification without drawing any conclusions or making any judgments about it, preserving confidentiality of those involved. The most common considerations that can help create an objective description are:
Do not leave out relevant details including any relevant background information. All information that will help to understand the situation is relevant.
In the second part, you need to describe in detail the mentoring undertaken and the salient lessons it involved.
Step 2: Feelings/response
This step requires you to examine your response to the original situation, the Board’s conditions requiring you to undertake mentoring and your response to the mentoring completed. Awareness of the topics covered by the mentoring and how you responded to it are important features of this step. Helpful questions to ask yourself include:
Step 3: Evaluation and analysis
In evaluating the mentoring you participated in, you should ask yourself whether the experience of attending for mentoring was of benefit to you or not and why that might be so. Was the mentoring helpful to you? What did you learn - were there things covered in the mentoring that you did not know or had forgotten? Did you gain anything new from the mentoring? The following questions may be helpful:
The analysis of the mentoring you attended and how it relates to the original situation is about what you have learned, first from the original situation, event or activity and then from the mentoring activity. Because of the experience and the mentoring, do you now know what to do in similar, future situations? What were the critical features of the original situation? What did the mentoring teach you about those?
Step 4: Conclusion and change
At this stage, examine what changes you have made or might make to your practice in view of the original situation and the mentoring you have done since. This requires you to consider both positive and negative things, problems you experienced, and how you could deal with them in the future.
It is helpful to take a step back and look at yourself and your practice from a distance and ask what else you could have done in the original situation, what you have learned and changed since, and what approach you will take to your practice in the future. Consider what might be a more effective approach and what change you could make that will lead to actual improvement. The following questions may be helpful:
Action plan
An action plan isn’t required when you write a reflective report. However, an action plan can include concrete steps to address the issues arising out of the original situation, the mentoring you completed, and for dealing with future situations, events or activities. You may find it helpful to have one for these reasons. Your action plan might also include a timeline. You may already have taken these steps or be in the course of taking them. In the previous part, you should have decided on steps you will take to improve your practice in the light of the notification and subsequent events. The intention of making an action plan is to put in place measures to ensure you actually take those steps. This could be an opportunity to plan your continuing professional development (CPD) for the coming months.