Tag: reflective capacities

The Value of Reflection in Clinical Teaching

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By Patricia Stubenberg

“No words are ofterner on our lips than thinking and thought.”  – John Dewey

The teaching physician has opportunities for personal and professional growth through reflection and revisiting not only their own experiences in training and practice, but also their role as clinical teachers with medical students and residents.  Studies on reflection in teaching are abundant including, Freese’s work on Reframing One’s Teaching1, Dewey’s Art of Reflection2, and the theoretical underpinnings of reflective engagement, metacognition, and transformative learning.  The literature on reflection in clinical teaching is expanding through scholars including, Irby et al.3 and Sanders4.  This essay offers perspective on the value of reflective activity to advance medical education in training the next generation of physicians…
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Four Ways to Increase Your Reflective Capacities: Heartbreak, Destroying Idols, Paradoxes, and Abandonment

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By David C. Leach

William Butler Yeats said: “We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves poetry.” During the course of normal human development most people at some point have had their hearts broken, cherished beliefs challenged, paradoxes entertained or have been lonely or felt abandoned. Sometimes these moments can offer powerful prompts to turn inward and to enhance one’s reflective capacities, one’s poetic repertoire, and this in turn can enable learners and faculty to be more compassionate and reflective practitioners. The alternative responses, hardening the heart, embracing idols, not honoring the paradox or becoming ever more isolated can have devastating effects on both the learner and their patients. Moving from rhetoric to poetry is an important skill for learners to develop…

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