The float model: visualizing personal reflection in healthcare.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Healthcare Professional Development
• Cognitive Science in Medicine

Background:

• Healthcare professionals require self-assessment skills for continuous learning and enhanced patient care.
• The concept of 'reflection' is crucial for self-assessment but often remains abstract and difficult to teach or evaluate.
• Existing methods struggle to visualize the internal cognitive processes underlying professional behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an educational model that visualizes the concept of reflection for healthcare educators and learners.
• To enhance understanding of how reflection functions and how to foster its development in individuals.
• To provide a framework for analyzing the interplay of mental processes influencing healthcare practice.

Main Methods:

• Designed an educational model using the metaphor of a fisherman's float.
• The float's visible part represents observable behavior; submerged parts represent cognitive processes: expert thinking (clinical reasoning, scientific thinking), personal reflection, and unconscious thoughts.
• The surrounding water symbolizes the organizational and cultural context.

Main Results:

• The float model visually distinguishes between observable behavior and underlying mental processes.
• It highlights the dynamic interplay of clinical reasoning, scientific thinking, personal reflection, and unconscious thoughts.
• The model illustrates how context (water) influences the practitioner's (float's) balance and function.

Conclusions:

• The float model can illuminate the unseen mental processes influencing healthcare practitioners' behavior and decision-making.
• It aids in preventing misunderstandings, such as conflating scientific thinking with personal reflection or undervaluing intuitive processes.
• This visualization tool can improve the assessment and facilitation of reflection in healthcare education.