Making reflection actionable in undergraduate nursing education: A discussion paper on professional reasoning and...

To propose a structured pedagogical sequence that supports undergraduate nursing students in translating emotionally significant experiences into accountable professional reasoning and clinical judgement.

Undergraduate nursing students frequently encounter emotionally significant, uncertain and ethically complex clinical experiences. However, such experiences do not consistently translate into professional learning, reasoned action, or clinical judgement. Although reflection, debriefing, mentoring and portfolio-based learning are widely used, these approaches may remain insufficiently structured to guide students from experience to justified professional response.

Critical discussion paper.

The paper draws on a theory-informed, purposive engagement with scholarship in experiential learning, reflective practice, metacognitive reflection, professional identity formation and clinical judgement. The approach prioritised conceptual relevance and theoretical influence to integrate established perspectives into a structured pedagogical sequence.

The paper proposes a four-step sequence: recognition of a significant experience, interpretation of its professional meaning, positioning in relation to responsibility and formulation of a reasoned professional response. The sequence is intended to make the movement from emotionally significant experience to accountable professional reasoning more visible, teachable and discussable across classroom, simulation and clinical learning environments.

The paper offers a conceptually grounded pedagogical framework for structuring reflective learning in ways that may support clinical judgement development. It may inform curriculum design, formative assessment, faculty development and future feasibility and evaluation research in undergraduate nursing education.