What is reflection?

Reflection is a process we go through when we step back and critically think about experiences, decisions and actions and the wider system we work in.

As healthcare workers, we are increasingly being encouraged to reflect on our practice more to learn from it and improve our future practice.

In public health it is more than just remembering what happened with individual patient care, public health reflections often deal with complex systems, communities and policies as well.

Why reflection matters

Reflection helps us turn our experience into learning: spotting patterns, testing assumptions, and improving judgement under uncertainty.

In public health it supports safer decisions, better teamwork, and evidence-informed action.

Benefits you will notice

  • Clarity: It helps us make sense of complex or ambiguous situations.
  • Quality & safety: It helps us surface blind spots before they scale.
  • Growth: Track our development against recognised competencies and values.
  • Communication: Helps us write concise notes we can share for CPD/appraisal.
Public health lens: Reflection isn’t indulgent, it is a systems skill. It makes learning visible and actionable across teams and programmes.