An increasingly popular aspect of logbooks and e-portfolios, self-reflection is the bane of many students’ medical lives. It may seem pointless and frustrating at first, but just stopping for a second and thinking:
– ‘what did I do?’
– ‘did it go well?’
– ‘what would I do differently next time?’
has a number of benefits. It means you’ll spot your mistakes, and get better as a result. It also means that you’ll remember the encounter better, meaning your learning is more efficient and you won’t have to revise as much. Episodes that you have experienced are always remembered by your brain much more effectively than abstract concepts from a book, so taking that extra second to cement them into your memory is a valuable exercise to get good at.
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