Following completion of a surgical procedure it is always helpful to deconstruct the processes involved and assess performance. As someone who mentors other clinicians in implant dentistry, I always give feedback and ask the mentee to reflect.
Dewey said “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.”
A series of studies from the Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina demonstrated the value of reflection in helping people do a better job. The research papers showed that reflecting on what you’ve done teaches you to do it better next time.
Benefits of reflection include:
Self-reflection is not an innate gift, it requires practice. One of the most famous models of reflection by Gibbs (1988) leads you through six stages. The step-wise process gives structure to learning from experiences.
Reflection is fundamental to deeper learning from experience. Become a better clinician by adopting a reflective practice and learn to carry it out in a structured manner.