Critical Incident Techniques and Reflection in Nursing and Health Professions Education

BACKGROUND: The terms critical incident technique and reflection are widely used but often not fully explained, resulting in ambiguity. PURPOSE: The aims of this review were to map and describe existing approaches to recording or using critical incidents and reflection in nursing and health professions literature over the last decade; identify challenges, facilitating factors, strengths, and weaknesses; and discuss relevance for nursing education. METHODS: A systematic narrative review was undertaken. MEDLINE and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature were searched using MeSH terms, returning 223 articles (2006-2017). After exclusions, 41 were reviewed. RESULTS: Articles were categorized into 3 areas: descriptions of the development of an original tool or model, critical incidents or reflection on events used as a learning tool, and personal reflections on critical incidents. CONCLUSIONS: Benefits have been identified in all areas. More attention is needed to the pedagogy of reflection and the role of educators in reflection.