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Although nurses are encouraged to reflect on their practice from pre-registration education onwards, many are anxious about the process and unclear how it is done or what it can achieve. This article discusses approaches to reflection and presents a new, triangular model of reflection that encourages nurses to share their reflections and helps to ensure they gain useful insights from the exercise.

Background: Reflective practice can raise the quality and consistency of nursing care, but there is little evidence of it being part of everyday culture and practice., Aim: To improve the incidence and quality of guided reflective practice., Method: Nurses from three trusts attended a focus group to gather experience, views and ideas of reflective practice/clinical supervision. The team also looked at supervision policies of nine trusts, best-practice examples and consulted nurse experts and leaders., Results: Quantitative results showed that most nurses had some form of supervision but had little opportunity to question and discuss. Qualitative results revealed seven common themes., Discussion: Project findings show a lack of organised and systematic reflection., Conclusion: New models of supervision and strengthened nurse leadership are needed to increase reflective practice among nurses.

Many nurses are trained in brief health promotion interventions to ensure patients' lifestyles are assessed in relation to their overall health. Staff evaluations of health promotion training provided at Bolton Foundation Trust showed how it may prompt nurses to evaluate their own lifestyles. It could benefit healthcare organisations, as it may mean staff are supported to be healthier, happier and more productive.