First year specialist trainees’ engagement with reflective practice in the e-portfolio.

Background: Doctors in specialist training posts in the Mersey Deanery are required to complete an e-portfolio to document their competence and to stimulate reflection on their experiences. This study explores how they engage in reflective practice and in particular how they utilise their learning portfolio to document evidence of this. Summary of work: Thirty participants consented. A modified Delphi technique was used to develop a grading system to score levels of reflection. Transcripts of the reflective entries were then analysed using a qualitative approach which involved coding and categorising the data. Summary of results: The level of reflection scores showed a wide variation in both the quantity and quality of reflection. Of particular note in the qualitative data analysis were themes relating to clinical knowledge and skills, learning in practice, communication, feelings, types of learning experience reflected on and wider aspects of medical practice. Conclusion: Further research is needed to explore factors that enable or inhibit the use of the e-portfolio for reflection and whether recorded reflection is a true picture of the cognitive process involved. Take-home message: There is variation in the extent to which doctors both engage in and document evidence of reflection.