a program of reflective practice. Adrienne Price explained that there are several reasons why a healthcare practitioner would engage in reflective practice: to further understand one's motives, perceptions, attitudes, values, and feelings associated with client care; to provide a fresh outlook to practice situations and to challenge existing thoughts, feelings, and actions; and to explore how the practice situation may be approached differently. In the field of nursing there is concern that actions may run the risk of habitualisation, thus dehumanizing patients and their needs. In using reflective practice, nurses are able to plan their actions and consciously monitor the action to ensure it is beneficial to their patient. The act of reflection is seen as a way of promoting the development of autonomous, qualified and self-directed professionals, as well as a way of developing more effective healthcare teams. Engaging in reflective practice is associated with improved quality of care, stimulating personal and professional growth and closing the gap between theory and practice. Medical practitioners can combine reflective practice with checklists (when appropriate) to reduce diagnostic error. Activities to promote reflection are now being incorporated into undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education across a variety of health professions. Professor of medical education Karen Mann and her colleagues found through a 2009 literature review that in practicing professionals the process of reflection appears to include a number of different aspects, and practicing professionals vary in their tendency and ability to reflect. They noted that the evidence to support curricular interventions and innovations promoting reflective practice remains largely theoretical. Samantha Davies identified benefits as well as limitations to reflective practice: Benefits to reflective practice include: Increased learning from an experience or situation Promotion of deep learning Identification of personal and professional strengths and areas for improvement Identification of educational needs Acquisition of new knowledge and skills Further understanding of own beliefs, attitudes and values Encouragement of self-motivation and self-directed learning Could act as a source of feedback Possible improvements of personal and clinical confidence Limitations to reflective practice include: Not all practitioners may understand the reflective process May feel uncomfortable challenging and evaluating own practice Could be time-consuming May have confusion as to which situations/experiences to reflect upon May not be adequate to resolve clinical problems Environmental management and sustainability The use of reflective practice in environmental management, combined with system monitoring, is often called adaptive management. There is some criticism that