The journal’s new CNE approach supports reflective learning.

I’M EXCITED to announce that, beginning this month, we’re offering a new process for obtaining continuing nursing education credits: learning through reflection. Reflective learning deepens your understanding of a subject because it requires you to actively engage with your experiences, analyze them, and draw meaningful insights. Unlike rote memorization, reflective learning emphasizes critical thinking, self-awareness, and application of knowledge, making it a powerful tool for both academic and professional growth.

The evidence-based, integrative, analytical, capacity-building process of reflection serves to generate, deepen, critique, and document your learning. I use the approach with students and have witnessed its value. Reflection supports your learning experience, helping you understand actions to take based on what you learned and apply your new knowledge to future learning and problem solving.

Key characteristics of reflective learning include the following:

• Active engagement. Learners don’t simply absorb information but think critically about how new knowledge connects to prior experiences, beliefs, and skills. This process encourages a deeper, more personal grasp of the subject.
• Critical analysis. Reflection involves questioning assumptions, exploring different perspectives, and evaluating outcomes, which help learners identify gaps in understanding and refine their thinking about a subject.
• Application to practice. By linking theory to real-life situations, reflective learning helps translate abstract concepts into practical knowledge, making learning more relevant and memorable.
• Metacognition (thinking about thinking). Reflective practice strengthens metacognitive skills, enabling learners to monitor their own learning strategies, recognize what works best, and adjust for improvement.

You’ve probably applied reflective learning in your everyday nursing practice without knowing it. For instance, administering an injection isn’t a stand-alone action. A nurse reflects on patient anxiety, their own communication about the procedure, and the rationale for ensuring safe practice. Experienced nurses integrate empathy and practical techniques from these experiences, enhancing professional growth over time.

Reflection directly impacts nursing care quality and safety. It helps professionals recognize near-misses and strive to prevent future errors, learn from mistakes, and translate insights into safer care. Reflection also enhances professional development by supporting lifelong learning and growth in clinical judgment. Emotional resilience receives a boost from reflection when it’s a component of debriefings after traumatic situations. It provides a healthy way to process stressful or traumatic clinical encounters through sharing and support. I learned this technique through my experiences in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. Finally, reflection supports interprofessional learning. In my organization, interprofessional learning and growth play a key role in our curriculum and clinical practice. Teams reflect together to improve communication, collaboration, and coordination.

Ultimately, the reflective process enhances individual clinical competence and strengthens the culture of safety and quality of care within healthcare systems. Take a look at this month’s CNE feature on page 6. Read. Reflect. Learn.

Lillee Gelinas, DNP, RN, CPPS, FAAN

Editor-in-Chief

American Nurse Journal. 2025; 20(10). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ102504