Context: Practice development is the process chosen to promote the continued person-centred practice of Admiral Nurses (dementia specialist nurses). Practice development days are run monthly by Dementia UK to support this and are facilitated by professional and practice development facilitators. This article reflects on the experience of the monthly events from the perspective of a facilitator and an Admiral Nurse.

Aim: The aim of this reflection is to share and reflect jointly on the individual experiences of practice development days to provide a deeper understanding of the impact of a facilitated group and its effectiveness for nurse development.

Conclusion: Both facilitator and Admiral Nurse identified feelings of uncertainty within themselves during the sessions. What helped alleviate these was understanding the concept of group behaviours, dynamics, values and beliefs, and ‘self’ within that. Person-centredness does not relate to the work environment (patient-nurse relationship) alone; the same principles can and should be used within practice development groups to support the creation of a safe place to share success and express self-doubt.

Implications for practice:

• It is important to recognise that roles and responsibilities for facilitators and group members differ during practice development days but are equally important
• Individual values should be acknowledged to support feelings of safety within a group, through using person-centred principles, establishing a negotiated values clarification at the group’s inception and reviewing this regularly
• All members of the group should be encouraged to come prepared to participate actively, in order to maximise exchange of experience, knowledge and new ideas, and to reflect on how these can be used in practice

This article by Gayle Madden and Louise Gillard-Owen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.