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Clare Hopkinson 9/2/09
The issue of time and the tension of being too busy to reflect were focused
on several times. Amy said:
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self
Do you save time through reflecting or do you create more
pressure on yourself because you have less time as a consequence
of writing reflections? Is the man [in the picture] stopping time or
oppressed by time? (1 st Co-inquiry meeting 20/1/05)
In our discussions Lois coined the phrase ―the busy syndrome‖. Later in
our first meeting Amy said:
Reflecting- in- action for me is the ability to “stand back” and
think about what you have done and what you could have done. We
all say it‟s too busy and I couldn‟t do x but it‟s very superficial, isn‟t
it? People have to believe you are busy because you told them but
busy doing what? It‟s only when you try to unpick it, ok, tell me what
you‟re busy doing. Then you get “well erm, erm”. So that‟s
challenging because what you are really saying is I don‟t believe
you‟re busy. I think as experienced practitioners we are less
sympathetic to that busy syndrome because we have an
expectation that they should still do more. That‟s a tension. Are we
expecting too much of people? (1 st Co-inquiry meeting 20/1/05)
Amy, a midwife and practice development sister, learnt to try and unpick
the claims for busyness. Did nurses need to feel busy? I was beginning to
realise this was part of the embodied habitus and field of practice. We
talked in her interview again about the busy syndrome and she told me:
Nights in deliveries are probably the worst place because
they are very very busy. But because you are really, really busy you
don‟t get a chance to stand out of it and that‟s one of the things
reflecting-in-action is all about, standing out of it and saying why are
we so busy? We get bleeped and they‟ll say we need you to come
and help. So you go there, and I‟m a bit long in the tooth now, so I