Professional Reasoning in Healthcare (eBook)

Helen Jeffrey is Principal Lecturer at Otago Polytechnic, Te Pukenga, New Zealand. Linda Robertson is Emeritus Associate Professor at Otago Polytechnic, Te Pukenga, New Zealand. Jan Hendrik Roodt is Academic Facilitator, Te Pukenga, New Zealand, and Director of Polar Analytics, Finland. Susan Ryan is Professor Emerita at University College Cork, Ireland.

List of Contributors vii

Foreword ix

Preface x

Acknowledgments xii

Chapter 1 Synthesizing Knowledge for Situated Practice: The Five Finger Framework 1

Historical Influences on Professional Reasoning
Helen Jeffery and Susan Ryan

Chapter 2 The Five Finger Framework: Development and Rationale 16

Fostering Thinking Skills
Jan Hendrik Roodt and Linda Robertson

Chapter 3 Grasping the Whole: The Practitioner Perspective 42

Practitioner Influences on Professional Decisions
Sian E. Griffiths, Kim Reay, and Helen Jeffery

Chapter 4 Using the Expertise of Others: Many Hands Make Light Work 57

Accessing Knowledge from Others to Inform Professional Decisions
Elizabeth Martin

Chapter 5 Walking Hand in Hand: Collaborative Practice 68

Eliciting and Incorporating Client Perspectives
Helen Jeffery

Chapter 6 Knowing the Context like the Back of Your Hand 83

Contextual Influences on Professional Reasoning
Helen Jeffery

Chapter 7 Letting the Research Lend a Hand 99

Evaluating, Synthesizing, and Implementing Knowledges
Luciana Blaga and Linda Robertson

Chapter 8 Synthesizing World Views 116

Transdisciplinarity and the Five Finger Framework
Jan Hendrik Roodt

Chapter 9 Tools for Implementing the Five Finger Framework 126

Ideas, Activities, and Tips for Practice and Education Settings
Helen Jeffery and Jan Hendrik Roodt

Index 143

An essential tool and a great insight to the decision-making skills that health professionals go through on a daily basis - a must read for all practitioners, new and seasoned!

Lara Gallichan BSc Hons, Speech Language Therapist, NZSTA



Written in a clear and accessible manner, there is no doubt this book will be an invaluable resource for students, clinicians, and teachers alike. By providing real-world examples, the reader easily appreciates the value of the Five Finger Framework and how it can improve their professional reasoning and practice. This book should be a compulsory reading for all students, and I would highly recommend it to all practising healthcare workers.

Dr Ruth Jeffery PhD, MSc, PGDip Med Rad Sci (NM), LLB(Hons), BA, BSc, NZDMI.



The ability to critically reflect upon the way that professional reasoning and judgement occurs is pivotal and is profoundly ethical for practice, research, and leadership.

Amongst the unique features of this text is the introduction of the Five Finger Framework to assist lifelong learners to comprehensively problem pose and problem solve. This resonates well with situated learning with its focus upon context, interpersonal relationships and shared decision making.

The book is culturally aware, transdisciplinary and has the potential to become a core text for learners at all levels of education particularly for those within practice-based education and mentorship relationships.

Dr Sheena E.E.Blair Dip OT, M.Ed, ED, FRCOT



Thanks for offering real, concrete, and doable approaches for improving professional reasoning.... using real stories of real practitioners to show how this works in practice.... broadening the views on client and culture.... In short, thanks for "handing us" the Five Finger Framework. It will work for students, practitioners, educators, and scholars. I would adopt it in a heartbeat if I were still teaching!

Barbara A. Schell, Professor Emerita, School of Occupational Therapy, Brenau University, PhD, OT/L, FAOTA.



This internationally relevant text presents the Five Finger Framework as a tool for enabling practice reasoning, critical reflection, and decision-making across a range of transdisciplinary approaches in health and social care settings. The metaphor of a hand unfolds a structured process for thinking through many-layered aspects to reach the end goal we all aim for - working effectively, visibly and in a traceable and thus accountable manner for collaborative solution-focused approaches.

Margaret McKenzie, Associate Professor, Registered Social Worker (NZ)