Background and context: The Foundation of Nursing Studies’ Patients First Programme provides support and facilitation to clinically based nurse-led teams to help them develop, implement and evaluate locally focused innovations that improve patient care. This paper critically reflects on my experience as a newly appointed nurse consultant of leading one such project within a dementia assessment unit in Northern Ireland.

Aims and objectives: To highlight how engaging in critical reflection enabled me to gain insight into my assumptions and beliefs. It deepened my understanding of the role of project lead and helped me to overcome barriers I encountered.

Conclusions: From this process I learned that responsibility for the success of the project belonged to the team and did not rest with the lead. Furthermore, I realised I was repeating past behaviours that were not conducive to facilitation. Recognising this was instrumental in enabling me to develop effective facilitation skills.

Implications for practice: In future practice development initiatives I would ensure I had protected time for supervision with a critical companion. In addition I would develop a strategy for sharing action points with all project members and an appropriate mechanism for reporting progress.

This article by Ann Scott is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.