What does it mean to truly grow in nursing, beyond skills and certifications? For Lilian Karanja, a critical care nurse, educator, and current postgraduate student at the Aga Khan University, the answer came in the form of reflection. That insight led her to create The Reflective Nurse, a guided journal designed to help nurses make sense of their everyday clinical experiences and deepen their professional growth.
With ten years of clinical experience behind her, Lilian has worked in diverse healthcare settings, from home-based care to the ICU. Over time, she noticed a recurring challenge: while reflection is encouraged in nursing, it’s rarely structured or supported with practical tools, especially in the Kenyan context. That gap motivated her to develop something that would be accessible, relevant, and useful to nurses navigating high-pressure environments.
The journal is built around the widely used Gibbs Reflection Cycle and features guided prompts that explore real-world situations, from handling complex clinical events and ethical dilemmas to processing team dynamics and emotional stress. Lilian drew from her own experiences, the stories of her colleagues, and patterns she observed in practice. Her goal was to offer a tool that would encourage consistent, meaningful reflection among nurses at any stage of their career.
Writing the journal while studying at AKU was both grounding and clarifying. It gave her space to reconnect with the purpose behind her master’s degree and reminded her of the values that initially drew her to the profession. It also taught her how to manage competing priorities, academic deadlines, clinical shifts, and personal writing without losing momentum.
Self-publishing the journal came with its own challenges. Without a clear blueprint, Lilian had to navigate everything from formatting to distribution. She relied on peer support, friends who gave feedback and even helped financially, and found strong encouragement from her classmates and AKU faculty, especially when academic pressure mounted.
Studying at AKU has shown her that change can start from exactly where one stands, with patience, innovation, and the courage to ask for help.
"If it helps even one nurse feel seen and supported, then it was worth doing,” she says.
Today, Lilian continues to write and develop new tools that support nurses’ personal and professional well-being. She hopes The Reflective Nurse will inspire others to embrace reflection not as a task, but as a meaningful habit that helps them better understand themselves and the care they give.
