Nursing Reflective Practice: Gibbs vs Driscoll vs Kolb Compared

Nursing programs frequently require reflective writing, and just as frequently assign a specific reflective model without fully explaining how it differs from the others a student might have encountered. This guide compares the three most commonly required models - Gibbs, Driscoll, and Kolb - so you can apply whichever one your program assigns with genuine understanding of its structure and purpose.

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

Gibbs' model, developed by Graham Gibbs, structures reflection as a six-stage cycle: Description (what happened), Feelings (what you were thinking and feeling), Evaluation (what was good and bad about the experience), Analysis (what sense can be made of the situation), Conclusion (what else could have been done), and Action Plan (what you will do differently next time). Its defining feature is the explicit Feelings stage, which asks students to name their emotional response directly before moving into more analytical stages - a structure that makes it well suited to processing emotionally significant clinical experiences.

Best fit for: Reflecting on an experience with a strong emotional component, where naming and processing that response is part of the point.

Driscoll's What Model

Driscoll's model simplifies reflection into three core questions: What? (a factual description of the situation), So What? (analysis of what the situation means, what you learned, and why it matters), and Now What? (what you will do differently or how you will apply this learning going forward). Its defining feature is brevity and directness - it strips reflection down to its essential logical structure without Gibbs' more granular emotional processing stage, which makes it a common choice for shorter reflective assignments or for practitioners newer to structured reflection.

Best fit for: Concise reflective assignments, or as an accessible entry point for students who find Gibbs' six stages overly detailed for a shorter piece of writing.

Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle

Kolb's model frames reflection as part of a continuous learning cycle with four stages: Concrete Experience (the event itself), Reflective Observation (thinking about what happened from multiple perspectives), Abstract Conceptualization (forming general principles or theories from the reflection), and Active Experimentation (testing those new ideas in future practice). Kolb's model is less a reflection template and more a full learning theory, which is its key distinction from Gibbs and Driscoll - it explicitly frames reflection as one stage within an ongoing cycle of experience, thought, and future action, rather than reflection as an endpoint in itself.

Best fit for: Assignments that ask you to connect a specific clinical experience to broader theoretical learning, or that explicitly require you to describe how future practice will change as a result.

Choosing Between Them When You Have a Choice

If your program allows model selection, consider what your reflection actually needs to accomplish. If the experience carries real emotional weight that needs explicit processing, Gibbs' dedicated Feelings stage handles that directly. If you need a concise, efficient structure for a shorter piece, Driscoll's three questions are the most streamlined option. If your assignment specifically asks you to connect this experience to broader theory and describe concrete future application, Kolb's cycle is built for exactly that connection.

A Common Mistake: Staying at the Description Stage Too Long

Across all three models, the most common weakness in student reflective writing is spending most of the word count on the Description or "What" stage - simply narrating what happened - and rushing through the analytical and forward-looking stages that actually demonstrate reflective thinking. Examiners are typically looking for depth in the analysis and action-planning stages specifically, since description alone does not demonstrate reflective capability, only recall.

Confirming Which Model Your Program Actually Requires

Before drafting, check your assignment guidelines carefully rather than assuming a model based on what a previous course used - different modules within the same nursing program frequently assign different reflective models depending on the learning objective, and submitting a Gibbs-structured reflection when Driscoll was specifically requested is a straightforward, avoidable way to lose marks unrelated to the actual quality of your reflective thinking.

Writing Analysis That Goes Beyond Surface-Level Observations

A weak analysis stage restates what happened in slightly different words ("I learned that communication is important"). A stronger analysis genuinely interrogates the experience - why did communication break down specifically, what assumptions were operating, what would a different approach have required, and what does this reveal about your own practice patterns beyond this single incident.

How CampusScribe Supports Reflective Writing

CampusScribe's subject-specialist editors help nursing students apply whichever reflective model their program requires with genuine depth, particularly in strengthening the analytical and action-planning stages that most often need development.

If you would like feedback on a reflective piece you are working on, get in touch with our nursing editing team.

Final Thoughts

Gibbs, Driscoll, and Kolb structure reflection differently, but all three are built to move you beyond simple narration into genuine analysis and forward-looking application. Whichever model your program assigns, resist the pull to spend most of your writing on description - the reflective depth examiners are looking for lives in the later stages.

Whichever model you use, remember that reflective writing is ultimately a skill meant to improve real practice, not just satisfy an assignment requirement - the habit of genuine, structured reflection is one of the more transferable skills a nursing program can teach.

A Practical Note on Combining Models Across a Program

Some nursing programs deliberately expose students to more than one reflective model across different modules, specifically so graduates leave with flexibility rather than reliance on a single framework. If your program does this, resist the temptation to default to whichever model felt easiest the first time - genuinely engaging with each model's distinct structure, rather than mentally translating every assignment back into your preferred one, builds a more versatile reflective practice that will serve you better once you are practicing independently and no longer have an assignment brief telling you which structure to use. That flexibility is a genuine professional asset, not just an academic exercise in following instructions.

From choosing a topic to polishing a final draft, CampusScribe's subject-specialist editors and coaches help with dissertations, capstone projects, presentations, and more - whether you need topic guidance, structural feedback, or a final edit before your deadline.