Reflection on AHPRA Registered Nurse Standards of Practice

NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
Reflection: APHRA Registered Nurse Standards of Practice
Name: Laxmi Shrestha
Student ID: S00200163

NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
The seven Registered Nurse Standards of Practice developed by the Australian Health
Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) are supposed to be observed by all registered nurses
and midwives throughout Australia. The formulation of these standards was informed by the
need to keep up with the ever-dynamic nursing profession requirements besides caring for the
complex and multifaceted Australian communities, cultures, and histories (AHPRA, 2018). As
such they are grounded on person-centered, scientific evidence, and professional relationship
footing which is instrumental in advancing holistic patient care (Andre, & Heartfield, 2011). The
focus of this paper is to reflect on two AHPRA Registered Nurse Standard of Practice
extrapolating on their importance and relevance in practice. Moreover, the paper will connect
their relevance to the experiences that I gained during my undergraduate nursing clinical
practices and my imminence of transitioning to become a registered nurse.
Standard 1: Thinks Critically and Analyses Nursing Practice
Nurses are called upon by this nursing standard to endeavor to fully exploit their nursing
knowledge and skills to provide the most optimal care to both patients and their families.
In doing so, the standard calls upon nurses to think critically and creatively for purposes of
advancing the best care to patients. (Bittner and Gravlin, 2009) and (Borbasi and Jackson, 2015)
observe that such a standard is also instrumental in introducing nurses to the relevance of using
scientific research evidence to inform their nursing practice as well as reaching informed nursing
decisions on the same.
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NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
As I went about my nursing duties during my one of the undergraduate nursing clinical practices,
I came across numerous instances where I was challenged to employ my capabilities of thinking
critically to advance person-centered care from an evidence-based perspective. One example I
can vividly remember is a day when I was obligated to take care of an old Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander woman who had been diagnosed with a mental illness and it was upon me to
advance adequate nursing care to her. Though challenged at first on how best to take care of her,
I later drew insights from my undergraduate academic theory on how to care for patients with
mental illness, as well as thinking critically on how I could engage her and her family in their
own care. I also strived to contact the most relevant scientific evidence to take care of her
deteriorated mental health condition.
Since the standard also emphasizes the need for nurses to be in a continuous nursing thought
development for purposes of improving current and future patient treatment outcomes, I was
keen in making this encounter a learning experience to inform my future practice. Whatever
actions I took in caring for this Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient was by and large on
an ethical trial. To this end, I took caution to exploit all the skills and knowledge I had acquired
while at the same time keeping my personal feelings and beliefs concerning such patients at bay.
The standard calls upon nurses to be respectful of the cultures and the role of the family and
community in caring for the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. As such, I
also took significance in complying with the set of nursing legislation, policies, regulations,
guidelines, and other standards to advance the most holistic care to the patient. This was in
recognition of the fact that failure to do so would have amounted to clinical negligence.
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