Assignment about Nursing Practicum Experience

Running head: ASSESSMENT 2
REFLCETION ASSIGNMENT (ASSESSMENT 2)
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

ASSESSMENT 21
Introduction
Reflection is process of retrospection upon the past actions or experiences so that with
critical analysis, the positives and negatives of those actions and experiences could be
identified and professional or personal skills could be improved (Karimi et al., 2017). As per
McKinnon (2016), nursing professionals that reflect upon their past actions are able to
improve their professional skills rapidly and helps to improve the care process.
In this paper, I would also be reflecting upon my undergraduate nursing practicum
experience that helped me to understand the importance of the National Safety and Quality
Health Service (NSQHS) standards in making the care process effective.
Nursing practicum experience
Undergraduate nursing education and related practicum was an effective stage in my
nursing career as it helped me to understand the reason I wanted to opt for this career option
and what attributes in my personality would allow me to help my patients with improved
quality. With practicum experience, I was able to link the theoretical knowledge received in
classes to practical situations and hence, it was effective for my skill improvement. For the
final section of my bachelor’s practicum I was provided with an opportunity to assist my
senior registered nurse in the cardiac ward for 2 weeks. This was an independent learning
experience that helped me to understand the importance of nursing professional standards,
implementation of ethical standards and the NSQHS standards (NSQHS, 2017).
In this practicum experience, I was asked to assist the nursing professional with
medication administration, maintenance of records and checking the treatment log for
assurance of effective care. Prior to enter the cardiac unit, I was assured that I would be able
to implement all the necessary aspects of effective care, starting from protocols of hand
hygiene. However, upon entering the ward I went to my registered nurse and started

ASSESSMENT 22
calculating the dosage for medication administration. At this point, my supervisor reminded
me of hand hygiene protocol and then I realized the mistake I made at the first day of my
clinical practicum. This mistake helped me to understand the importance of NSQHS standard
3 as per which, the primary aim of the nursing professional is to enhance their practice of care
delivery so that the healthcare associated infections could be controlled and prevented
(NSQHS, 2017). As per Smiddy, O'Connell and Creedon (2015), one of the primary reason
of increasing hospital acquired infections are lack of compliance for hand hygiene and by not
following the regulations, I also increased the risk factor for hospital acquired infection for
the patent admitted in the cardiac ward. As per Haverstick et al. (2017), not complying with
the hand hygiene regulation is one of the major concern of Australian healthcare facility and
we have only reached 83% compliance regarding the hand hygiene guidance (Hand Hygiene
Australia, 2019). Hence, the degree of my mistake was higher (Kingston, O'Connell &
Dunne, 2016). However, I was able to recall the step of hygiene rapidly and due to this I was
able to rectify my mistakes. To overcome the repetition of this mistake, I make an action plan
so that upon reaching my ward, I could comply with the hand hygiene related standard
(Sadule-Rios & Aguilera, 2017). I developed a flow chart of hand hygiene and attached that
in every patient’s medication report so that it could remind me of the first and most important
safety and security aspect for the wellbeing of patients (King et al., 2016).
Hand hygiene and hospital acquired infection was not the only standard, importance
of which was cleared in my vision. One of my duties while assisting the registered nurse in
the cardiac ward was to maintain treatment log and calculating medication dosage for the
patients. While calculating, I used to calculate the dosage and with clear and loud voice used
to inform the calculation process to the registered nurse in the ward so that she could identify
any anomaly in the calculation process. As per NSQHS standard 6 (2017) while delivering
care to patients, it is important that the nursing professional is able to communicating among