Reflective Practice in Nursing: NSQHS Standard 3 and 4

This paper reflects upon the NSQHS standard 3 and 4 and evaluates the professional capability of a nurse to comply with the standard. It also suggests an action plan to improve the scope of practice.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
According to Bassot (2015), the application of the Gibbs Reflection Model in Nursing
allows Nurses to introspect upon their clinical experiences. Reflective practice critically helps
Nurses in identifying their strengths and weaknesses and accordingly offers care professionals an
opportunity to work upon their lacunae so as to improve their scope of practice (Bassot, 2016;
Moon, 2013). In this paper, I am going to reflect upon the NSQHS standard 3 and 4 and evaluate
my professional capability in order to determine my competence to comply with the standard.
Description:
The NSQHS STANDARD 3 deals with the prevention and control of Health Associated
Infection standard and the NSQHS STANDARD 4 concerns the Medication Safety Standard. It
should be critically stated that both the standards play in integral role in the provision of effective
care to patients (Safetyandquality.gov.au, 2019).
During my last placement, as a care professional, I witnessed that the quality of care
delivery was not in competence to the NSQHS standard 3 and 4. As a nurse, I was aware of the
hand hygiene routine and its effective role in controlling hospital acquired infections. However,
the organization where I was previously placed had excessive patient load and the nurse to
patient ratio was not optimally distributed. This resulted in attending multiple patients at the
same time and as a result the nurses skipped the five moments of hygiene. Also, the medical staff
attended patients who were susceptible to airborne infections without following any
precautionary measures. The care professionals did not wash their hands before attending the
patients and also did not don PEP.

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Also, in my previous placement while checking the 6 right of medication administration I
had misread the medication. Fortunately, my buddy nurse asked me to recheck the medication
and I on rechecking I realized the error.
Feelings:
On reflecting upon the deliberate skipping of the five moments of hygiene by the care
professionals, I honestly felt that it was not correct. I feel I should have brought the issue to the
notice of the hospital authorities so as to reinforce appropriate infection control measures.
On the other hand, the second incident made me feel extremely nervous and low. I felt
that as a Nurse I should have been more careful and read the instruction carefully so as to avoid
the possibility of any error.
Evaluation:
The positive aspect of both the experiences would be my self-assessment ability to
understand that I had yet not assimilated the nuances of the Nursing profession. The negative
aspect would be the anxiety and the feeling of demotivation that I was harboring within myself.
As stated by Gould and Taylor (2017), reflection helps in evaluating the quality of clinical
experience of the nurses.
Analysis:
On evaluating the first situation, it can be mentioned that the NSQHS standard 3
mentions the criteria of the application of quality improvement systems so as to strengthen
infection control strategies within a healthcare environment (Safetyandquality.gov.au, 2019). As
a Nurse, I should not have been a passive observer of what was already going on and should

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have proactively informed about the fallacy to the administration. The least I should have done
as a care professional was to prioritize patient care and hospital safety and should have had a
word with my immediate supervisor about the weak infection control measures existing within
the healthcare organization. There could be a possibility that the organization had its infection
control policies in proper place but on account of excessive patient load, all other Nurses were
deliberately not complying with the infection control policies. I strongly feel, instead of adding
to what was already wrong, I could have made a slight difference by investigating the matter.
In the second case, I strongly feel I was extremely careless. I misread the six right of
medication which serves as a crucial aspect in the process of delivering care to the patient. I
should have focused and paid better attention so as to avoid the error. So far, the incident has
deeply impacted me and I have now realized the importance of being thorough with the six right
of medication.
Conclusion:
Therefore, to conclude, it can be mentioned that the NSQHS standards typically serve as
Quality Indicators that help in determining the competence of a Nurse to effectively render
positive care to patients. It is also important to acknowledge here that the transition from Nursing
Student to a Nursing Professional is complicated and is laden with a number of critical
challenges. Even, if Nurses possess an in-depth understanding about the quality standards,
complying with the same during practicum becomes difficult. It is therefore important to reflect
upon the clinical experience so as to identify weaknesses and accordingly adapt measures to
improve the scope of practice.

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Action Plan:
The action plan critically comprises of the steps that could be taken by the Nurses to
improve their scope of practice following the process of reflection (Bulman & Schutz, 2013;
Redmond, 2017). Based upon my clinical experience, I have substantially identified two lacunae
which includes, lack of a proactive attitude to report about poor compliance of infection control
measures within the healthcare organization. The second weakness includes the lack of complete
knowledge about the six right of medication. As mentioned by Schon (2017), conducting
exhaustive research on electronic databases helps in assimilating strategies to enhance clinical
practice. In order to address my first weakness, I would access the NSQHS standard 3 online and
read it so as to develop a better understanding about the standard. Also, I would research
electronic databases to know about infection control policies and the process of conducting
awareness workshops to educate Nurses about effective hand hygiene and infection control.
In order to address my second weakness, I would access the NSQHS Standard 4 to
develop a critical understanding about the competence standard of practicing safe medication. In
addition to this, in my future placements I would always verify the prescribed medication with
my preceptor or buddy nurse prior to the administration of drug. Also, I would access the
Internet Drug Index to know about the drug properties of the medication and improve my
knowledge of pharmacology. Also, I would access the Internet to know about the legal
implication of medical error on nursing practice so as to be aware of the penalty and at the same
time develop an understanding about the judicial advocacy that nurses could avail for breaching
the standard of medication practice. Acquiring a sound knowledge would help me maintain
precautionary measures and would also help me in offering advice to my colleagues who are
unaware of the legal implication of conduction medication error in the nursing profession.

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References:
Bassot, B. (2015). The reflective practice guide: An interdisciplinary approach to critical
reflection. Routledge.pp.34 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315768298
Bassot, B. (2016). The reflective journal. Macmillan International Higher Education.pp.90.
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Redmond, B. (2017). Reflection in action: Developing reflective practice in health and social
services. Routledge.pp.35 Retrieved From:

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https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Reflection_in_Action.html?
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Safetyandquality.gov.au (2019). [online] Safetyandquality.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/NSQHS-Standards-
Sept-2012.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2019].
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