National Standard Medication Charts Course: A Reflection

A nursing student reflects on their experience with the National Standard Medication Charts Course, which helped them understand the process of preparing medication charts and safe prescribing principles. The course also covered patient identification, adverse drug reactions, and documentation. The student gained confidence and proficiency in the skill and plans to follow the guidelines learned in their clinical practice.

Introduction
During my graduation in healthcare, I enrolled my name in the stream Bachelor of
nursing. I was having no any clinical experience and also I have never encountered patients.
In medical nursing, one of the essential parts is making of medication chart of the patients.
The medication chart is highly important for the treatment of any patient and it allows
providing a better health outcome (Stavropoulou, Doherty & Tosey, 2015). In this regard,
medication chart needs to be accurate and a particular format should also be maintained. I
was having inconveniences in understanding the format required for the medication chart.
Then I was informed about National Standard Medication Charts Course and I promptly
decided to join as a learner to get a clearer idea in this field. In the following section, I am
going to reflect my experience throughout the learning and will also describe how it is going
to help me in my profession. I will use Gibbs Model for Reflection in this regard.
Description
The training course consists of 5 modules in all (NPS MEDICINEWISE LEARNING,
n.d.). While preparing for this module I was introduced with the method of patient
identification and documentation which is basically the initial step in nursing profession
while dealing with patients. Apart from that, the module also provided the knowledge of
adverse drug reactions on the health of the patients. I found this part of the study very much
essential as nurses always take care of patients and they also monitor their health in the
absence of physicians (Elliott, Lee, Beanland, Vakil & Goeman, 2016). If any allergies or
other symptoms appear as the adverse effect of medicines, then nurses are the first person to
observe (Oh, Jeon & Koh, 2015). After observing any issue, nurses need to document the
whole scenario to present to the physician. The knowledge of the exact way of documenting
is extremely important in this regard (Roughead, Semple & Rosenfeld, 2016). Throughout all

the modules of the course, it guides to the principles of safe prescribing and it also clearly
demonstrates how to complete the National Standard Medication Chart correctly. It helps all
the nursing students, including me, who have no experience of working.
Feelings
Throughout the course, I really appreciate how it helped to understand the process of
preparing National Medication Chart and other skills essential in the profession. In a
simulated learning environment, I gained the knowledge of many aspects of nursing
profession including the identification of adverse drug reaction, documentation of patients,
optimizing the use of National Standard Medication Charts, identifying VTE prophylaxis etc.
Also, I found it beneficial to know the methods of preparing National Standard Medication
Chart. Before joining the course, I tried preparing such charts but I was tired of producing
error all the time in the result. Overall, I strongly believe that the learning activities used in
the course were efficient enough in allowing me to have an opportunity of gaining confidence
and proficiency in the skill. The course is completely free for the students and other users,
which is the most important part of the course and it is extremely helpful for the students who
are unable to provide any fee.
Evaluation
I will consider myself fortunate to be a part of this course and I was able to learn the
actual procedure of preparing medication charts by watching a video which was a section of
the course. This is extremely helpful in the perspective of clinical practicum in developing
clinical competence in this skill. In clinical setting, there is always a requirement of keeping
medication chart to prevent the occurrence of medication error for the patients (Wilson,
Palmer, Levett-Jones, Gilligan & Outram, 2016). Being a nursing student, I was aware of my
duty of providing a perfect care which will be safe for the patients. In this regard, the course

is extremely supportive and the contextual learning associated with the course is immersed
with the procedures of clinical setting. Therefore, the course helps to acquire knowledge,
important in clinical setting and I also developed my skill which will allow me to gain more
confidence while working.
Analysis
As a student nurse, I should be responsible and accountable for my own actions and
when taking care of patients (Cloete,, 2015). Upon the completion of this course, along with
safety features and issues, I became able to accomplish the necessity of accurate medication
chart and I am also aware of the process of preparing National Standard Medication Chart.
Still, I feel nervous sometimes that whether I will be able to administer safely but I know, in
my clinical settings, there will be experienced nurses to support me.
Conclusion
Now I am well-informed about the process of preparing medication charts and
principle of safe prescribing. I also realized that patients’ safety should be the main concern
while providing care and nurses need to follow proper strategies to be successful in their
profession.
Action Plan
In my clinical practice, I will be careful and I will strictly follow the guidelines I
learned throughout the course. I will also maintain a good relationship with my fellow
workers to get additional support.

References
Cloete, L. (2015). Reducing medication errors in nursing practice. Nursing Standard, 29(20),
50-9. Doi: https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.29.20.50.e9507
Elliott, R. A., Lee, C. Y., Beanland, C., Vakil, K., & Goeman, D. (2016). Medicines
management, medication errors and adverse medication events in older people
referred to a community nursing service: a retrospective observational study. Drugs-
real world outcomes, 3(1), 13-24. Doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs40801-016-
0065-6
NPS MEDICINEWISE LEARNING. (n.d.). National standard medication charts course.
Retrieved from https://learn.nps.org.au/mod/page/view.php?id=4278
Oh, P. J., Jeon, K. D., & Koh, M. S. (2015). The effects of simulation-based learning using
standardized patients in nursing students: A meta-analysis. Nurse education
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adverse drug reactions throughout the patient journey in acute care in
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https://doi.org/10.1097/XEB.0000000000000075
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