Nursing Standards of Practice - Importance of Critical Thinking and Professional Relationships

Running head: nursing standards of practice 1
Nursing standards of practice
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation

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Introduction
There are various standards of practice that every nurse needs to respect and adhere to in
their practice as nurses. The standards of practice are developed in the sense that Australia is a
multi-cultural society and nurses need to respect this diversity in their practice. In respect to this,
the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) has therefore come up with various
standards of practice, codes of ethics and guidelines. The set professional standards enables
nurses to deliver a person centered care to patient, to make informed choices and derive evidence
based conclusions Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2016). There are seven
professional standards of practice however, this paper provides a reflection on only two of these
standards which include thinks critically and analyze nursing practice and engages in therapeutic
and professional relationships.
Thinks critically and analyze nursing practice
Due to the broad nature of clinical interventions in the nursing field, it is essential for
nurses to think critically in order to provide a person centered care and a holistic approach to
care of the patients. It calls for critical thinking to be able to analyze the clinical interventions of
nursing practice and to make informed choices on the curative, preventive, restorative,
supporting and palliative care approaches to patients who require these interventions. Nursing
practice requires critical thinking in order to provide the best quality care to patients with the best
interests of the patients at heart.
Critical thinking is important to a nurse in various ways, for instance it helps nurses in all
other areas of clinical practice such as in the fulfilment of ethical requirements for nurses. It also
helps in maintaining all other professional standards and the application of effective leadership

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moral values and tools of transformation such as intellectual courage and intellectual humility
and empathy Cashin, Buckley, Donoghue, Heartfield, Bryce, Cox... & Dunn, (2015). It is critical
thinking therefore that informs all actions, all decisions and all other aspects of nurses that nurses
engage in in their day to day practice. According to the NMBA guidelines, critical thinking and
analyzing nursing practice ensures that nurses deeply engage in research in order to provide safe
practice. It also ensures that nurses shape their practice through experiences, reflections, feelings
and beliefs.
As a nurse, I may also cite incidences where the professional standard has led me
through. For instance, it is in my deep desire to always abide by the rules and regulation of any
organization or institution. In regard to nursing practice, the set standard has helped me to always
observe all rules, regulations and policies in making decisions and all my practice endeavors.
One of the greatest challenges I encountered initially was following the informed consent
process as I always found myself share health information about patients without observing the
informed consent process. However, through critical thinking, it is now possible to discern what
to share and what to keep.
Throughout the practice I have also observed from fellow nurses the tendency to make
conclusions that are not based on evidence. I have also learnt to challenge every decision,
opinion and beliefs by conducting appropriate research. One of the best outcomes I have come to
learn is that it is way much easier, better and cheaper to conduct research and give evidence
based conclusions than to generalize and make assumptions. Mistakes are very expensive and a
nurse cannot afford to make one. It is therefore necessary that nurses conduct research to make
conclusions, deep evaluation for strategies and interventions and always observe relevance and
quality in all aspects of clinical practice.