Transition to Nursing Practice: Safe Medication Management

Running head: TRANSITION TO NURSING PRACTICE
TRANSITION TO NURSING PRACTICE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1TRANSITION TO NURSING PRACTICE
According to Lauren (2013), reflective practice can be defined as the process of
assimilating knowledge based on clinical experiences. Reflective practice involves critical
introspection in order to harbour a process of continuous learning. As stated by Bulamn and
Schutz (2013), the concept of reflective practice elucidates paying attention to the theories
and the practical values that justify the final action. The phase of transition to nursing practice
is laden with critical challenges in relation to prioritizing patient care, managing medication,
devising proper intervention, managing time and undertaking appropriate decision making
process. This assignment intends to make use of the reflective practice in order to ensure safe
medication management during the transition to clinical practice. The assignment would
further present a discussion on the regulatory frameworks and governance that underpin the
principles of the nursing profession. Also, instances from the personal experience placement
and findings from relevant research literatures would help in devising effective strategies to
ensure a healthy transition as a Graduate Nurse into the profession.
Medication management is one of the most important tasks that is supposed to be
taken care of by a care professional on an everyday basis. The process involves the
preparation of medication and administering the appropriate dose of the medication to the
patient at the correct time. The process requires immense concentration and involves the risks
of committing medication errors (Kalra et al. 2013). It should be noted that medical errors are
characterized as one of the most serious errors that could increase hospital stay and associated
medical expenditure and elicit fatal implication on the overall health and wellbeing of the
patient. It is therefore extremely important for the care professionals to be extra cautious
about the procedure. It should be noted here that safe medication is covered under the
standard four of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare
guidelines(ACQHS) (Safetyandquality.gov.au 2019). Also, quality standard in ‘safe
medication’ is guaranteed by the National Safety and Quality in Health Service Standards

2TRANSITION TO NURSING PRACTICE
(NSQHS) (Safetyandquality.gov.au 2019). This clearly reveals that ‘safe-medication’ is
designated as a primary goal for the care professionals to ensure positive patient care delivery
(Kalra et al. 2013).
Although, the learning objective of safe-medication is critically addressed at the
university level, on transitioning to practice, the practical experience is a challenging one.
Fresh graduate nurses who enter the profession are often unsure about their skill and
capabilities to effectively manage safe-medication. It is extremely important to maintain
composure at such critical moments and strategically adapt a plan to enhance the scope of
practice. In this regard, it should be mentioned that the Australian Commission and Quality in
Health Care assures a set of ten quality standards so as to ensure effective care delivery
(Safetyandquality.gov.au. 2019). The ten quality standards have been set on the basis of best
quality evidence based practices to effectively manage medication
safety(Safetyandquality.gov.au 2019). As a fresh graduate, I strongly feel that stringently
acting on the NSQHSS quality framework would help me be aware about the patient
considerations(Safetyandquality.gov.au 2019). Further, utilizing the best evidence based
practice and working in close association with tenured care professionals would help me in
absorbing the critical intricacies of the process. Also, I believe reading recent published
literatures on patient safety and medication management would help me access myself and
improve my scope of practice.
I clearly remember that my placement within (name of your workplace organization)
had stimulated mixed feelings within me. I was genuinely happy about being placed but at the
same time was insecure and doubted my capabilities as a care professional. I further
remember that on the first day at the hospital, I felt extremely nervous and felt like I know
nothing about nursing. I dreaded medication management the most and in order to overcome
my emotional insecurities, I proceeded with writing a journal entry to draft an action plan in