Reflective Statement: Community Placement in Mental Health Nursing

This reflective statement, authored by a student pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Mental Health Nursing, details their community placement experience at the Western Immediate Care Centre (WICC). The student reflects on their practice, focusing on the challenges faced in handling clients of indigenous origin due to cultural differences and pre-existing stigmas. The statement highlights the importance of cultural competence, ethical guidelines, and the need for continuous improvement in practical skills to provide effective, patient-centered care. The student references the IGMG Assessment framework and NMBA guidelines, emphasizing the significance of multidisciplinary teamwork and culturally safe interventions. The reflection concludes with an assessment of strengths, weaknesses, and future professional development goals, including attending cultural competence training workshops and seeking guidance from supervisors.

Running head: REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
I am Linson Chackappan and at present I am pursuing my Post Graduate Diploma in
Mental Health Nursing. I have worked as a community care nursing professional for a period
of 3 months under the GNP program at a community setting. The internship was undertaken
by me so as to qualify for the community placement for the subject code: (NURS 5158)
Consolidation of Mental Health Nursing Practice.
I worked at the Western Immediate Care Centre (WICC). The hospital setting
comprised of a community ward with a capacity of 15 beds, step up and step down. The
patients that were referred were discharged clients who were thoroughly screened by us and
accordingly a decision was undertaken to either send the client back home or retain the client
at the hospital for better treatment. In most of the cases, the clients had a voluntary response
about going back home. However, the patients that felt unwell refused to go home. In order to
deal with such patients the doctors make use of the involuntary order under the Mental Health
Act to send the clients home. A wide range of clients were treated that comprised of patients
affected with PTSD, Bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, Major Depression, Schizoaffective
disorder and Manic disorder. The nursing professionals worked in collaboration with a
multidisciplinary team of doctors, social workers, OT staff, care consultant, peer specialist
and support workers during the working hours of business operation. The nursing
professionals worked 24/7 and practiced medication under the section 56 after the business
hours.
I assimilated a lot of knowledge from my professional working experience. The team
of the nursing professionals adapted a multidisciplinary care approach and aimed to deliver
effective treatment to the patients. The service provided upheld the ethical guidelines of the
nursing professional standard and dispensed a culturally safe care to attain positive patient
outcomes (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 2018). I encountered several problems with
respect to handling clients of indigenous origin on account of the cultural distance and the

2REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
pre-existing stigmatized belief in me. As mentioned by Corrigan et al. (2014), mental health
is perceived as a major stigma that elicits a negative effect on the access to treatment facilities
among the indigenous people. On critically reflecting according to the IGMG Assessment
framework, Standard 6, I found myself lacking in terms of providing effective patient care
and promoting positive health outcome. Some of the patients even wanted to change their
carer while I was looking after them. The reason attributed for the cause of client
dissatisfaction is the inability to provide culturally safe intervention regime and the existing
communication gap (Betancourt et al. 2016). I have realized that despite having a
theoretically sound concept of the ethical guidelines of the nursing profession to deliver an
effective treatment, I still need to improve on my practicum skills.
In order to practice efficiently I should be able to comply with the ethical and legal
professional standards as per the NMBA guidelines and deliver positive-patient centred,
holistic care (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 2018). As mentioned by Horvat et al. (2014), it
has been said that training on effective cultural competence can render professionals to
provide culturally safe patient care. I would attend informative workshops on cultural
competence training and also work in close association with my supervisors and seniors so as
to attain efficiency in the critical decision making process. This reflection has helped me
tremendously in completing a self-assessment so as to identify my strengths, weaknesses and
potential as a nursing professional.

3REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
References:
Betancourt, J.R., Green, A.R., Carrillo, J.E. and Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I.I., 2016.
Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic
disparities in health and health care. Public health reports.
Corrigan, P.W., Druss, B.G. and Perlick, D.A., 2014. The impact of mental illness stigma on
seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychological Science in the Public
Interest, 15(2), pp.37-70.
Horvat, L., Horey, D., Romios, P. and Kis‐Rigo, J., 2014. Cultural competence education for
health professionals. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (5).
Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 2018. Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia -
Professional standards. [online] Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/codes-guidelines-statements/
professional-standards.aspx [Accessed 21 Oct. 2018].