NRSG 367: Reflective Essay on Registered Nurse Standards of Practice

This essay is a student's reflection on two AHPRA Registered Nurse Standards of Practice: critical thinking and therapeutic relationships. The author connects these standards to their undergraduate nursing clinical experiences, particularly in caring for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient with mental illness. The reflection emphasizes the importance of evidence-based practice, ethical considerations, and interdisciplinary collaboration in providing holistic, patient-centered care. The author discusses their commitment to upholding these standards as they transition into a registered nurse, highlighting the role of continuous learning and professional integrity in nursing practice. The essay concludes by reaffirming the significance of AHPRA standards in regulating nursing conduct and ensuring safe, quality healthcare delivery.

NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
Reflection: APHRA Registered Nurse Standards of Practice
Name: Laxmi Shrestha
Student ID: S00200163

NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
The seven Registered Nurse Standards of Practice developed by the Australian Health
Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) are supposed to be observed by all registered nurses
and midwives throughout Australia. The formulation of these standards was informed by the
need to keep up with the ever-dynamic nursing profession requirements besides caring for the
complex and multifaceted Australian communities, cultures, and histories (AHPRA, 2018). As
such they are grounded on person-centered, scientific evidence, and professional relationship
footing which is instrumental in advancing holistic patient care (Andre, & Heartfield, 2011). The
focus of this paper is to reflect on two AHPRA Registered Nurse Standard of Practice
extrapolating on their importance and relevance in practice. Moreover, the paper will connect
their relevance to the experiences that I gained during my undergraduate nursing clinical
practices and my imminence of transitioning to become a registered nurse.
Standard 1: Thinks Critically and Analyses Nursing Practice
Nurses are called upon by this nursing standard to endeavor to fully exploit their nursing
knowledge and skills to provide the most optimal care to both patients and their families.
In doing so, the standard calls upon nurses to think critically and creatively for purposes of
advancing the best care to patients. (Bittner and Gravlin, 2009) and (Borbasi and Jackson, 2015)
observe that such a standard is also instrumental in introducing nurses to the relevance of using
scientific research evidence to inform their nursing practice as well as reaching informed nursing
decisions on the same.
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NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
As I went about my nursing duties during my one of the undergraduate nursing clinical practices,
I came across numerous instances where I was challenged to employ my capabilities of thinking
critically to advance person-centered care from an evidence-based perspective. One example I
can vividly remember is a day when I was obligated to take care of an old Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander woman who had been diagnosed with a mental illness and it was upon me to
advance adequate nursing care to her. Though challenged at first on how best to take care of her,
I later drew insights from my undergraduate academic theory on how to care for patients with
mental illness, as well as thinking critically on how I could engage her and her family in their
own care. I also strived to contact the most relevant scientific evidence to take care of her
deteriorated mental health condition.
Since the standard also emphasizes the need for nurses to be in a continuous nursing thought
development for purposes of improving current and future patient treatment outcomes, I was
keen in making this encounter a learning experience to inform my future practice. Whatever
actions I took in caring for this Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient was by and large on
an ethical trial. To this end, I took caution to exploit all the skills and knowledge I had acquired
while at the same time keeping my personal feelings and beliefs concerning such patients at bay.
The standard calls upon nurses to be respectful of the cultures and the role of the family and
community in caring for the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. As such, I
also took significance in complying with the set of nursing legislation, policies, regulations,
guidelines, and other standards to advance the most holistic care to the patient. This was in
recognition of the fact that failure to do so would have amounted to clinical negligence.
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NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
As a transition to becoming a fully responsible registered nurse, my promise to myself is to strive
to abide by and follow the provisions of this standard. The standard is central at molding the
nurses’ thought process as well as exposing them to the principles of scientific evidence, patient-
centered treatment approaches and the importance of observing ethics in the provision of the
same (Fedoruk, and Hofmeyer, 2012). Indeed, with the introduction of the patient-centered
nursing approaches in the Australian healthcare system, I endeavor to think of ways I can
actively engage patients and their families in their own care besides tapping on past nursing
experience, skills, and knowledge to come up with future patient treatment and management
strategies. (Amer, 2013) asserts that this is one of the virtues that informs transformative nursing
leadership.
Standard 2: Engages in Therapeutic and Professional Relationships
Engages in Therapeutic and Professional Relationships nursing standard requires nurses to
engage in meaningful and productive workplace relationships with all healthcare providers. For
the provision of holistic person-centered care to be effective, then nurses and other healthcare
practitioners must endeavor to engage in a therapeutic and professional relationship (Chang &
Daly, 2016). Being in a profession with many specializations and taking into considerations, the
varied health care needs of different patients, the healthcare industry best works through the
formulation of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teams making therapeutic and professional
relationships central to the profession.
During my nursing clinical practice, I was extensively involved in different interdisciplinary and
multidisciplinary endeavors in which I was supposed to showcase my capabilities of
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NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
collaborating with other healthcare providers in patient care. Since the standard requires
healthcare practitioners to develop healthy workplace relationships, I was keen to observe this by
distinguishing my culture, position, experience, values, and those of my more experienced
colleagues. I was keen to follow instructions in patient care as directed by the doctors,
physicians, and other multidisciplinary team members. Sometimes these professionals would
delegate me whole patient care tasks such as in the case of the mentally ill Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander patient.
In taking care of this patient and in line with engaging in the therapeutic and professional
relationship, I was obliged to communicate effectively with other health care practitioners to
arrive at the most optimal care plan. Furthermore, the standard requires healthcare practitioners
to observe virtues such as faithfulness, honesty, and trust while in the active conduct of their
duties. Taking in consideration that this was a case of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
patient, I was obliged to respect the patient’s dignity, values, culture, and beliefs while
advancing care besides recognizing that people are indeed experts in their own healthcare. This
was significant in winning the trust and faith of the patient in care advanced to her by me. Under
the supervision and coordination of fellow practitioners, I became more familiar with the nursing
practice surrounding mental disorders besides giving me an opportunity to share my skills and
knowledge with them on how to provide the best care for mentally ill patients and especially for
those that the society have discriminated upon for a long time; Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander communities.
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NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
(Daly, Speedy, & Jackson, 2017) assert that the virtues emphasized by this standard are central
to developing the healthcare providers' integrity which by extension helps facilitate therapeutic
and professional relationships. I believe my workplace integrity has developed greatly through
the proactive therapeutic and professional interactions I had with my fellow healthcare
professionals and the patients and their families I served. This was significantly brought out
through my accomplishment to efficiently orient healthcare resources to advance optimal care of
the mentally ill Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman. (Forrester and Griffiths, 2014)
asserts that nurses must be keen to abide by all set healthcare regulations, guidelines and policies
to maintain their therapeutic and professional integrity. Just like (Bulman and Schutz, 2013)
asserts about the importance of reflective practice in nursing, as I transition to become a
registered nurse, I will endeavor to develop grounded therapeutic and professional relationships
with fellow practitioners to live within the promise of the healthcare industry.
The AHPRA registered nurse standards of practice described in this paper have been brought out
to showcase their significance in the nursing profession. AHPRA’s main aim in the formulation
of these standards is to regulate the Australian nurses and midwives professional conduct as well
as protecting the public from irresponsible and negligent healthcare delivery (Willis, Reynolds,
& Keleher, 2016). Thinks Critically and Analyses Nursing Practice and Engages in Therapeutic
and Professional Relationships are very central to the nursing profession and therefore registered
nurses ought to tap from their potential in advancing holistic, quality and safe healthcare to
patients. Among other nursing standards, these are the two main ones which are very broad
platforms over which to develop my nursing practice in my future career as a registered nurse.
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NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
References
AHPRA (2018). Registered nurse standards for practice [Retrieved from]
http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?
record=WD16%2f19524&dbid=AP&chksum=R5Pkrn8yVpb9bJvtpTRe8w%3d%3d.
Assessed 31/8/2018
Amer, K. S. (2013). Quality and safety for transformational nursing: Core competencies. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Andre, K., & Heartfield, M. (2011). Nursing and midwifery portfolios: Evidence of continuing
competence. Elsevier Australia.
Bittner, N. P., & Gravlin, G. (2009). Critical thinking, delegation, and missed care in nursing
practice. Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(3), 142-146.
Borbasi, S., & Jackson, D. (2015). Navigating the maze of research: Enhancing nursing and
midwifery practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Bulman, C., & Schutz, S. (Eds.). (2013). Reflective practice in nursing. John Wiley & Sons.
Chang, E., & Daly, J. (2016). Transitions in Nursing: Preparing for Professional Practice.
Daly, J., Speedy, S., & Jackson, D. (2017). Contexts of nursing: An introduction. Elsevier Health
Sciences.
Fedoruk, M., & Hofmeyer, A. (2012). Becoming a Nurse: Making the Transition to Practice.
Oxford University Press.
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NRSG 367 Assessment 3 Laxmi Shresstha S00200163
Forrester, K., & Griffiths, D. (2014). Essentials of Law for Health Professionals-eBook. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Willis, E., Reynolds, L., & Keleher, H. (Eds.). (2016). Understanding the Australian health care
system. Elsevier Health Sciences.
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