Assessment 2: Reflection on NSQHS Standards in Nursing Practicum

This report presents a reflection on a nursing student's undergraduate clinical practicum experience in a cardiac ward, focusing on the application of National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards. The student reflects on two key areas: hand hygiene and medication safety, highlighting the importance of adhering to NSQHS Standard 3 to prevent healthcare-associated infections, and Standard 6 regarding effective communication. The student recounts a personal experience where a lapse in hand hygiene protocol served as a learning opportunity to understand the critical nature of infection control. Furthermore, the report discusses the importance of clear communication during medication dosage calculations to prevent errors. The student concludes by emphasizing the practical application of NSQHS standards, the value of learning from mistakes, and the development of action plans for future practice to ensure patient safety and improve professional skills. The reflection highlights the impact of the practicum experience on the student's understanding of patient care and commitment to continuous improvement within the nursing profession.

Running head: ASSESSMENT 2
REFLCETION ASSIGNMENT (ASSESSMENT 2)
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
Reflection is process of retrospection upon the past actions or experiences so that with
critical analysis, the positives and negatives of those actions and experiences could be
identified and professional or personal skills could be improved (Karimi et al., 2017). As per
McKinnon (2016), nursing professionals that reflect upon their past actions are able to
improve their professional skills rapidly and helps to improve the care process.
In this paper, I would also be reflecting upon my undergraduate nursing practicum
experience that helped me to understand the importance of the National Safety and Quality
Health Service (NSQHS) standards in making the care process effective.
Nursing practicum experience
Undergraduate nursing education and related practicum was an effective stage in my
nursing career as it helped me to understand the reason I wanted to opt for this career option
and what attributes in my personality would allow me to help my patients with improved
quality. With practicum experience, I was able to link the theoretical knowledge received in
classes to practical situations and hence, it was effective for my skill improvement. For the
final section of my bachelor’s practicum I was provided with an opportunity to assist my
senior registered nurse in the cardiac ward for 2 weeks. This was an independent learning
experience that helped me to understand the importance of nursing professional standards,
implementation of ethical standards and the NSQHS standards (NSQHS, 2017).
In this practicum experience, I was asked to assist the nursing professional with
medication administration, maintenance of records and checking the treatment log for
assurance of effective care. Prior to enter the cardiac unit, I was assured that I would be able
to implement all the necessary aspects of effective care, starting from protocols of hand
hygiene. However, upon entering the ward I went to my registered nurse and started

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calculating the dosage for medication administration. At this point, my supervisor reminded
me of hand hygiene protocol and then I realized the mistake I made at the first day of my
clinical practicum. This mistake helped me to understand the importance of NSQHS standard
3 as per which, the primary aim of the nursing professional is to enhance their practice of care
delivery so that the healthcare associated infections could be controlled and prevented
(NSQHS, 2017). As per Smiddy, O'Connell and Creedon (2015), one of the primary reason
of increasing hospital acquired infections are lack of compliance for hand hygiene and by not
following the regulations, I also increased the risk factor for hospital acquired infection for
the patent admitted in the cardiac ward. As per Haverstick et al. (2017), not complying with
the hand hygiene regulation is one of the major concern of Australian healthcare facility and
we have only reached 83% compliance regarding the hand hygiene guidance (Hand Hygiene
Australia, 2019). Hence, the degree of my mistake was higher (Kingston, O'Connell &
Dunne, 2016). However, I was able to recall the step of hygiene rapidly and due to this I was
able to rectify my mistakes. To overcome the repetition of this mistake, I make an action plan
so that upon reaching my ward, I could comply with the hand hygiene related standard
(Sadule-Rios & Aguilera, 2017). I developed a flow chart of hand hygiene and attached that
in every patient’s medication report so that it could remind me of the first and most important
safety and security aspect for the wellbeing of patients (King et al., 2016).
Hand hygiene and hospital acquired infection was not the only standard, importance
of which was cleared in my vision. One of my duties while assisting the registered nurse in
the cardiac ward was to maintain treatment log and calculating medication dosage for the
patients. While calculating, I used to calculate the dosage and with clear and loud voice used
to inform the calculation process to the registered nurse in the ward so that she could identify
any anomaly in the calculation process. As per NSQHS standard 6 (2017) while delivering
care to patients, it is important that the nursing professional is able to communicating among

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each other as well as with the patient so that a therapeutic relationship could be developed
and effective and improved care could be fostered. Lam et al. (2015) also mention about the
communication and rapport among the nursing professionals within critical care units as it
helps to eliminate medication and other intervention associated errors and helps the nurses to
implement care for the benefit of the patients. Cloete (2015) also mentioned about the dosage
calculation process and the importance of calculating it loudly inside the healthcare ward as it
provides a chance of cross check to the nursing professionals assisting or present in the ward.
Therefore, my practice of calculating the medication dose and developing effective
communication with the patient and my supervisor registered nurse was effective in
providing the patient with effective and secured care and eliminated the risk of medication
error (Aarts et al., 2019). Further, due to the development of effective communication, the
patients were also able to understand their health complications and the way they could help
in their improved wellbeing. Therefore, the benefits of this process made me acquire this as a
habit for my skill improvement.
Conclusion
While concluding upon the clinical practicum process from my bachelor’s, I could
mention that this experience helped me to understand the practical application of NSQHS
standards. I was able to understand the reason why the rate of non-compliance to hand
hygiene or medication error is higher in healthcare facilities of Australia, as I also forgot the
hand hygiene steps prior to check medication dosage for the patient. Therefore, this
experience made me aware the way I could implement my theoretical knowledge of NSQHS
standards and apply then while caring for my patients in future as well. Further, I was also
able to understand the aspects which I could remember while implementing interventional
strategy. Therefore, both the mistakes and appropriate actions that I took while implementing
care in my practicum sessions, helped me to understand my abilities as nursing professional

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and the way I could improve my skills by developing action plans. Hence, I would consider
this experience helpful for my future nursing career.

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References
Aarts, M. P., Craenmehr, G., Rosemann, A. L., van Loenen, E. J., & Kort, H. S. (2019). Light
for patient safety: Impact of light on reading errors of medication labels. International
Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 71, 145-154.
Cloete, L. (2015). Reducing medication errors in nursing practice. Cancer Nursing
Practice, 14(1).
Hand Hygiene Australia. (2019). National Data. Retrieved 20 August 2019, from
https://www.hha.org.au/audits/national-data
Haverstick, S., Goodrich, C., Freeman, R., James, S., Kullar, R., & Ahrens, M. (2017).
Patients’ hand washing and reducing hospital-acquired infection. Critical care
nurse, 37(3), e1-e8.
Karimi, S., Haghani, F., Yamani, N., & Najafi Kalyani, M. (2017). A qualitative inquiry into
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World Journal, 2017.
King, M. F., Noakes, C. J., Sleigh, P. A., Bale, S., & Waters, L. (2016). Relationship between
healthcare worker surface contacts, care type and hand hygiene: an observational
study in a single-bed hospital ward. Journal of Hospital Infection, 94(1), 48-51.
Kingston, L., O'Connell, N. H., & Dunne, C. P. (2016). Hand hygiene-related clinical trials
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Lam, D. L., Larson, D. B., Eisenberg, J. D., Forman, H. P., & Lee, C. I. (2015).
Communicating potential radiation-induced cancer risks from medical imaging
directly to patients. American Journal of Roentgenology, 205(5), 962-970.

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McKinnon, J. (2016). Reflection for Nursing Life: Principles, Process and Practice.
Routledge.
NSQHS. (2017). National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards. Retrieved 20 August
2019, from https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-04/National-
Safety-and-Quality-Health-Service-Standards-second-edition.pdf
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rates in hand hygiene compliance. Intensive and critical care nursing, 42, 17-21.
Smiddy, M. P., O'Connell, R., & Creedon, S. A. (2015). Systematic qualitative literature
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