Western Sydney University: Professional Nurse Case Study Essay

This essay critically analyzes the transition of nursing students to professional practice, highlighting the challenges faced and the importance of teamwork. The essay examines the role of a professional nurse in providing safe and effective patient care, referencing the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia's standards and ethical guidelines. It emphasizes the significance of collaboration with other healthcare specialists to improve patient outcomes. The essay also discusses Benner's stages of clinical competence, illustrating how teamwork and experience contribute to a nurse's professional development. The author concludes that teamwork is crucial for new nurses to gain confidence, implement best practices, and provide high-quality patient care, ultimately benefiting both patients and healthcare organizations. The essay incorporates references to support its arguments, focusing on the transition from student to registered nurse and the importance of professional conduct within healthcare settings.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL NURSE
PROFESSIONAL NURSE
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction:
Transition of a nursing students to the clinical practice I considered as one of the most
challenging transition in to their professional life. During this phase, the newly graduated nurse
try to integrate themselves into the healthcare setting in order to perform their duty. This phase is
stated to be fraught with several emotions (Barnes, 2015). This essay involves the critical
analysis of the relationship between working as a team and being professional in the healthcare
setting related to the case study. It is important for the nurse to be professionals as it helps to
improve the health outcomes of the patient. Providing effective and safe care to the patient is not
the sole responsibility of the nurse, rather it is a collaborative effort. Hence, it is vital to work as
a team to achieve the goal that is providing adequate care to the patient. Along with that, the
essay also discusses about the Benner theory which helps the nurse in becoming professional.
and work to improve the health outcomes of the patient.
Thesis statement:
Transition from a student to the registered nurse aids an individual to gain Learning about
the strategies to delivery appropriate patient care by working as a part of the team.
Critical analysis:
Professional nurse are expected to provide safe care to the patient by considering all the
rules, legislation, codes of conduct and standards formulated by Nursing and Midwifery Board of
Australia. Newly graduate nurse is expected to work as a part of the team with other healthcare
specialist to deliver proper treatment to the patient. Rendering to the case study provided, it is
observer that elevating the health outcomes of the patient is not the responsibility of the
registered nurse only, it is considered to be the collective effort of different healthcare specialist.

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Hence the nurse should be aware of that and should show their proficiency while working in a
team with other specialists.
According to the study piloted by Lyneham & Levett-Jones (2016), multidisciplinary
team if used during the treatment of the patients, the health outcomes of the patient is said to be
increased and it also aid in speeding the recovery process of the patient. Apart from the patient, if
the newly graduated registered nurse works in a team, it will also benefit the organization. It
helps in minimizing the clinical error which is quite prevalent in case of newly registered nurse.
To be a professional registered nurse, it is important for the nurse to get aware of the strategies
that helps in the implementation of the standards, codes of conduct and rules and legislation of
the registered nurse, which can effectively be done by working in a team (Ortiz, 2016). By
working in a team as effective team member that will get to know the way of working of the
experienced healthcare staff and its impact on the health outcomes of the patient. According to
the standard 2 of the registered nurse developed by Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
(2019), the nurse should engage in an effective therapeutic relationship with the patient with the
help of effective communication (Arnold & Boggs, 2019). Therefore by working in a team they
will be able to learn about the effective communication strategy that can be used to maintain
professional rapport with the patient. In addition to this, it will also provide them with the
knowledge of effect assessment while taking care of a patient which is scheduled under the
registered standard 5 (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2019). It will also aid in
increasing their knowledge regarding the ethical values such as, nurse should value kindness,
respect for self and for others, quality nursing care, health equity, informed decision making,
culture of the safety, ethical management of the information gathered and social, economic and
ecological environment which aid in promoting well-being of the patient (Nursing and

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Midwifery Board of Australia, 2019). It will aid the newly graduated registered nurse to become
more aware of the National Safety and the Quality Health Service Standards which benefits in
delivering enhanced health outcomes of the patient such as, the nurse should respect the culture,
dignity, ethnicity, beliefs and values of the patient receiving care, they should keep the personal
information of the patients confidential and should practice ethically and reflectively (National
Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, 2019). Appropriate management of the ethical
values of the registered nurse is during the treatment of the consumers (Lyneham & Levett-
Jones, 2016). Therefore by the aid of working in team, they will get to know the values and
belief of the registered nurse which will eventually help them to become a professional nurse. It
will also help them to gain trust and confidence upon the knowledge so that they can deliver
appropriate an safe care to the patient as a professional registered nurse (Faraz, 2016). It will
help the newly registered nurse to enhance the patient outcomes and will also be aware about the
importance of working in a team.
By working in a team, the newly graduated will get practical knowledge regarding the
safe and appropriate nursing practice and its impact on patient, health care organization and
themselves and will help them to be a professional registered nurse and act like same. It will also
enhance their understanding regarding the primary aim of working in a team which is improving
the patient outcomes.
Discussion:
Professional registered nurse as stated above helps in providing efficient acre to the
patient suffering from any illness. In order to do that, confidence and significant clinical
knowledge is required which is sometimes not observed in the care of newly graduated registered
nurse. They will gain the required clinical knowledge and confidence by working in a team with

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the other experienced healthcare specialist. By working in a team, patient gets appropriate
treatment to all the issue identified such as if the patent is suffering from moving disability
physiotherapist is involved in the care plan. It is the responsibility of the nurse to involve
different health care specialist in the team after properly assessing the health condition of the
patient (Holland, 2019). As observed in the case study, that for a newly graduated nurse,
sometimes it becomes difficult to conduct a proper assessment of the patient, which can be
improved by working in a team. They will get to know about different strategies from different
health care professionals in the team and can provide safe and appropriate care to the patient.
Transition phase of a novice nurse to the expert or the process registered nurse is vital.
According to the Benner stage of the clinical competence by Mann (2018), during the transition
phase that is from student, the nurse is considered to be novice nurse which has no experience to
handle the situation or incident in which they are supposed to perform due to the lack of self-
confidence. Therefore by workings in a team as an efficient team member they will be able to
gain confidence and can move to the next stage which is the advanced beginners as mentioned in
the case study. Nurse at this stage are supposedly to have marginal clinical knowledge due to
prior experience. Nurse at this stage are skillful and efficient but still requires more effective
functioning which they can get by taking suggestions from the experienced health care staff and
can move to the third stage, which is the competent nurse. Nurse at this stage are competent and
can act effectively in handling different clinical situations. At this stage the nurse are stated to be
more confident, but in several clinical situations which they have witnessed during their prior
experience. Therefore by working in a team they will be able to gather clinical knowledge
regarding different healthcare incident and can move to the fourth stage of the clinical
competence which is proficient. Nurse at this phase are proficient and can act efficiently in

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different healthcare and clinics aspects. They understand a clinical situations as a whole because
they are able to perceive its significance and consequences. To improve their clinical knowledge
regarding the typical event and the plans and strategies required as a response to such events,
they take suggestion from the expert nurse and able to move to the fifth stage which is the expert
(Jansson & Engström, 2017). Nurse at this stage are confident enough and act effectively at
typical clinical situations and guides the newly graduated nurse to become competent.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion it can be concluded that, transition phase of a nurse from
student to act as professional is one of the most challenging. They have to implement their
learning into the clinical practice for the effective treatment of the patient. It is frequently
observed that the newly graduated registered nurse often get involved in medical error which
might lead to adversely patient outcomes. The potential cause behind this is their low confidence,
which can be elevated by practice and by taking suggestions and help from the experienced
healthcare staff. They should show proficiency in working as a part of the team, which not only
aid in increasing the health outcomes of the patient but will also aim to benefit the health care
organization. It will provide them with the effective management strategies in association to the
quality patient care and will also aid to increase their understanding regarding the
implementation of the ethical, professional conduct, NSQHS and registered nurse standard of the
registered nurse in the healthcare setting and its impact on the patient care.

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References:
Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2019). Interpersonal Relationships E-Book: Professional
Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Barnes, H. (2015, July). Nurse practitioner role transition: A concept analysis. In Nursing
Forum (Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 137-146).
Faraz, A. (2016). Novice nurse practitioner workforce transition into primary care: a literature
review. Western journal of nursing research, 38(11), 1531-1545.
Holland, D. (2019). Interprofessional clinical skills: a tool for developing clinical skills, team
working and professional awareness between medical students and physician
associates. Future healthcare journal, 6(Suppl 1), 141.
Jansson, A. B., & Engström, Å. (2017). Working together: critical care nurses experiences of
temporary staffing within Swedish health care: A qualitative study. Intensive and Critical
Care Nursing, 41, 3-10.
Lyneham, J., & Levett-Jones, T. (2016). Insights into Registered Nurses' professional values
through the eyes of graduating students. Nurse education in practice, 17, 86-90.
Mann, N. (2018). Application of Clinical Judgment Models to the Development of Academic
Advisors. NACADA Journal, 38(2), 61-71.
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards. (2019). The NSQHS Standards |
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Retrieved 8 October 2019,
from https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards

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NSW Health. (2019). Benner's Stages of Clinical Competence. Retrieved 8 October 2019, from
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/projects/Documents/novice-expert-benner.pdf
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2019). Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia -
Registered nurse standards for practice. Retrieved 8 October 2019, from
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-
standards/registered-nurse-standards-for-practice.aspx
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2019). Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia -
New codes of ethics in effect for nurses and midwives. Retrieved 8 October 2019, from
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/News/2018-03-01-new-codes-of-ethics-in-
effect.aspx
Ortiz, J. (2016). New graduate nurses' experiences about lack of professional confidence. Nurse
Education in Practice, 19, 19-24.