University Nursing Practice Portfolio Report: ACCCN & NMBA Standards

This report provides a comprehensive overview of professional nursing practice, focusing on the development and use of professional portfolios. It explores the benefits and challenges associated with portfolio building, emphasizing its role in documenting competencies and expertise for career advancement and performance evaluation. The report delves into the importance of management and leadership competencies in nursing, highlighting skills such as human resource management, performance improvement, and contingency planning. A real-life professional situation is described, illustrating the practical application of Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) standards. The report critically discusses the NMBA standards, emphasizing their role in ensuring safe and effective nursing practice. Furthermore, it examines the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) as a relevant professional organization for career development in critical care nursing, outlining its contributions to the field.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE
Professional nursing practice
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

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Table of Contents
Description of a professional practice portfolio in nursing........................................................2
Benefits and challenges of using a professional practice portfolio............................................3
Management and leadership competencies in professional nursing practise portfolio..............4
Description of a professional situation.......................................................................................5
Critical discussion of the professional nursing NMBA standards.............................................6
Report on peak professional nursing organization relevant to career path................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................10

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Description of a professional practice portfolio in nursing
Portfolio building is one of the important criteria for any job role or profession. The
development of a professional portfolio is equally important within nursing care practise. It is
a collection of carefully selected materials that documents the competencies and the expertise
of the nurses. It provides a way for the monitoring of professional development by
periodically accessing the progress. The professional portfolios could be divided into two
main types which are – best work and growth and development portfolio. The best work
portfolio provides evidences of the expertise and competencies of the nurses. These portfolios
are used as references for career ladder promotions, annual performance review,
accreditations etc. The growth and development portfolios are designed for the nurses in
order to monitor their progress in meeting personal and professional learning goals
(Laschinger & Fida, 2015). This kind of portfolio could be used by the nurses for evaluation
of their own professional growth. The nursing professional can access their own performance
through a four step process, which further helps in development of the professional practise
portfolio. In the first step, the nurse would access the amount of knowledge possessed by
them and the areas, which needs further development. The second step is focused upon
developing a plan for meeting with the learning needs. Some of the activities which are
undertaken over here include continuing education, completing certain clinical experiences.
The third step is the implementation of the plan which is done by completing a specific set of
activities. The fourth step is the evaluation of the outcomes of learning which helps in
highlighting the gaps in the nursing care delivery process.
As commented by Regan, Laschinger & Wong (2016), proper portfolio screening can
help in the recruitment of experienced nursing professionals, which can improve the quality
of the health and support care services. Additionally, repeated evaluation through the

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professional portfolio can also help in enhancement of the personal skill sets of the nursing
professionals.
Benefits and challenges of using a professional practice portfolio
There are a number of benefits and challenges associated with the professional
portfolio which have been discussed further. As commented by Kalb, O'Conner-Von,
Brockway, Rierson & Sendelbach (2015), developing an effective portfolio gives a sense of
achievement to the ensuring professionals. The in-depth self evaluation helps in focussing
upon the loopholes within nursing care practice, which could be further used in the
development of long term goals (Missen, McKenna & Beauchamp, 2016). Some of these
long term goals help in making the nursing care services better and fit for meeting with the
diverse needs of the patients. Therefore, maintaining a professional portfolio can make a
nursing professional more critical of their work, which can help them in the making
individual areas of nursing care strong by the nursing professional. As commented by
Jefferies et al. (2018), maintaining a professional practise portfolio can act as a database
where the expertise of the nursing professionals working within a particular hospital are
noted down. Thus, maintaining an effective portfolio also helps in the allocation of the duties
within a care setup, as per the expertise possessed by individual staffs.
However, there are a number of limitations of maintaining a professional portfolio
which have been further discussed. In this respect, the portfolio could simply become a piece
of paper. As commented by Hickey et al. (2017), the assembling and contracting of the
portfolio is a rather time-consuming process. The portfolio can simply help in identification
of the functional aspects without giving a detailed outlook of the bigger concern. The
portfolio for a nursing professional must be built up in accordance with the standards as
specified by the Nursing and Midwifery board of Australia (NMBA standards). As

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commented by Bengtsson & Carlson (2015), the failure to comply with the NMBA standards
can reduce the affectivity of a portfolio along with making it void.
Management and leadership competencies in professional nursing practise portfolio
The leadership and management competencies play a crucial role in developing an
effective professional nursing portfolio. The leadership and management skills are crucial to
the success of a healthcare care setup. Some of these contribute significantly in maintaining
an effective work flow within a healthcare organization. The management role for a nursing
professional could be divided into three distinct roles that are managing the business,
developing the leader within oneself and leading the people. Some of these are human
resource management, where sufficient amount of importance needs to be given to the
staffing and training of the nursing professionals. As commented by Kalb et al. (2015), the
preceptor nurse plays a crucial role in the training of the newly recruited nursing
professionals. Another key objective of managing the business is through performance
improvement. For this constant performance measurement and evaluation needs to be done,
which helps in highlighting the dearth in technical expertise possessed by the nursing
professionals. A survey conducted can help in accessing the regulatory readiness of the
hospitals. Thus, the professional nursing portfolio can help in assessment of the performance
gaps of the working professionals.
As mentioned by Laschinger & Fida (2015), contingency planning is one of the most
important objectives of nursing care. Conducting sufficient amount of internal checks of the
hospital and the working can help in assessment of the internal loopholes which can help in
preparing the hospital for any forms of future risk (Katsikitis et al., 2013). There has been
huge amount dependence of healthcare upon information technology. This is because most
of the healthcare organizations are providing healthcare services based upon implementation

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of electronic healthcare records. The EHR helps in fast and accurate delivery of health and
support care services. Therefore, possessing such technical It skills can help in making the
nursing care more comprehensive. As commented by Wilkinson (2012), the more the number
of skills mentioned within the professional portfolio the better are the chances of recruitment.
Therefore, possessing multiskill abilities can help in improving the quality of the services
offered by the nursing professional (MacPhee, Skelton‐Green, Bouthillette & Suryaprakash,
2012). As commented by Jefferies et al. (2018), past work experience in similar clinical
scenario can help the nursing professional in developing an understanding contingency
planning. Some of the leadership competencies which could be described over here with
regards to nursing care are provision of effective training to the nursing staffs. Some of the
clinical experience of the nursing professionals can be documented within the professional
portfolio under the job experience and responsibilities section. This further helps in the
allocation of the duties and the roles of the nursing professionals within a healthcare setup.
Description of a professional situation
In this respect, focussing upon a real life situation can help in the understanding the
nursing professional standards. In the current situation, the nursing standards as highlighted
by the NMBA board have been focussed upon. The standards have been developed for
improving the quality of the services offered by the Australia based hospitals and healthcare
centers. The criteria need to be evaluated in the context of the working of the registered
nurse. As commented by Alexander & Stewart (2016), the criteria are not exhaustive and
enable the development of individual registered nurse scope of practices. In this respect, a
professional scenario has been taken into consideration for understanding the effect of the
professional nursing standards within a clinical scenario.

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I have been working as an enrolled with an aged care where I had to go through some
actual clinical experiences which helped me develop my knowledge over the professional
standards of nursing. I was responsible for looking after an aged care ward. During my
practise one such patient was admitted to the hospital with psychological trauma and also had
a past history of dementia. The patient had reduced cognitive abilities along with poor
memory which made it difficult in handling and management of the patient. Therefore,
maintaining an effective note taking could help in keeping a track of the present and past
health condition of the patient. This could have made referral and dissemination of treatment
much more effective. However, being an enrolled nurse I lacked the expertise of effective
note taking. I also lacked sufficient knowledge regarding the use of electronic health record
systems. Hence I failed to make effective note taking regarding the medications to be
followed by the patient, which resulted in wrong doses being given to the patient. This could
further deteriorate the health condition of the patient along with leading to medical
negligence. Hence, I should have abided by the standard 4 of the NMBA standards. The
standard 4 focuses on the importance of implementation of assessment techniques for
effective data collection within the healthcare settings. The situation made me realize of the
NMBA standards as compliance with those standards can help me improve the professional
care and practices.
Critical discussion of the professional nursing NMBA standards
As discussed earlier, the NMBA standards help in compliance monitoring by the
registered nurse. As mentioned by Danielson (2011), following the NMBA standards helps in
controlling the rates of service gaps. There are a total of seven NMBA standards some of
which have been discussed below as follows:

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Therefore, reflecting upon the scope of practices helped me develop my professional
skills further. Focussing upon the individual professional nursing standards helped me
understand my strengths and weaknesses. I think working as an enrolled nurse I lacked the
effective communication skills, which kept me at distance with some of the patient groups.
Hence, developing the therapeutic communication skills could further help me in relation
with my patients as well as understand the grievances faced by them. I also think less
knowledge regarding the assessment techniques hampered the quality of data collection
practices as per standards 4 of the NMBA standards. Hence, I would need to develop my data
collection skills which would help me in accessing the situation and condition of the patient.
As commented by Oakley, Pegrum & Johnston (2014), developing knowledge in some of
technical health accessibility factors could provide me with a competitive advantage.
As per the standard 3 of the NMBA regulations, the registered nurses are responsible
for ensuring they are safe and have the capacity for practise. Under such directives the RN is
responsible for self management and also ensures capability for practise for other health
professionals (McNamara, 2013). Under this the RN needs to take accountabilities and
responsibilities for their actions or decisions and also others to whom they have delegated
important responsibilities (Yanhua & Watson, 2011). This had been done in the form of
effective delegation and communication across the team. The briefing sessions held for an
half an hour every day also helped us fulfill our responsibilities effectively within the
healthcare setup.
Report on peak professional nursing organization relevant to career path
Development of a career path is crucial to receive success as a nursing professional.
Therefore, working as a nursing professional I have always felt special interest for critical
care nursing. I feel that developing my skills in this particular area of nursing can help me in

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handling and management of the emergency and trauma care cases better. The nursing care
organization relevant to my career path would be Australian College of Critical Care Nurses
(ACCCN). The ACCCN is a professional organization contributing to the sector of critical
care in Australia ("About Us - ACCCN - Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd",
2018). The members of the organisation are clinical nurses, nurse educators, nurse managers,
nurse researchers who work in intensive care units such as emergency care units,
cardiothoracic units. ACCCN provides advanced life support programs annually. I think
undertaking training in the ACCCN would be beneficial for me in many contexts as I will be
part of a team that caters for ICU complexities including complex ventilation, ECMO and
CRRT("About Us - ACCCN - Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd", 2018). This
can help me progress in my professional career manifold times. The college is a not-for
profit organisation which helps almost 2300 nurses annually to progress in their careers
through multiple courses such as National Adult ALS certification, National Pediatric ALs
certification.
Conclusion
The current assignment focuses on the importance of developing an effective portfolio
in professional nursing practise. The development of an effective nursing portfolio helps
them in evaluating their career growth and performance over long term. An effective
portfolio helps in optimum recruitment and helps in making the healthcare services more
organised. Additionally, the importance of the professional nursing standards has also been
highlighted over here. The professional nursing standard helps in making the care services
more structured. Some of the nursing standards have been evaluated over here with in
relation to practical scenario. Additionally, the leadership and management competencies
required within a nursing professional have been further discussed over here. In this respect,

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working in an actual clinical scenario can help in developing the skills for contingency
planning.

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References
About Us - ACCCN - Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd. (2018). Acccn.com.au.
Retrieved 7 March 2018, from https://www.acccn.com.au/about-us/about-us
Alexander, S. J., & Stewart, L. (2016). Establishing and maintaining a professional identity:
portfolios and career progression. Transitions in Nursing: Preparing for Professional
Practice, 259-276. Retrieved from : https://books.google.co.in/books?
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Bengtsson, M., & Carlson, E. (2015). Knowledge and skills needed to improve as preceptor:
development of a continuous professional development course–a qualitative study
part I. BMC nursing, 14(1), 51. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-015-
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Danielson, C. (2011). Enhancing professional practice: A framework for teaching. ASCD,
54-71. Retrieved from : https://books.google.co.in/books?
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&q&f=false

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Hickey, K., Rossetti, J., Oldenburg, N., Abendroth, M., Uhlken, C., Musker, K., ... &
Paramore, P. (2017). Moving Nursing Program Portfolio Assessment From Midterm
to End of Program: Lessons Learned. Nurse educator, 42(4), 172-175. doi:
10.1097/NNE.0000000000000343
Jefferies, D., McNally, S., Roberts, K., Wallace, A., Stunden, A., D'Souza, S., & Glew, P.
(2018). The importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and
its relationship to future professional clinical practice: A systematic review. Nurse
education today, 60, 84-91. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2017.09.02
Kalb, K. A., O'Conner-Von, S. K., Brockway, C., Rierson, C. L., & Sendelbach, S. (2015).
Evidence-based teaching practice in nursing education: Faculty perspectives and
practices. Nursing education perspectives, 36(4), 212-219. doi: 10.5480/14-1472
Katsikitis, M., McAllister, M., Sharman, R., Raith, L., Faithfull-Byrne, A., & Priaulx, R.
(2013). Continuing professional development in nursing in Australia: Current
awareness, practice and future directions. Contemporary nurse, 45(1), 33-45.
Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.2013.45.1.33
Laschinger, H. K. S., & Fida, R. (2015). Linking nurses’ perceptions of patient care quality to
job satisfaction: the role of authentic leadership and empowering professional practice
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ons_of_Patient_Care.9.aspx
MacPhee, M., Skelton‐Green, J., Bouthillette, F., & Suryaprakash, N. (2012). An
empowerment framework for nursing leadership development: supporting