Critical Reflection: NMBA Standards and Nursing Practicum Experiences

This reflection paper critically examines a nursing student's experiences during a practicum, relating them to two key standards from the NMBA (2016) Registered Nurses Standards for Practice: maintaining capability for practice and professional relationships (Standard 3), and providing safe, appropriate, and responsive quality nursing practice (Standard 6). The paper details how classroom learning was applied in real-world scenarios, highlighting lessons learned about accountability, adherence to procedures, and ethical considerations like patient privacy and confidentiality. The author provides specific examples, such as a drug administration incident, and an inspection of a healthcare facility, illustrating the practical application of the standards. The reflection emphasizes the positive impact of these standards on the student's future career, particularly in terms of self-management, decision-making, and compliance with privacy and government regulations. Evidence-based literature supports the discussion, demonstrating the importance of these standards in shaping a competent and responsible nursing professional. The paper concludes with a focus on the significance of the standards in ensuring safe, ethical, and patient-centered care.

Running head: REFLECTION PAPER 1
Name
Institution
Professor
Course
Date

REFLECTION PAPER 2
Nursing practicum is one of the best avenues whereby as a nursing student an individual gets the
opportunity to interact with patients and practice the skills that one has accumulated throughout
the academic ladder. Those in nursing practicum end up with different experiences depending on
the institution which determines the type of environment one has to work in. However, the
experience plays a crucial role in sharpening skills and giving real life example of what it entails
to be nursing profession. In this reflection paper, I will focus on reflecting on my experiences
during nursing practicum and how they are connected to the NMBA 2016 guidance for registered
nurses. The experiences that I had taught me many lessons in regard with how I should conduct
myself as a nursing professional and how best I should be prepared to face my nursing career
after the practicum (Stonehouse, 2017).
I will therefore focus on two of the NMBA (2016) standards and show how they influenced my
experiences in the nursing practicum as well as their contribution towards shaping me to become
a nursing professional. The reason for choosing the two practices is because they best fit my
experiences as a nurse and are in connection with my competence as a nurse. I will also be
discussing their impact of the professional standards that I experienced on my career. The first
standard of practice that I am going to explore is standard 3 which entails maintaining the
capability for practice and professional relationship. The professional issue that I experienced in
this case is learning how to accept to be held accountable for actions, mistakes and behavior that
are in relation to my roles as a professional nurse (Laverty, Wilson, & Cooper, 2018).
The second standard according to NMBA (2016) code of conduct that I will explore is standard 6
which emphasizes on the provision of safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice
whereby I experienced the professional issue of learning on how to practice nursing in
accordance with the scope of practice. The reason for choosing the two standards is because they

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are more common and widely used in nursing practices thus I thought of reflecting on them to
explain my experiences and how they have impacted my future endeavors in this field
During the nursing practicum, the experiences I had were all related to in one way or the other to
the classwork that I had undertaken before. However, the case of nursing practice is quite
different because of the exposure that I was able to gain which gave me a more practical
experience on what happens in the real world (Snelling, 2016).
In accordance with my experience that I had with the nursing practicum, I feel that I quickly
developed the third standard of nursing practice while in the hospital that I was attached to. I was
able to learn how to main capability for the nursing practice. This is because there are a number
of things that I was able to carry out which are guided by this provision which made me believe
that indeed I had performed as per standards. I was able to reconnect my classroom learning
experience on various theories and cases in regard to patient centered care which really helped
me to develop this experience (Hanson, 2016). Having been assigned duties related to patient
care I found this standard recurring severally in my nursing practicum and having to showcase
that I was able to develop it fully. I learned to deal with situations and control my personal issues
since I knew they could hinder my desire to deliver quality healthcare to my clients. Also, I
learned to take instructions and follow procedures something which I can connect to my
experience in laboratory practical. I was able to do them practically without being followed by
anyone since I learned from my nursing school the importance of adhering to such standards
since it’s an indication of competency ( Bradley, 2017).
This experience specifically relates to the provision of element 3.4 which argues that any
registered nurse should be able to accept being held accountable on matters concerning decision
making responsibilities and also behaviors so as to ensure that whatever he or she does is

REFLECTION PAPER 4
accountable for it. Therefore, being given duties like drug administration to patients and their
general care, I did everything with determination since I knew I was accountable for my actions
thus due diligence was a core thing for me. I remember that I once skipped a patient who was
awaiting to be given drugs without knowing due to a mistake I had made in my recording. I
realized that had happened when it was already late and I had no option rather than reporting to
my supervisor about the mistake so that he could advise me on the necessary precautions to
avoid that. Since then I became more cautious and I would look at the records severalty to ensure
that whatever I have done is the right thing since I have always anticipated to be a professional
nurse who adheres to code of conduct (Fisher, 2017).
The other type of experience that I was able to gain during my nursing practicum was in
accordance with standard 6. This type of nursing standard emphasizes on ‘provision of safe,
appropriate and responsive nursing practice.’ The reason as to why my experience was shaped by
this standard is because it fits my objectives that I had put in place while undertaking my nursing
practicum. I was in a position to remember the fact that life was more precious and I had vowed
to safeguard it. To be specific I had a direct encounter with element 6.5 which emphasizes on the
practice in accordance with policies, guidelines, standards, regulations and legislations ( Karch,
2015). I remember at one point during my nursing practicum an inspection by health officials
was carried out within the hospital that I was attached. Many of my colleagues were caught
unaware since they didn’t observe this code of conduct with some even being found without
proper equipment and attire while on duty. In my case, I had met all the requirements and
nothing which I did outside what is required. In this case I give credit to my mentor who coached
me well in my first days during the nursing practicum on how to ensure that my practices are
within the set guidelines and legislations. I would always ensure that I put the safety of the

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patience first in accordance with the regulations I had been taught in class and laboratory
Bagnasco, Galaverna, Aleo, Grugnetti, Rosa & Sasso, 2016). Furthermore, I became more aware
of what it entails to be a more experienced on ethical issues including privacy and confidentiality
of patient data something which I hadn’t practiced before. Also, being within the institution
made me to be more aware of healthcare policies something that I wasn’t conversant with before
since they keep on changing daily basis thus I needed to be more aware what was expected of
me. The standard was mainly shaped by the fact that I was kept in charge of patient records and I
had to practice it because any violation of privacy would land me in trouble
In addition, the two set of standards in nursing impacted my future career in a number of way;
For instance, the third standard according to NMBA 2016, guidelines would impact my future
career. For instance, my nursing career would be impacted positively because two guidelines
would help me ensuring that whatever I do is in accordance with the set guidelines. The
standards would also impact my future career by making me remain more sensitive to matters
concerning privacy and policies in nursing. In future, I will be a profession who is fully aware of
the privacy policy and who complies with government regulations (Asman Melnikov Barnoy &
Tabak, 2019). This is crucial in the sense that as a nurse I would be entrusted with confidential
information and other crucial information and I need to be aware of how to handle them. The
third standard would shape my future career by making to learn self-management and be able to
accept my own mistakes when they occur and by doing so I will be more competent as a nurse. It
will also impact my future career by making me to be able to consult and make informed
decisions in my nursing career. Another impact to my future career is that these standards will
make me be able to make me become a more responsible person who is able to make right
decisions (Zaccagnini & Pechacek, 2019).

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References
Asman, O., Melnikov, S., Barnoy, S., & Tabak, N. (2019). Experiences, behaviors, and
perceptions of registered nurses regarding research ethics and misconduct. Nursing
ethics, 26(3), 859-869.
Bagnasco, A., Galaverna, L., Aleo, G., Grugnetti, A. M., Rosa, F., & Sasso, L. (2016).
Mathematical calculation skills required for drug administration in undergraduate nursing
students to ensure patient safety: A descriptive study: Drug calculation skills in nursing
students. Nurse education in practice, 16(1), 33-39.
Fisher, M. (2017). Professional standards for nursing practice: How do they shape contemporary
rehabilitation nursing practice?. Journal of the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses
Association, 20(1), 4.
Bradley, P. (2017). Nursing associate: a role is born. British Journal of Healthcare
Assistants, 11(1), 22-31.
Hanson, J. (2016). Surveying the experiences and perceptions of undergraduate nursing students
of a flipped classroom approach to increase understanding of drug science and its
application to clinical practice. Nurse education in practice, 16(1), 79-85.
Karch, A. (2015). Lippincott nursing drug guide. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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Laverty, D., Wilson, J., & Cooper, M. (2018). Registered nurse verification of expected adult
death: new guidance provides direction. International journal of palliative nursing, 24(4),
178-183.
Snelling, P. C. (2016). The metaethics of nursing codes of ethics and conduct. Nursing
Philosophy, 17(4), 229-249.
Stonehouse, D. (2017). Understanding the nursing process. British Journal of Healthcare
Assistants, 11(8), 388-391.
Zaccagnini, M., & Pechacek, J. M. (2019). The doctor of nursing practice essentials: A new
model for advanced practice nursing. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.