Bachelor of Nursing: RN Standards Reflection and Analysis

This report presents a reflection on a nursing student's clinical placement experiences, specifically focusing on two Registered Nurse Standards of Practice as outlined by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). The student recounts experiences in both medical and mental health wards, highlighting Standard 2: Engage in a therapeutic and professional relationship, and Standard 6: Provide safe, appropriate, and responsive quality nursing practice. The reflection uses the Gibbs reflective cycle to analyze and evaluate these experiences, supported by evidence-based literature. The report details the challenges faced, such as dealing with uncooperative and aggressive patients, and the strategies employed to provide quality care, including communication, collaboration, and seeking support from other healthcare professionals. The student draws lessons from these experiences, emphasizing the importance of respecting patient backgrounds, coordinating resources, and understanding the unique needs of mentally challenged patients. The report concludes with a reaffirmation of the RN standards and their impact on the student's professional development, emphasizing the commitment to quality, safety, respect, and human dignity in nursing practice.

Running head: STANDARDS
Standards
Name
ID
Course
Unit
Lecturer
Date

STANDARDS 2
Ellis, (2019) stated that the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) ensure that the
registered nurses follow the guidelines they have outlined. When the RNs deliver their services
they are always guided by the national registered standards for practice and the NMBA standards
according to Gorski, (2017). It is clear that nursing is one of the complex profession in Australia.
It is the field that requires the service provider to think critically and analyze various cases
presented to him or her. Thorough analysis is what ensures that the nurse achieve thoughtful
development and ensure constructive relationships with the patients and the board of nurses. For
a nurse to achieve quality practice, he or she must always coordinate activities in the healthcare,
ensure safety and quality services. However these nurses work at different capacities. The
registered nurses are always at the top of the management. They delegate and supervise various
activities in the health care that other junior nurses are performing. In this assignment, I will
elaborate on reflection of my personal experience with two Registered Nursing Standards of
practice while I was in my placement in a health care.
During my placement at the health care center, was entitled to deliver my services according to
the Registered Nurse Standards of Practice. While at the hospital, I got an opportunity to serve
patient at the mental and medical ward. When at these two places, I was to emphasize of the
standard. At the end of the placement session, I had a remarkable experience. The following are
the two standards that relate to my experience.
Standard 2: Engage in a therapeutic and professional relationship
When I began my placement, I got an opportunity to deliver my service at the medical ward. The
ward comprised of patients from various backgrounds with different cases. Consequently, there
is a single case that I live to remember up to today. It was during lunch time that a certain patient
experiencing severe pain came to the hospital. From the behavior, I could notice that the pain

STANDARDS 3
was too much to the patient to an extent he became impatient and unruly. The man became
abusive after few minutes constantly complaining of his situation. It is a curse that attracted my
attention and as a caring nurse I felt that the man was in need of my services. Failing to attend to
him was a sign that I have failed in my career as a nurse. Despite the care I was planning to
provide to the patient, I got irritated after some time because the patient was noisy and not
allowing me to attend to him properly.
Lowe & Plummer, (2019) stated that the nursing standard on engaging in therapeutic and
professional relationship emphasizes on the relationship between the nurse and other patients. In
this standard, it has specific requirements that a registered nurse should look at in period of
service delivery. Some of the requirements according to this standard in include:
a. Communicating effectively and with respect. The communication should consider the
patient’s culture, beliefs, values and dignity.
b. Identifying that people are experts in the experience.
c. Supporting people and ensuring they get resources that can improve their health status.
d. Maintaining consultations with other health providers with the goal of improving the
health status of the patient.
e. Establishing connection with the patients in a manner that recognizes the boundaries
between personal and professional relationship.
Basing my thoughts on the guidelines that this standard have provided and the scenario I
encountered, the first thing I ensured was I was in good terms with the patient. Nurses sometimes
encounters uncooperative patients, however this should not make the nurse to ignore the
guidelines. I maintained a good rapport with the man despise abusive and irritating words he was
uttering. Besides that, I realized that I could handle this situation myself. I had to consider

STANDARDS 4
involving other nurses with the goal of giving this man quality service. We coordinate every
activity during the treatment of this patient. Lúanaigh, (2015) said that cooperation ensure that
nurses could mobilize every resource for the benefit of the patient. However, this man came from
a different background from, I had to respect everything he was saying despise some of them
irritating me in the process.
The experience I encounter allowed me to learn several lessons which could also improve my
work in the future practice. In future I will be at a positional to coordinate all resources to ensure
such patient get the best treatment. The other lesion I got from this scenario is that it is important
to consult other nurses when such irritating issues arise. There are other health workers who are
more experienced than me that can assist me solve the case quickly according to Zaccagnini &
Pechacek, (2019). For instance, they can be understanding the culture of the patient effectively
which ease the process of service delivery.
Standard 6: Provide safe appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice
The second case I encountered during my placement was when I was working at the mental
ward. Mental health ward is always composed of disturbing patients. There mood changes every
now and then depending on the circumstance. For instance, Dellefield, Castle, McGilton &
Spilsbury, (2015) argued that some patients can be aggressive and annoying making it difficult to
attend to their needs. Consequently, there was a scenario I came across that influenced my
nursing career. On a Friday morning there was a lady brought to the hospital with a mental
problem. After assessment, she was directed to the mental ward where I was operating with the
help of other nurses. However, this lady was turf and rejected all my efforts of giving her
medicine. I thought for a while how I could tackle the situation and decided to engage the lady’s
relatives. The attempt did not bear any fruit because the lady refused to listen to them too at the

STANDARDS 5
end. It was the time to check for an alternative way of ensuring that this patient get a quality and
safe health care. The first thing that crossed my mind was the possible ways of cooling down the
patient and making her less aggressive. Luckily, there was a priest present in the hospital who
was offering prayer sessions to the patients. I called the priest to intervene and the lady agreed to
cooperate. It was now a conducive situation to provide medication to this patient.
I was not shocked too much because I had been informed by other nurses that there are situations
where patients with mental challenges become highly aggressive. However, when there is a
family member, the patient always cooperate, this case was a unique one that we had never
witnessed before in the ward. It is always important to go slow on this patients because when a
nurse is arrogant, Nagle & Vogt, (2018) said that the mentally challenged patient can assault him
or her physically and that could cause more problems. There is need to develop quality skills on
how to handle these patients according to Masters, (2018). It is always a challenge when one is
working at a mental hospital. There are several cases where these group of patients have injured
nurses which have resulted to more troubles. However, the best way to get to these group of
patients is making use of the family members or another person who can understand the
individual well. For example in this scenario the patient was able to listen to the priest. In the
scenario I encountered, I learned that there is no way the nurse can deal with the mentally
challenged patients alone. These group of people can become violent at times. It is necessary to
work at the ward more than three people to assist in controlling the situation according to
Scanlon, Cashin, Bryce, Kelly & Buckely, (2016). Besides that, these patients do not need
harshness, it is important not to insist on an issue when the patient have become uncooperative.
The quality care can be achieved when the nurse is able to involve the family members according

STANDARDS 6
to Vogt, Hibberd & Halloran, (2018) or even any third party like a priest who can assist in
cooling the temper of the patient.
In conclusion, all the registered nurses in Australia operate under the guidance of NMBA.
Regardless of the scenario, the nurse must ensure that he or she observe these rules throughout
the treatment process.. Throughout my services these standards guided my performance in every
department. The cooperation that ensured with other nurses helped me to remain on the right
track with the guidelines. I can confidently say that I have advanced in my future career, I am
able to uphold quality and safety services. Apart from that, I ensured respect and human dignity
to every patient in the hospital.

STANDARDS 7
References
Dellefield, M. E., Castle, N. G., McGilton, K. S., & Spilsbury, K. (2015). The relationship
between registered nurses and nursing home quality: An integrative review (2008-
2014). Nursing economic$, 33(2), 95-108.
Ellis, P. (2019). Evidence-based practice in nursing. Learning Matters.
Gorski, L. A. (2017). The 2016 infusion therapy standards of practice. Home healthcare
now, 35(1), 10-18.
Lowe, G., & Plummer, V. (2019). Advanced Practice in Nursing and Midwifery: The
Contribution to Healthcare in Australia. Advanced Practice in Healthcare: Dynamic
Developments in Nursing and Allied Health Professions, 51-63.
Lúanaigh, P. Ó. (2015). Becoming a professional: What is the influence of registered nurses on
nursing students' learning in the clinical environment?. Nurse Education in
Practice, 15(6), 450-456.
Masters, K. (2018). Role development in professional nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett
Learning.
Nagle, C., & Vogt, T. (2018). Midwife standards for practice: one size does fit all. Women and
Birth, 31, S51.
Scanlon, A., Cashin, A., Bryce, J., Kelly, J. G., & Buckely, T. (2016). The complexities of
defining nurse practitioner scope of practice in the Australian context. Collegian, 23(1),
129-142.

STANDARDS 8
Vogt, T., Hibberd, K., & Halloran, P. (2018). Safety and quality guidelines for privately
practising midwives. Women and Birth, 31, S12.
Zaccagnini, M., & Pechacek, J. M. (2019). The doctor of nursing practice essentials: A new
model for advanced practice nursing. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.