Reflection On The Use Of Registered Nurse Standards For Practice In Healthcare

Overview of RN approach and standards for practice

Discuss about the Nursing Reflection for Practitioner Engages.

The RN approach is a person-centered and evidence-based framework that guided the way practitioners engage in different activities with patients. The standards are used to allow the practitioner to follow a set of required standards when handling patient related activities. The standards have dimensions that form the way the practitioner engages in the clinical practice. The Gibb’s reflective framework is used to reflect on the work of the nursing practitioner to understand how work was done (Jayatilleke & Mackie, 2012).  This essay is a reflection using the Gibb’s reflective framework to analyze how the practitioner used the registered nurse standards for practice in the healthcare process.

From the case video, the practitioner engages with the fourth standards or care of comprehensively conducting assessments to communicate with the patient on the state of the condition. In the case scenario, the practitioner does not make personal judgment on the state of the patient but rather uses a holistic approach of testing the patient with the required clinical tools and at the same time probes the patient to assess the state of the condition that they are in (Burston, 2018).  The assessment techniques assist in collecting clinical information relevant for the patient’s case. To get clear clinical results, the practitioner works in partnership with the patient by asking follow up questions and at the same time responding to any concerns that the patient raises to inform clinical outcomes (Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia, 2016). The outcome of such process is informed decisions that enable the practitioner uncover any challenges faced by the client in managing the health condition. The practitioners follows a professional code of ethics when applying the fourth principle by informing the patient on the role of the process thus seeking for early cooperation of the client. Here the practice uses a range of assessment techniques by using clinical assessment tool, observation and questioning to have a clear understanding of the situation.

As a practitioner, I am more concerned about the usefulness of the fourth principle of registered nurses standards framework and its importance in the clinical practice. By measuring the patient with the available assessment tools, then I believe I will have taken a holistic and culturally appropriate approach in understanding and analyzing patient situation to make clear clinical judgment on the situation (Weber, 2014). Further, patient analysis relies on a range of assessment technique that ensure appropriate information is collected. When choosing the type of collection tool and leaving the other, I will be applying clinical competencies that I have acquired rather than using my personal reasoning ability. As a practitioner, I believe that it is my role to make analysis of the situation and understand the required tools for assessing the patient. Further, I am more concerned with building rapport with the patient that allows asking proper questions for the assessment and at the same time allowing the patient to raise any concerns during the process as a way of making them interested in the whole assessment process. Without proper assessment methods, it is difficult to ascertain the progress made in the healing process of the patient.

Analysis of the use of RN standards for practice in healthcare process

Patients trust practitioners more when participatory methods are used to meet the conditions that they are going through. When the practitioner approaches the patient in a manner that is easier for them to assess the conditions that they are going through, they become more open and feel that the care process is tailored towards them. Since assessment and evaluation is part of the critical care process that measures the progress of patients, practitioners need to focus on the needs of the patient to determine the future of healthcare concerns (Woo, Lee, & Tam, 2017). By working with the patient, the practitioner ensures that the right information is gathered to meet the needs of the patient. In most cases, the practitioner relies on professional assessment of the patient using the required tools like measuring of vital signs and at the same time use their professional experience to ask patients follow up questions that relate to the state of health that they are going through. Groenewegen, Kerssens, Sixma, Eijk, & Boerma (2015), suggests that assessment of patient progress is one of acheiving quality of care though ensuring that the right standards of care are achieved. This is the focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of care that the patient receives and how the care process is meeting the intended healthcare outcomes. In my view the assesment of the patient by running a few tests and measuring viatl signs of progress is one way of ensuring that the healing process is highly acheivable. The patient needs to be informed of the progress of the care process and if there are any challenge that the patient is facing then they have to put strategies in place to address them. This way the practitioner engages with the standards of care by using the relevant tests on the patient.

The registered nurse standards for practice is a blue print that guides the approach that practitioners use in undertaking the clinical process required to them by law. The individual practitioner observes the standards as a way of practicing professionalism and increasing patient outcomes. Standard four of the framework defines the approach and steps that the practitioner needs to engage in to meet the needs of the patient and the practice (Middleton, Gardner, Gardner, & Della, 2011). The standards requires the practitioner to carry out a holistic analysis by observing the needs of the patient. This means that the methods that the practitioner uses must yield accurate information and data that informs the practice. This means that the decisions that the practitioner makes are informed by the quality and quantity of data gathered.

Importance of patient assessment in clinical practice

Conclusion

Every practitioner needs to understand the process of evaluating the progress of clinical outcomes in patients. From the analysis, I can conclude that the practitioner followed the requirements of the fourth standard from the time of contact with the patient until the time when the practitioner disengages with the patient. This process ensures that the practitioner uses the right approach to assess the progress of the patient thus gathering enough data for the patient to be used in making the right clinical judgement (Bengoa, 2013). By observing the requirements of the practice and documenting all the clinical measures, the practitioner was exercising the highest level of integrity and ensuring the right standards are used to assess the progress of the patient. However, I believe that the assessment process needed more time to measure the progress of the patient through probing. Since the practitioner spend less asking the patient health related questions, I believe this would have improved the quality of outcomes of the practitioner had spent more time with the patient to understand the healthcare challenges faced in the past and how this could be used to improve future outcomes of the healthcare process. This process allows the practitioner to collect adequate information on the state of the patient and the progress made towards achieving the intended healthcare outcomes (Jennings, Gardner, O’Reilly, & Mitra, 2015).

In future, I will focus on improving my clinical communication skills as a way of implementing the standards of registered nursing practice. Through working on documentation and communication skills in future, I will improve my patient assessment skills and become a more competent practitioner that approaches the issue of healthcare with the needs of the patient and the requirements of the profession. Since the seven standards are interrelated with each other to define the way the whole care process runs. It means that I have to perfect on my skills as a way of improving my clinical skills and ways of achieving intended clinical outcomes.

References

Bengoa, R. (2013). Transforming health care: an approach to system-wide implementation. Internatiopnal Journal of Intergrated Care, 10(4).

Burston, A. (Producer). (2018). NRSG139 Ax3 TPRVignette [Motion Picture].

Groenewegen, P. P., Kerssens, J. J., Sixma, H. J., Eijk, I. v., & Boerma, W. G. (2015). What is important in evaluating health care quality? An international comparison of user views. Bio Medical Central Health Services Research, 5(16).

Jayatilleke, N., & Mackie, A. (2012). Reflection as part of continuous professional development for public health professionals: a literature review. Journal of Public Healt, 35(2), 308–312.

Jennings, N., Gardner, G., O’Reilly, G., & Mitra, B. (2015). Evaluating emergency nurse practitioner service effectiveness on achieving timely analgesia: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial. Academy of Emergency Management, 22(6), 676-684.

Middleton, S., Gardner, A., Gardner, G., & Della, P. (2011). The status of Australian nurse practitioners: the second national census. Australian Health Review, 35(4), 448-454.

Nursing&MidwiferyBoardofAustralia. (2016). Registered nurse standards for practice. Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia.

Weber, J. (2014). Nurses’ handbook of health assessment. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.

Woo, B. F., Lee, J. X., & Tam, W. W. (2017). The impact of the advanced practice nursing role on quality of care, clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, and cost in the emergency and critical care settings: a systematic review. Human Resource Health, 15(63).