The seven Registered Nurse Standards of Practice developed by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) are supposed to be observed by all registered nurses and midwives throughout Australia. The formulation of these standards was informed by the need to keep up with the ever dynamic nursing profession requirements besides catering for the complex and multifaceted Australian communities, cultures, and histories (AHPRA, 2018). As such they are grounded on person-centered, scientific evidence, and professional relationship footing which is instrumental in advancing holistic patient care (Andre, & Heartfield, 2011). The focus of this paper is to reflect on two AHPRA Registered Nurse Standard of Practice extrapolating on their importance and relevance in practice. Moreover, the paper will connect their relevance to the experiences I gained during my undergraduate nursing clinical practice and my imminence of transiting to become a registered nurse.
Nurses are called upon by this nursing standard to endeavor to fully exploit their nursing knowledge and skills in order to provide the most optimal care to both patients and their families.
In doing so, the standard calls upon nurses to think critically and creatively for purposes of advancing the best care to patients. Bittner and Gravlin, (2009); Borbasi and Jackson, (2015) observe that such a standard is also instrumental in introducing nurses to the relevance of using scientific research evidence to inform their nursing practice as well as reaching informed nursing decisions on the same.
As I went about my nursing duties during my undergraduate nursing clinical practice last long holiday, I came across numerous instances where I was challenged to employ my capabilities of thinking critically to advance person-centered care from an evidence-based perspective. One example I can vividly remember is a day when I was obligated to take care of an old Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman. She had been diagnosed with a mental illness and it was upon me to advance adequate nursing care to her. Though challenged at first on how best to take care of her, I later drew insights from my undergraduate theory on how to care for mental patients as well as thinking critically on how I could engage her and her family in their own care. I also strived to contact the most relevant scientific evidence to take care of her deteriorated mental health condition.
Since the standard also emphasizes the need for nurses to be in a continuous nursing thought development for purposes of improving current and future patient treatment outcomes, I was keen to make this encounter a learning experience to inform my future practice. Whatever actions I took in care for this Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient was by and large on an ethical trial. To this end, I took caution to exploit all the skills and knowledge I had acquired while at the same time keeping my personal feelings and beliefs concerning such patients at bay. Actually, the standard calls upon nurses to be respectful of the cultures and the role of the family and community in catering for the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. As such, I also took significance in complying with the set of nursing legislation, policies, regulations, guidelines, and other standards to advance the most holistic care to the patient. This was in recognition of the fact that failure to do so would have amounted to clinical negligence.
As I transition to becoming a fully registered nurse, my promise to myself is to strive to abide by and follow the provisions of this standard. The standard is central at molding the nurses’ thought process as well as exposing them to the tenets of scientific evidence, patient-centered treatment approaches and the importance of observing ethics in the provision of the same (Fedoruk, and Hofmeyer, 2012). Indeed, with the introduction of the patient-centered nursing approaches in the Australian healthcare system, I endeavor to think of ways I can actively engage patients and their families in their own care besides tapping on past nursing experience, skills, and knowledge to come up with future patient treatment and management strategies. Amer (2013) assert that this is one of the virtues that inform transformative nursing leadership.
Engages In Therapeutic and Professional Relationships nursing standard requires nurses to engage in meaningful and productive workplace relationships with all healthcare providers. For the provision of holistic person-centered care to be effective, then nurses and other healthcare practitioners must endeavor to engage in a therapeutic and professional relationship (Chang & Daly, 2016). Being a profession with many specializations and taking into consideration the varied health care needs of different patients, the healthcare industry best works through the formulation of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teams making therapeutic and professional relationships central to the profession.
During my nursing clinical practice, I was extensively involved in different interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary endeavors in which I was supposed to showcase my capabilities of collaborating with other healthcare providers in patient care. Since the standard requires healthcare practitioners to develop healthy workplace relationships, I was keen to observe this by distinguishing my culture, position, experience, values, and those of my more experienced colleagues. I was keen to follow instructions in patient care as directed by the doctors, physicians, and surgeons. Sometimes these professionals would delegate me whole patient care tasks such as in the case of the mentally ill Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient.
In taking care of this patient and in line with engaging in the therapeutic and professional relationship, I was obliged to communicate effectively with other health care practitioners so as to arrive at the most optimal care plan. Furthermore, the standard requires healthcare practitioners to observe virtues such as faithfulness, honesty, and trust while in the active conduct of their duties. Taking in consideration that this was a case of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient, I was obliged to respect the patient’s dignity, values, culture, and beliefs while advancing care besides recognizing that people are indeed experts in their own healthcare. This was significant in winning the trust and faith of the patient in care advanced to her by me. Under the supervision and coordination of fellow practitioners, I become more familiar with the nursing practice besides giving me an opportunity to share my skills and knowledge with them.
Daly, Speedy, & Jackson, (2017) assert that such virtues are central to developing the healthcare providers’ integrity which by extension helps facilitate therapeutic and professional relationships. Moreover, Courtney and McCutcheon, (2010) view that adopting such a standard helps orient healthcare practitioners to resources that enhance more positive health outcomes besides promoting a culture of learning, development, and safety. I believe my workplace integrity developed greatly through the proactive therapeutic and professional interactions I had with my fellow healthcare practitioners and the patients and families I served. I was in a position to efficiently orient healthcare resources to optimal usage especially when I was delegated to coordinate healthcare delivery of different patients.
Forrester and Griffiths (2014) assert that in doing so; nurses must be keen to abide by all set healthcare regulations, guidelines and policies. Just like Bulman and Schutz, (2013) asserts about the importance of reflective practice in nursing, as I transition to become a fully registered nurse, I will endeavor to develop grounded therapeutic and professional relationships with fellow practitioners in order to live within the promise of the healthcare industry.
Conclusion
The AHPRA registered nurse standards of practice described in this paper have been brought out to showcase their significance in the nursing profession. AHPRA main aim in the formulation of these standards is to regulate the Australian nurses and midwives professional conduct as well as protecting the public from irresponsible and negligent healthcare delivery (Willis, Reynolds, & Keleher, 2016). Thinks Critically and Analyses Nursing Practice and Engages In Therapeutic and Professional Relationships are very central to the nursing profession and therefore registered nurses ought to tap from their potential in advancing holistic, quality and safe healthcare to patients. The two posit very ample platform over which to develop their nursing practice.
References
AHPRA (2018). Registered nurse standards for practice [Retrieved from]
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?record=WD16%2f19524&dbid=AP&chksum=R5Pkrn8yVpb9bJvtpTRe8w%3d%3d. Assessed 31/8/2018
Andre, K., & Heartfield, M. (2011). Nursing and midwifery portfolios: Evidence of continuing competence. Elsevier Australia.
Amer, K. S. (2013). Quality and safety for transformational nursing: Core competencies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Borbasi, S., & Jackson, D. (2015). Navigating the maze of research: Enhancing nursing and
midwifery practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Bulman, C., & Schutz, S. (Eds.). (2013). Reflective practice in nursing. John Wiley & Sons.
Bittner, N. P., & Gravlin, G. (2009). Critical thinking, delegation, and missed care in nursing
practice. Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(3), 142-146.
Chang, E., & Daly, J. (2016). Transitions in Nursing: Preparing for Professional Practice.
Courtney, M., & McCutcheon, H. (Eds.). (2010). Using Evidence to Guide Nursing Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Daly, J., Speedy, S., & Jackson, D. (2017). Contexts of nursing: An introduction. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Forrester, K., & Griffiths, D. (2014). Essentials of Law for Health Professionals-eBook. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Fedoruk, M., & Hofmeyer, A. (2012). Becoming a Nurse: Making the Transition to Practice. Oxford University Press.
Willis, E., Reynolds, L., & Keleher, H. (Eds.). (2016). Understanding the Australian health care system. Elsevier Health Sciences.
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