School of Health Sciences
College of Health and Medicine
CNA340 Developing Professional Nursing Practice
Semester 1 2018        
University of Tasmania

WHAT IS THE UNIT ABOUT?

Unit description

This unit builds on the learning from Nursing Practice 3 and incorporates 240 hours of Professional Experience Placement (PEP). The unit focuses on assisting the student to transition to professional practice as a Registered Nurse through assessment of their progress towards the necessary capabilities of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered nurse standards for practice (2016). Resources emphasising “thinking and acting like a registered nurse” will assist the student to begin consolidating skills around reflection in action. Students will further develop their Professional Portfolio in this unit.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:

1. Apply contemporary, evidence-based nursing knowledge and skills to clinical situations ranging in complexity and predictability
2. Demonstrates critical self -reflection that supports Practice Development in preparation for the transition to becoming a registered nurse
3. Demonstrate s professionalism and accountability in clinical judgements and shared decision making
4. Demonstrate capabilities against the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered Nurse Standards for Practice (2016).

Assessment task

Completion and electronic submission of the ‘Student Designed Feed -forward Goal – setting Activity’ in your Practice Portfolio of Evidence via MyLO.

1. Assessment Task 1: Critical Reflection
2. Assessment Task 2: Academic reflection
3. Assessment Task 3: Practice Portfolio of Evidence

Assessment details

Assessment task 1. Critical Reflection: Learning in and from practice

Task Description

During the professional experience placement (PEP), you will encounter a variety of situations. Many of these experiences will be complex, multifaceted and are likely to highlight differences in how nursing practice is approached. These may be the result of differences between:

• members of staff about the strategies they employ or the beliefs they hold
• the practice techniques of registered nurses and practice techniques you learn in the Bachelor of Nursing
• aspects of nursing you have read about in the evidence base and what you see happening in nursing practice
• your own beliefs, views and assumptions and those of other people
• environmental conditions and circumstances that influenced how you tackled a specific incident as opposed to how you would like to tackle it under ideal conditions

These differences in approaches to practice are a normal occurrence of learning and operating in real clinical settings. How you deal with these situations is important. They are the stimulus for learning and the basis for lifelong learning if you engage in critical self -reflection.

This assessment task requires you to select one of the following categories to describe a situation you experienced during your current PEP :

• Professional communication
• Professional accountability
• Person-centred care

Your narrative should be written in the first person and include a brief description of:

• what happened
• the context in which it occurred
• the immediate actions you took

Please identify and discuss:

• factors that influenced your actions in the immediacy of the situation
• the outcomes of the situation
• how you felt about the outcomes of the situation

Then draw on this experience to identify two individual practice priorities for development within your own professional practice.

Assessment Criteria

1. Criterion 1: You provide a descriptive and professional account of a situation within one of the categories provided above
2. Criterion 2: You demonstrate the ability to reflect in and on action
3. Criterion 3: You demonstrate the ability to draw upon critical reflection to inform individual practice priorities to inform your professional development
4. Criterion 4: You use sound and professional written academic skills. Any referencing aligns with the Harvard style as preferred by UTAS.

Assessment task 2 Academic Reflection: transforming your nursing practice

Task Description

This assessment builds on the critical self -reflection you undertook in Assessment task 1.

You are now required to:

• select one of the individual practice priorities you identified
• present a searchable clinical question
• search the related literature and synthesise knowledge on the topic from the evidence base

Next, you are required to:

• outline how the evidence base has influenced your future clinical decision making if you experienced a similar situation
• outline how you will demonstrate professional accountability in actively transforming your own nursing practice

Your write up will include an introduction, main body and conclusion.

You may wish to accompany your reflection with a practical plan of how you achieve your practice transformation.

Assessment Criteria

1. Criterion 1: You identify a topic from nursing practice and use it to inform your own practice priority for practice development.
2. Criterion 2: You develop a searchable clinical question and use it to search the evidence base related to your topic and question
3. Criterion 3: You critically appraise the evidence base and synthesise nursing knowledge to answer the clinical question
4. Criterion 4: You demonstrate professional accountability for using an evidence-informed approach to clinical decision -making and professional practice transformation.
5. Criterion 5: You use sound and professional written academic skills. Referencing aligns with the Harvard style as preferred by UTAS.

Assessment Task 3. Practice Portfolio of Evidence

Description / conditions

The Practice Portfolio of Evidence is designed to demonstrate your progression/development, engagement and achievements as you transition towards becoming a nurse.

You are required to demonstrate satisfactory performance in all areas of the professional experience placement. The supervising registered nurse(s) will assess your performance over the 240 hours and complete the required documentation as outlined in your Practice Portfolio of Evidence.

You will be assessed against the seven (7) Registered Nurse standards for practice as outlined by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2016):

1. Thinks critically and analyses nursing practice.
2. Engages in therapeutic and professional relationships.
3. Maintains the capability for practice.
4. Comprehensively conducts assessments.
5. Develops a plan for nursing practice
6. Provides safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice.
7. Evaluates outcomes to inform nursing practice.

RESOURCES

Required readings

You are encouraged to obtain the following text [available from the Co-op Bookshop]:

1. Andre, K & Heartfield, M 2017, Portfolios for Health Professionals, 3rd edn, Elsevier, Australia

Reading Lists

Reading Lists provide direct access to many unit readings in one place. This includes eReadings and items in Reserve. You can access the Reading List for this unit from the link in MyLO, or by going to the Reading Lists page on the University Library website.