Approaches to Professional Nursing Practice †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Approaches to Professional Nursing Practice. Answer: Introduction One of the essential components of Professional Nursing Practice is Critical Reflection. The ability to reason logically is a quintessential skill of nursing personnel; hence the scholarship of critical reflection is imperative to transform nursing practice. This essay is a critical reflection on the case of elder abuse inquiry where an elderly man died at hospital after negligence of Gold Coast nursing home staff to adequately manage wounds. Later in the essay, the analysis has been done on the learning from critical reflection and an action plan has been made for the new knowledge needed. Body An elderly man named Mr Salir developed gangrene and far ahead died in hospital once his nursing personnel at a Gold Coast nursing home was unable to properly manage pressure wounds on the feet and buttocks of Mr Salir (Lewis, 2016). Afterwards his daughter-in-law Yvonne Selir registered a case to the Australian Law Reform Commission's inquiry into elder abuse, demanding for better standards of upkeep in nursing homes (Lewis, 2016). I felt very disturbed after reading this article and reflected upon how such negligence is possible even after nurses go through a rigorous training and curriculum where they are taught about maintaining a therapeutic and professional relationship with patients. I was further disturbed by the statement made by Mr Barnier that, Elder abuse is a thoughtful act of maltreating a resident/ patient either mentally, or physically, or financially (Lewis, 2016). The feeling of agitation led me to further analyse this incidence and reflect on it. Upon reflective an alysis, I felt that the negative aspect of this incidence from a patients perspective was that nurse failed to assess the patient comprehensively whereas standard 4 of NMBA standards clearly mentioned that a nurse should conduct a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the patient (NMBA, 2016). Further, the negative aspect of this incidence from a nurses perspective was that the majority of the nurses were not sufficiently trained in relation to wound care (Faria, Prado and Lima et al, 2016). However, the positive aspect of this incidence was that Ms Selir registered a case to the Australian Law Reform Commission's investigation into elder abuse, demanding for better standards of upkeep in nursing homes (Lewis, 2016). After reading this article I acknowledge that any negligence on the part of nursing care or failure to assess the patient comprehensively amounts to elder abuse and is the responsibility of community nurse (Andrews, 2017). The nurse should look for early signs of development of any complications or pressure injuries, and should refer the patient for specialised care well in time. I also learned that patient assessment should be holistic and proper referral should be made when required. Standard 4 of NMBA guidelines also recommend the same (NMBA, 2016). Standard 6 of NMBA also mandate timely direction and supervision and evidence-based nursing practice. The incidence will have a huge impact on my nursing practice as well as nursing as a discipline. The incidence has already called for higher standards of upkeep in nursing homes. Also it will guide in providing more comprehensive training to the nurses especially related to wound care. Thus it is vital for nursing as a profession to ad here to nursing standards and such an attitude should be build right from the time when students enter into educational institutes to get nursing education and training. Based on the Gibbs Reflective Cycle, an action plan must be prepared for the future, once you have described and analysed the situation (Jasper, 2003). Thus first of all I plan to learn and practice reflective thinking as a nursing student. I recommend that, Reflective thinking and Simulation satisfaction survey should be administered among undergraduate student nurses (Tutticci, Lewis, and Coyer, 2016). Second I want to orient my nursing education in line with NMBA standards for nursing practice (NMBA 2016). Nurses should conduct comprehensive assessment of patient and must look for any risk factors or any early signs of development of complications. Nurses should develop a plan for the nursing care of patient. Nurses should provide safe and quality care to the patient (NMBA 2016). I also want to learn proper nursing management of wounds. I want to sync my nursing abilities according to standard 8 of ACSQHS which is, Preventing and Managing Pressure Injuries (ACSQHS 2012). Thus I wa nt to make sure that such an incidence of nursing negligence should not happen to my nursing career. From this critical reflection, I plan some future actions to be taken to prevent such an error from occurring or recurring. First of all I will make sure that my organisation has governance structures and all the systems primed for the proper management and prevention of pressure wounds. Patients will be screened at the first place on presentation for any signs of pressure injuries. Clinical management will be done upon diagnosis. The management of pressure injuries will be done according to best practice guidelines (ACSQHS 2012). There should be increased specialisation in wound management in the healthcare organisation and nurses should be trained for timely and appropriate referral. The nurses should be educated regarding risk factors associated with pressure wounds and their prevention. Patients as well as carers will also be informed regarding risk factors of pressure injuries, their prevention and proper management with timely diagnosis and referral (ACSQHS 2012). The emphasis will be given on team-work where nursing staff will co-ordinate with physiotherapist and nutritionist towards prevention of pressure injuries during stay of patient in the healthcare organisation. Thus I plan comprehensive quality nursing care to be given to patients to prevent such an incident from recurring. Conclusion Thus elderly abuse incident of Mr Salir was very tragic incidence and a thoughtful reflection of the incidence has taught me that nursing care comes with several responsibilities. It is the responsibility of the nurse to comprehensively assess the patient, to look for any early signs of complications, and to seek timely specialised care as and when required. The training of nurses should meet quality standards and professionalism should be instilled in nursing students right from their undergraduation. References Andrews, J., (2017), Abuse of older people: the responsibilities of community nurses, British Journal of Community Nursing, 22(5), 224-5. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (ACSQHC), (2012), Safety and Quality Improvement Guide, Standard 8: Preventing and Managing Pressure Injuries (October 2012), Sydney: ACSQHC. Faria, GBG. de., Prado, TN. Do., Lima, EFA., Rogenski, NMB., Borghardt, AT., Massaroni, L., (2016), knowledge and practice of nurses on the care of wounds, J Nurs UFPE on line., Recife, 10(12), 4532-8. Jasper, M., (2003), Beginning Reflective Practice Foundations in Nursing and Health Care, Nelson Thornes: Cheltenham. Lewis, D., (2016), Elder abuse inquiry: Man dies in hospital after Gold Coast nursing home staff fail to properly treat wounds, ABC News, Available from, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-27/man-dies-after-nursing-home-staff-fail-to-properly-treat-wounds/7877820, Accessed 30 July 2017. Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), (2016), Registered nurse standards for practice, Melbourne: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. Tutticci, N., Lewis, P.A., and Coyer, F., (2016), Measuring third year undergraduate nursing students reflective thinking skills and critical reflection self-efficacy following high fidelity simulation: A pilot study, Nurse Education in Practice, 18, 52-59.