Unit rationale, description and aim
Contemporary nursing practice embeds scientific evidence-based concepts for the promotion of positive health outcomes and application of care across a lifespan continuum. With an acute focus on quality assurance, harm mitigation, accountability, and patient satisfaction for the purpose of professional accreditation, the role of the specialist clinical nurse encompasses a multifaceted approach to nursing care. The role of the specialist nurse encompasses evidence-based practice, ethical clinical considerations, person and family centred care, cultural safety and the ability to differentiate between the acute and chronic care trajectories of the healthcare consumer with a complex health issue. This unit supports the acquisition of specialist knowledge and skills to ensure that nurses understand their role in continuing professional development, and the provision of safe and respectful specialist nursing care. This unit focuses on and extends the specialist nursing role and the significance of that role in the delivery of complex care in the specialist clinical setting. The unit aims to support students to consolidate theory and practice through the analysis and evaluation of evidence-based, ethical specialist practice in the care of a patient with a complex health condition.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Assess the impact of illness while critically refl...
Learning Outcome 01
Compare and contrast the potential ethical, physic...
Learning Outcome 02
Differentiate between the acute and chronic care t...
Learning Outcome 03
Reflect on the role of the registered nurse in a s...
Learning Outcome 04
Assess the risk factors for patients and appraise ...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
- Evidence-based practice (EBP)
- 5A’s of the EBP process
- Holistic health assessment of persons with complex health problems
- integration of anatomy, physiology, development and pathophysiology
- analysis of assessment data
- determination of the significance of assessment data
- assessment of impact of complex health illness on consumer
- Ethical practice
- health professionals’ practice standards
- health professionals’ codes of professional conduct
- health professionals’ codes of ethical conduct.
- Person and family-centred care
- ethical, physical, psychological and psychosocial impacts experienced by patients, their families and carers
- needs of family members
- role of the family
- expectations of family
- family-centred health promotion
- prioritising and planning care
- evaluating care
- Cultural competence
- knowledge and skills that support caring for people across different languages and cultures
- Harm mitigation
- Risk assessment
- Risk prevention strategies
- Australian accreditation standards in harm and risk mitigation
- Role of the specialist clinical nurse
- Importance of continuing professional development
- Leadership in the specialist clinical setting
- Mentorship in the specialist clinical setting
- Self-Care and care of others
- Strategies for maintenance of physical mental and emotional wellbeing of self and others
Assessment strategy and rationale
In order to pass this unit, students are expected to submit three graded assessment tasks and achieve a cumulative grade of at least 50% across all assessments. The assessment strategy in this unit encourages critical analysis that embodies leadership qualities in the specialist clinical setting. The deep level learning provides students with the opportunity to develop their capacity to interpret, translate, apply, and evaluate evidence-based nursing care related to the healthcare consumer requiring complex care. Reflection is recognised as an attribute of an expert clinician and students further develop this skill by focusing on an ethical issue that arises in the specialist clinical setting. Critical thinking, specialist clinical knowledge and skills and problem solving will be assessed in the multiple-choice quiz. Contemporary clinical practice requires the registered nurse to demonstrate the ability to deliver clinical care and understand the theoretical underpinnings which direct this care through continued professional development. This requirement exists because nurses are accountable for their actions and choices which may have severe adverse health consequences for healthcare consumers and/or communities. The literature review will allow students to demonstrate their ability to identify different levels of literature and evidence and apply the reading to demonstrate sound knowledge required to support safe clinical practice. Assessments in this unit encourage understanding of the complexity of professional roles and uses tools the students can include in their professional practice.
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate the achievement of each learning outcome.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Forum Post Enables student en...
Assessment Task 1: Forum Post
Enables student engagement with peers and the sharing of ideas and knowledge.
20%
Assessment Task 2: Reflective Essay Enables the ...
Assessment Task 2: Reflective Essay
Enables the students to reflect on an ethical issue in the specialist clinical setting.
40%
Assessment Task 3: Literature Review Enables stu...
Assessment Task 3: Literature Review
Enables students to: Locate, organise, analyse and synthesise information related to a complex clinical presentation.
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Teaching and learning strategies utilised in this unit will support students in meeting the aim and achieving the learning outcomes relevant to this unit as well as to the broader course learning outcomes. This unit is offered via the ACU Online platform and uses active learning to support students to reflect on key pathophysiological concepts that contribute to comorbidity and potential ethical, physical, psychological, and psychosocial impacts experienced by patients with complex health conditions. Students will focus on their role as specialist nurses in assessing and managing complex diagnostic presentations. This is in accordance with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards for health care, with a focus on risk assessment and harm mitigation. In constructing specialist nursing knowledge and skill, students will evaluate care strategies that they will be able to apply within the specialist clinical setting. Students are required to complete online activities and assessments to demonstrate the application of specialty nursing knowledge. The learning and teaching strategy used in this unit allows flexibility for students while ensuring they have expert support. These modes of delivery assist students in linking knowledge, understanding and skills to the cardiac nursing context, and to develop shared meanings through online experiential reflections and discussions.
Representative texts and references
Recommended text
Greenhalgh, T., Bidwell, J., Crisp, E., Lambros, A., & Warland, J. (2020). Understanding research methods for evidence-based practice in health (Second edition. ed.). John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Hoffmann, T., Bennett, S., & Del Mar, C. (2017). Evidence-based practice across the health professions (3rd ed.). Elsevier Australia.
Knights, K. M., Darroch, S., Rowland, A., & Bushell, M. (2023). Pharmacology for health professionals (6th edition. ed.). Elsevier Australia.
McCance, K. L., Huether, S. E., Brashers, V. L., & Rote, N. S. (2019). Pathophysiology : the biologic basis for disease in adults and children (Eighth edition ed.). Elsevier.
Patton, K. T., & Thibodeau, G. A. (2019). Anatomy & physiology (Adapted International edition. ed.). Elsevier.
Taylor, K., & Guerin, P. (2019). Health care and Indigenous Australians : cultural safety in practice (Third edition. ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
Other recommended references
Recommendations for further texts will be made in the extended unit outline based on the specialty of the students enrolled in the unit.