Running head: SELF-ASSESSMENT OF NURSING STANDARDS OF PRACTICE 1

Self- Assessment of Nursing Standards of Practice

Amanda Guy
Ferris State University

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Self- Assessment of Nursing Standards of Practice
The American Nurses Association (ANA) wrote the Nursing Scope and Standards of
Practice to serve as a template for nursing specialty practice. Having a template for nursing
practice sets a guideline for all nurses to follow, which creates universal competencies.
The purpose of this paper is to write a self-assessment explaining how I have met the American
Nurses Association Scope and Standards of Practice. Writing a self-assessment will provide me
the ability to see the professional growth and development I have achieved throughout my
nursing journey thus far.
Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice
The purpose of the Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice is to guide nursing practice.
The standards mentioned in this paper are ethics, education, evidenced-based practice and
research, quality of practice, communication, leadership, collaboration, professional practice
evaluation, resource utilization, and environmental health.
Ethics
According to American Nurses Association (ANA) (2011), one way a registered nurse
demonstrates the ethical standard is by being able to Maintain a therapeutic and professional
healthcare consumer-nurse relationship within appropriate professional role boundaries (p.47).
When establishing rapport with patients, I strive to build professional therapeutic relationships.
By building a strong relationship at the start of interaction with the patient, the nurse is able to
creates a more trusting and open relationship. At the beginning of all healthcare consumer-nurse
relationships, professional boundaries must be set. If professional boundaries are not set, it
creates an opportunity for a non-therapeutic relationship to occur. Throughout nursing school, I
have learned that all healthcare consumer-nurse relationships become therapeutic when nurses

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are honest, tactful, open, non-judgmental and trusting with all of their patients. For trust to exist
in a relationship, nurses must provide safe and effective care as well as provide and respect the
privacy of each patient. Throughout my nursing experience, I have been able to establish
professional therapeutic relationships with almost all of my patients by providing safe and
effective care, as well as striving to build therapeutic communications with them.
Education
A registered nurse demonstrates the educational standard by being able to seek
experiences that reflect current practice to maintain knowledge, skills, abilities, and judgment in
clinical practice or role performance (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2011, p. 47). In
nursing school, clinical skills are taught in a classroom setting. Often, nursing students practice
clinical skills on a mannequin or are taught in a simulation lab. Learning clinical skills in a
classroom setting gives students the opportunity to gain vital knowledge in a safe environment.
Using a mannequin provides opportunities for growth without fear of actually putting someones
life in danger. Transitioning from a classroom setting to a clinical setting is a great learning
experience for nursing students. Being able to perform clinical skills in a clinical setting gives
nursing students the ability to develop and achieve foundational skills on real patients. Even
though I was able to learn, develop, and achieve all of the foundational skills taught throughout
nursing school thus far, I do not think I have met this standard. I believe education is a neverending process that provides opportunities for educational growth and improvement. After
graduation, I will be given the opportunity to continue my education on a daily basis. I will also
keep up to date with current organizational changes and protocols, both evidenced based and
non-evidenced based.

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Evidence based practice and research
The Evidenced-Based Practice and Research standard states that registered nurses must,
utilize current evidence-based nursing knowledge, including research findings, to guide their
practice (ANA, 2011, p. 51). Evidenced based research suggests that all hospitals should
implement a no pass call light zone on all floors. A no pass call light means that no hospital
employee shall pass a call light that is on, no matter whether or not they are assigned to that
patient. A local hospital recently implemented a process improvement plan involving the call
light system. The change has increased call light response times, which in turn created higher
patient satisfaction ratings. This is an example of how evidence-based practice can change on a
daily basis. Healthcare workers must be able to adapt to all changes when it means a safer and
more effective way of completing tasks. Throughout my clinical rotations, I have been able to
adapt to new evidenced-based practice changes. For the future, I will try my best to implement
all changes instituted at my facility.
Quality of Practice
The registered nurse demonstrates quality by documenting the application of the nursing
process in a responsible, accountable and ethical manner (ANA, 2011, p. 52). There are five
steps to the nursing process: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
The nursing process is dedicated to guiding a nurse in assessing patients, diagnosing illnesses,
developing a plan to solve the problem, performing the plan, and then evaluating the plan to see
whether the problem is resolved. During a patients assessment, each step of the nursing process
is crucial. If a nurse misses a step during the process, a problem can occur. A problem can also
occur when a nurse does not write up documentation in a timely manner. For example, during
clinical, one of my patients was prescribed a blood pressure medication for his hypertension. It

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stated in the Kardex that the blood pressure must be taken immediately prior to administering the
medication. I was able to take the patients blood pressure within five minutes of administering
the medication. The results showed that the blood pressure was too low to give the medication.
If I had not taken the blood pressure immediately prior to administering the medication had gone
off the vitals from an hour before, I would have over medicated the patient and could have
caused him to have severe hypotension. This experience has taught me that it is extremely
important for a nurse to document responsibly, effectively, and in a timely manner so errors do
not occur. As a nurse, I will continue to document and assess my patients safely and effectively.
Communication
A registered nurse communicates effectively by contributing her or his own professional
perspective in discussions with the interprofessional team (ANA, 2011, p. 54). Communication
is an important factor in nursing. Nurses communicate with patients, patients family members,
and many different interprofessional teams who work with the patient. Even though there is a lot
of communication with the patient, the nurse is the one who ties it all together. Nurses are
patients best advocates in many different aspects, communication being one of them. One of my
patients during clinical came into the hospital with an infection. After spending multiple days in
the hospital and progressively getting better, my patient got orders to be discharged. In order for
the patient to go home, she had to receive a peripherally inserted central catheter (PIC line). This
would help the patient to receive IV antibiotics at home. When I explained this to my patient,
she was quite fearful. She stated she had no prior medical experience and did not know how to
administer medications through a PIC line. After teaching her how to use a pic line safely and
effectively, she still stated that she was fearful and did not think she would be able to administer
her medications correctly. After I communicated with the doctor and stressed that the patient

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would rather take oral antibiotics, the doctor then agreed to cancel the pic line order. Once the
patient received this information, she was extremely happy. She felt more comfortable being
able to take oral antibiotics. Being able to communicate with the patient, the patients family
members, colleagues, and other interprofessional teams shows great leadership skills. I will
continue to work on my communication skills throughout my nursing career.
Leadership
To meet the leadership standard, a registered nurse must communicate effectively with
the healthcare consumer and colleagues (ANA, 2011, p. 55). Not only is communication
important for the best outcomes, but it also plays a role in leadership. According to
Dictionary.com, leadership is a person who guides or directs a group (Leadership, 2015).
One important leader on most hospital floors is the charge nurse. A charge nurses role is to help
guide and support other nurses in accomplishing tasks. The charge nurse takes part in forming a
group of nurses to work together as a whole and provide effective care to all patients on the floor.
Not all nurses have the capability to become leaders; some nurses are followers. I believe that
thus far in my nursing career, I have yet to meet the leadership standard. Right now, I am
focusing on enhancing my clinical and communicational skills, which puts me at the point of
being a follower. Throughout my nursing career, I will make an effort to become more
knowledgeable in nursing practice so I can become a great leader.
Collaboration
According to American Nurses Association (ANA) (2015), a nurse Communicates with
the healthcare consumer, the family, and health care consumer regarding healthcare consumer
care and the nurses role in the provision of that care. In healthcare, many different

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interprofessional teams collaborate while focusing on the patients needs and goals. All
interprofessional teams must be on same page while developing a plan of care for the patient;
otherwise, it can create difficulties. Nurses must always focus on patients as a whole. They
must make sure all of the patients needs are being met, as well as ensuring that the patient agrees
with the plan of care that is provided for them. Other interprofessional teams only focus on set
objectives. If a nurse focused only on set objectives, some patients problems could go
unforeseen. It is important that nurses focus holistically, because they are the ones ultimately
providing the patients care and are the ones who know the patients best. I believe I have met
this standard because I have taken a holistic approach with all of my patients thus far. I not only
focus on the problem the patient has, but I also teach the patient methods for stopping and
preventing other problems.
Professional Practice Evaluation
To be able to achieve the professional practice evaluation standard, a nurse must Obtain
informal feedback regarding her or his own practice from healthcare consumers, peers,
professional colleagues, and others (ANA, 2011, p. 59). Obtaining feedback regarding
healthcare practice is vital to healthcare workers. Feedback, whether formal or informal,
provides opportunity for growth. It creates an opportunity for nurses to realize what they are
doing well on and what they need to change. Without feedback, nurses would never know how
productive they are when performing their jobs. I believe I have met this standard because
throughout clinicals, I have been evaluated by my peers, clinical instructors, and nurses I have
worked with. Being evaluated by many different people has given me the opportunity to find out
what my strengths and weaknesses are. In the future, I will continue to accept feedback from
other healthcare consumers, peers, and professional colleagues.

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Resource Utilization
To be able to meet the resource utilization standard, a nurse Assists the healthcare
consumer and family in identifying and securing appropriate services to address needs across the
healthcare continuum (ANA, 2011, p. 60). Being able to provide appropriate services to
address needs across the healthcare continuum is crucial in the nursing process. Providing
patients resources that will help prevent diseases is one main goal in the nursing process. I was
able to provide an appropriate resource to a patient when I helped him contact a local dentist
office to set up an appointment for a tooth infection. Providing resources to patients is a neverending process that happens on a daily basis. Throughout my nursing career, I will strive to
provide each one of my patients with as many resources and appropriate services as possible.
Environmental Health
The environmental health standard is defined as when the registered nurse practices in
an environmentally safe and healthy manner (ANA, 2011, p. 61). One goal in achieving the
environmental health standard is to focus on minimizing hospital- acquired diseases. To achieve
this goal, all nurses must provide safe and effective care to all patients. I was able to provide
safe and effective care in clinicals when I placed an indwelling catheter on a female patient.
During this procedure, I was to insert the catheter safely by maintaining a sterile field. Not
maintaining a sterile field can put a patient at risk for a catheter acquired urinary tract infection,
which is defined as a hospital-acquired disease. This is why, it is very important that a nurse
must follow aseptic and sterile protocols when performing any type of clinical task. Throughout
my nursing career, I will make sure my nursing practice follows all environmental health
guidelines and protocols.

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Goals
As mentioned above I have currently not been able to uphold all of the standards of
practice. I have yet to accomplish the standard of education as well as the standard of leadership.
My main goal for my future nursing career is to attain and maintain competency in all standards
of practice. To meet all standards of practice I developed a professional developmental plan that
helps me accomplish unmet goals. I will maintain competency in the educational standard by
continuing my education throughout my nursing career. By meeting all of the standards of
practice, I will then be able to attain the leadership standard. I believe a nurse can only be a
leader if every standard of practice is achieved and maintained. I plan to be a great leader one
day on the labor and delivery floor. Labor and delivery is my ultimate goal as a nurse. Just like
achieving all of the standards of practice, this too will take time. To be able to achieve this goal I
plan to work on a generalized med-surge floor for several years to get experience. Once I am
able to achieve several years of clinical experience I will then further on my practice into a
specialty.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my goal is to meet all of the nursing standards throughout my career. As a
graduate baccalaureate registered nurse, I will strive to be a productive and efficient leader to
many. To become a great leader, a nurse must professional attain and maintain all of the nursing
standards. With that being said, a nurse must know what every standard is defined as. Knowing
what each standard is defined as makes it easier for nurses to achieve them. One of my plans in
my nursing career, is to teach my colleagues the standards and ethics of nursing. I believe
teaching is a form of leadership. If I can teach my colleagues the standards and ethics of nursing,
I will be able to learn them more thoroughly as well.

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References
American Nurses Association. (2011). Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice (2nd ed.). Silver
Spring, MD.
Leadership [Def. 1]. (n.d.).. Dictionary Online. Retrieved March 3, 2015, from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/leadership.

CHECKLIST FOR SUBMITTING PAPERS

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DATE,
TIME, &
INITIAL

PROOFREAD FOR: APA ISSUES

1. Page Numbers: Did you number your pages using the automatic
functions of your Word program? [p. 230 and example on p. 40)]
2. Running head: Does the Running head: have a small h? Is it on
every page? Is it less than 50 spaces total? Is the title of the Running
head in all caps? Is it 1/2 from the top of your title page? (Should be a
few words from the title of your paper). [p. 229 and example on p. 40]
3. Abstract: Make sure your abstract begins on a new page. Is there a
label of Abstract and it is centered at the top of the page? Is it a single
paragraph? Is the paragraph flush with the margin without an
indentation? Is your abstract a summary of your entire paper?
Remember it is not an introduction to your paper. Someone should be
able to read the abstract and know what to find in your paper. [p. 25 and
example on p. 41]
4. Introduction: Did you repeat the title of your paper on your first page
of content? Do not use Introduction as a heading following the title. The
first paragraph clearly implies the introduction and no heading is needed.
[p. 27 and example on p. 42]
5. Margins: Did you leave 1 on all sides? [p. 229]
6. Double-spacing: Did you double-space throughout? No triple or extra
spaces between sections or paragraphs except in special circumstances.
This includes the reference page. [p. 229 and example on p. 40-59]
7. Line Length and Alignment: Did you use the flush-left style, and
leave the right margin uneven, or ragged? [p. 229]
8. Paragraphs and Indentation: Did you indent the first line of every
paragraph? See P. 229 for exceptions.
9. Spacing After Punctuation Marks: Did you space once at the end
of separate parts of a reference and initials in a persons name? Do not
space after periods in abbreviations. Space twice after punctuation
marks at the end of a sentence. [p. 87-88]
10. Typeface: Did you use Times New Roman 12-point font? [p. 228]
11. Abbreviation: Did you explain each abbreviation the first time you
used it? [p. 106-111]. Remember, no abbreviations in the title of the
paper.
12. Plagiarism: Cite all sources! If you say something that is not your
original idea, it must be cited. You may be citing many timesthis is
what you are supposed to be doing! [p. 170]

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13. Direct Quote: A direct quote is exact words taken from another. An
example with citation would look like this:
The variables that impact the etiology and the human response to
various disease states will be explored (Bell-Scriber, 2007, p. 1).
Please note where the quotation marks are placed, where the final period
is placed, no first name of author, and inclusion of page number, etc. Do
all direct quotes look like this? [p. 170-172]
14. Quotes Over 40 Words: Did you make block quotes out of any
direct quotes that are 40 words or longer? [p. 170-172]
15. Paraphrase: A paraphrase citation would look like this:
Patients respond to illnesses in various ways depending on a number of
factors that will be explored (Bell-Scriber, 2007).
It may also look like this: Bell-Scriber (2007) found that
[p. 171 and multiple examples in text on p. 40-59]
For multiple references within the same paragraph see page 174 re: use
of year.
16. Headings: Did you check your headings for proper levels? [p. 6263].
17. General Guidelines for References:
A. Did you start the References on a new page? [p. 37]
B. Did you cut and paste references on your reference page? If so,
check to make sure they are in correct APA format. Often they are
not and must be adapted. Make sure all fonts are the same.
C. Is your reference list double spaced with hanging indents? [p.
37]
D. Formatting of different types of titles: see page 185.
E. Check formatting of all types of authors and sources before
submitting your paper.

PROOFREAD FOR GRAMMAR, SPELLING, PUNCTUATION, &

STRUCTURE
18. Did you follow the assignment rubric? Did you make headings that
address each major section? (Required to point out where you addressed
each section.)
19. Watch for run-on or long, cumbersome sentences. Read it out loud
without pausing unless punctuation is present. If you become breathless

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or it doesnt make sense, you need to rephrase or break the sentence
into 2 or more smaller sentences. Did you do this?
20. Wordiness: check for the words that, and the. If not necessary,
did you omit?
21. Conversational tone: Dont write as if you are talking to someone in a
casual way. For example, Well so I couldnt believe nurses did such
things! or I was in total shock over that. Did you stay in a
formal/professional tone?
22. Avoid contractions. i.e. dont, cant, wont, etc. Did you spell these
out?
23. Did you check to make sure there are no hyphens and broken words
in the right margin?
24. Do not use etc. or "i.e." in formal writing unless in parenthesis. Did
you check for improper use of etc. & i.e.?
25. Stay in subject agreement. When referring to 1 nurse, dont refer to
the nurse as they or them. Also, in referring to a human, dont refer
to the person as that, but rather who. For example: The nurse that
gave the injection. Should be The nurse who gave the injection
Did you check for subject agreement?
26. Dont refer to us, we, our, within the paperthis is not about
you and me. Be clear in identifying. For example dont say Our
profession uses empirical data to support . . Instead say The nursing
profession uses empirical data..
27. Did you check your sentences to make sure you did not end them
with a preposition? For example, I witnessed activities that I was not
happy with. Instead, I witnessed activities with which I was not happy.
28. Did you run a Spellcheck? Did you proofread in addition to running
the Spellcheck?
29. Did you have other people read your paper? Did they find any areas
confusing?
30. Did you include a summary or conclusion heading and section to
wrap up your paper?
31. Does your paper have sentence fragments? Do you have complete
sentences?
32. Did you check apostrophes for correct possessive use. Dont use
apostrophes unless it is showing possession and then be sure it is in the
correct location. The exception is with the word it. Its = it is. Its is
possessive.

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Signing below indicates you have proofread your paper for the errors in the
checklist:
Amanda Guy DATE:3/3/2015
A peer needs to proofread your paper checking for errors in the listed areas and sign
below:
Rhonda Bishop DATE: 3/1/2015
Andrew Silverman DATE: 3/2/2015
Erika from the writing center DATE: 3/3/2015