Mental Health
Order Description
Task Description
Patient Outcomes should be a priority in the nursing care that nurses deliver to patients. During a nurse’s every
day practice they have a responsibility to identify risk factors and implement strategies to prevent adverse
outcomes from occurring to patients. Each clinical setting has its unique issues that may be more prevalent than
in other areas.
This is an INDIVIDUAL assessment task. Students must research, evaluate and discuss a current issue impacting on
patient outcomes and analyse what current or potential new strategies might be used to prevent these adverse outcomes
from occurring to patients in the future.
Here are some examples to consider however, it is encouraged you to highlight your own identified clinical issue from
your current or most recent clinical placement.
As a student nurse you have observed within your current clinical placement that there is a tendency for the
nursing staff to often use chemical or physical restraints in order to control patient aggression / agitation rather
than using other diversional techniques or other strategies available to them. Could this clinical issue have an
effect on patient outcomes?
Your Nurse Unit Manager has requested that you compile a Report that will form a basis for a future presentation to be
given to your nursing colleagues. Your target audience for this future presentation will be: Clinical Nurse Educator,
Registered & Enrolled Nurses and/or Student Nurse Peers who are working within the clinical setting that you are
currently placed or within your most recent clinical placement setting.
Critical thinking and problem solving skills are required by every Registered Nurse. To be able to think critically and
problem solve, the Registered Nurse must be able to reflect upon their own knowledge, skills and the legal implications of
their nursing practice. To facilitate the development of these skills you are required to undertake a self-reflection
discussion section that will form part of your Report.
The Report is divided into parts and students are encouraged to use the following headings throughout the Analysis of
Data section to provide structure to this discussion section: Background Information; Prevention of Adverse Outcomes;
Ward Improvement Strategies and Critical Thinking and Reflection.
The Report must include the following: Title page; Executive Summary; Table of Contents; Introduction; Data Collection
Methods; Aim; Cope, Background; Analysis of Data using the headings as above; Conclusion; Recommendations and
References. Note: further support on Report writing, referencing, etc. is given on the Moodle site for this course.
The Word Limit for this assessment is 2000 words. A 10% leeway on either side of the word limit will be accepted. The
word count will include the first word of the Introduction to the last word of the Conclusion and excluding in-text
referencing.
Plagiarism detection software – Turnitin – will be used to evaluate assignments before marking. The Turnitin program