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NURS12161 - Professional Experience Placement 2

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will have the opportunity to practice nursing care in the medical-surgical environment. You will apply the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered nurse standards for practice (2016). You will continue to explore the importance of the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards (2017) to all nursing practice in Australia and use the Patient Safety Competency Framework (PSCF) (Levett-Jones et al., 2017) in your practice as a nursing student. You will be expected to identify risk and recognise and respond appropriately to the deteriorating patient in the simulated and clinical environment. You will work within your scope of practice using the decision-making framework (DMF) (NMBA, 2020). You are required to participate in a compulsory three (3) day residential school prior to attending professional experience placement for this unit. This unit includes a 120 hour block professional experience placement in a medical-surgical environment. You must meet specific mandatory health, safety and security requirements to be eligible to attend each professional experience placement. Professional experience placements may be limited in your community and you may be placed in other locations. Please be prepared financially and personally to cover the costs to relocate for placements. Due to the limited availability of placements, some block placements have start and/or end dates that fall outside standard term dates.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites:

BIOH11005 Introductory Anatomy and Physiology or BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1

NURS11170 Professional Experience Placement 1 or NURS11161 Clinical Nursing Practice 1 or admission to CM77

Co-requisite:

NURS12160 Alterations in Health or NURS12155 Medical-Surgical Nursing

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School Compulsory Residential School
View Unit Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2025

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. In-class Test(s) 0%
2. Professional Practice Placement 0%

This is a pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 84.38% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 12.15% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Sute Comments
Feedback
The number of people in our residential school group was too big. Because of this large group size, the teachers were unable to circulate the room and give feedback and assistance to each of us. If I did not have an EN in my group I would have learnt very little. This left me feeling very unprepared for placement.
Recommendation
To ensure quality of learning is achieved, the number of residential school teaching staff could be reviewed. Conduct regular check ins with students throughout the day to ensure student learning needs are being met will enhance and facilitate student learning. This allows the student opportunities to speak up regarding what learning needs and skill practices they require and/or missed out on practising.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Sute comments
Feedback
Maybe needs to be recognition of experience for EN's. All the skills shown in the lab were everyday skills already used by most of the EN's
Recommendation
It is recommended that the prior experience and clinical competence of Endorsed Enrolled Nurses (ENs) be recognised within the structure of residential school activities.This has been recognised and the implementation of a new pathway for EN's has been recommended, ensuring that ENs are challenged and engaged and their learning opportunities are tailored to their skill development.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Sute Comments
Feedback
Residential school was rushed. Two teachers for a large volume of students and the content to get through is too much. We got shown a PCA's and syringe drivers briefly to then have it followed up with 'but we will touch more on them in PEP4.'• Then why are we talking about it now and taking up valuable time. We got shown airway adjuncts but then were shown how an intubation was done but we are never going to intubate someone? This all takes up valuable time that could be spent one something else. The Enrolled Nurses in the group were having to guide and support the none EN's because the teachers are so stretched. Then the EN's would get in trouble for not 'staying in the scope of an RN student'•. The EN's would get told at the beginning that 'you are an RN student, things have changed since you studied'• but then the teachers would show techniques of 'this is how I was trained in the 80's'• yet best practice techniques have changed since then. The teachers would get frustrated with silence of the room when asking questions but then also get frustrated when the EN's 'weren't letting others answer'•.
Recommendation
Prioritise content based on Unit Learning Outcomes by limiting content to skills and knowledge directly relevant to PEP2-level outcomes. Clarify expectations for EN Students transitioning to RN by delivering clear, consistent messaging about the role and scope of ENs in the context of RN training. Ensure teaching aligns with current best practice by providing all educators with ongoing training in current clinical procedures and teaching practices. Review and improve time allocation by evaluating the structure of the three-day residential school to ensure adequate time for essential skill development. Implementing these changes can enhance student learning outcomes, ensure consistency across campuses, and better support both new and experienced learners in their transition to registered nursing practice.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Apply the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered nurse standards for practice in the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of people experiencing acute and deteriorating alterations in health in the simulated and clinical environment
  2. Develop person-centred, evidence-based plans of care for a person experiencing an acute alteration in health identified in the National Health Priority Areas (NHPA) and in a perioperative context.
  3. Demonstrate knowledge and application of safe supply and administration of non-parenteral and parenteral medication.

Content in this unit incorporates a number of professional nursing requirements

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia decision-making framework (DMF) - nursing

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Registered Nurse Standards for Practice

Thinks critically and analyses nursing practice

Engages in therapeutic and professional relationships

Maintains the capability for practice

Comprehensively conducts assessments

Develops a plan for nursing practice

Provides safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice

Evaluates outcomes to inform nursing practice

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Nursing Code of Conduct

Legal compliance

Person-centred practice

Cultural practice and respectful relationships

Professional behaviour

Research in health

Health and wellbeing

International Council of Nursing Code of Ethics for Nursing

Nurses and People

Nurses and Practice

Nurses and the Profession

Nurses and co-workers

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards

Clinical governance

Partnering with consumers

Preventing and Controlling healthcare-associated infection

Medication safety

Comprehensive care

Communicating for safety

Blood management

Recognising and responding to acute deterioration

Patient Safety Competency Framework

Person-centred care

Therapeutic communication

Cultural competence

Teamwork and collaborative practice

Clinical reasoning

Evidence-based practice

Preventing, minimising and responding to adverse events

Infection prevention and control

Medication safety

Aged Care Quality Standards

Consumer dignity and choice

Ongoing assessment and planning with consumers

Personal care and clinical care

Services and supports for daily living

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - In-class Test(s) • •
2 - Professional Practice Placement • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • •
2 - Problem Solving •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
4 - Information Literacy •
5 - Team Work •
6 - Information Technology Competence •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10