Overview
In this unit you will have the opportunity to explore clinical governance, its application to nursing and the health care setting. You will apply a specific governance framework to your clinical setting and evaluate its effectiveness. You will also examine the use of clinical audits as part of a quality improvement cycle as a means for measuring clinical effectiveness and improving patient care.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Students must be enrolled in CL22 Master of Clinical Nursing or CL16 Graduate Certificate in Clinical Nursing to undertake this unit. Pre-requisite: NURS20170.
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).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2024
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).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate 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.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
- Explain the concept of clinical governance and justify its relevance to the clinical setting and nursing practice.
- Apply a framework derived from the National Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to evaluate clinical governance in a clinical setting.
- Explain the use of clinical audits as part of a quality improvement cycle to improve nursing practice and patient care.
- Identify deviations from best practice and discuss areas for improvement.
N/A.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Workplace Project - 60% | ||||
| 2 - Presentation - 40% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | ||||
| 2 - Communication | ||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||
| 4 - Research | ||||
| 5 - Self-management | ||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||
| 7 - Leadership | ||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Textbooks
Clinical Governance: Improving the Quality of Healthcare for Patients and Service Users
Edition: 2nd (2021)
Authors: Gottwald, M., & Lansdown, G.
McGraw-Hill Education
London London , England
ISBN: 9780335251056
Binding: eBook
Additional Textbook Information
This book is available as an ebook through the CQU library.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Academic Learning Centre services
- Access to MIMS through the university library
- CQ U library search engines for research articles
- CQUniversity library literature search tools
- CQ university Library resourses for research
- Microsoft Word
- Wordprocessing, spreadsheeting and powerpoint software
- Zoom account (Free)
- Zoom app on your smart phone or access to Zoom on your laptop
- Endnote bibliographic software. This is optional for formatting references.
- Online access Australian Standards (through CQU Library)
- CQUniversity Library Nursing Resources
- CQUniveristy Library Resources
- Zoom (both microphone and webcam capability)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
l.m.thompson@cqu.edu.au
c.johnston-devin@cqu.edu.au
a.monson@cqu.edu.au
r.chee@cqu.edu.au
a.aitken@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Welcome to the unit.
Self-directed learning module.
Nursing and Clinical Governance.
Chapter
Review the Moodle site and click on all the links.
Review the recorded lecture and online Zoom tutorial timetable.
Find out what is in Student Support?
How do I find the Library?
Click on the link and learn what is the Academic Learning Centre?
Review the eReadings and activities as outlined in the module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded presentations:
- Welcome and Unit Introduction O Week.
- Assessments 1 and 2.
- Nursing and Clinical Governance.
Assessment 1 and 2 - Review the assessment tasks and rubrics and make a study plan.
Activity - Access the General Discussion Page and post a welcome note to introduce yourself to your colleagues by providing your:
- Name
- Where you work
- Why you are studying the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Nursing.
Foundations of Academic Integrity Program - complete your annual program.
Announcement and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Module/Topic
Nursing and Clinical Governance.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom - Drop-in question and answer - Unit content and assessments.
Assessment 1 - Discuss your audit topic with your educator, NUM and/or Unit Coordinator.
Assessment 2 - Discuss presentation schedule with your Graduate Program Coordinator (partnered students) or Unit Coordinator (non-partnered students).
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded presentation - Listen to the presentation.
Assessment 1 - Start writing your Audit plan.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom - Drop-in question and answer - Unit content and assessments.
Assessment 1 - Continue preparing assessment. You might wish to seek assessment preparation help from the Academic Learning Centre and/or Studiosity.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
Clinical governance across clinical settings.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded presentation - Listen to the presentation.
Assessment 1 - Audit plan should be nearly completed. Check assessment originality through Turnitin and make relevant changes. You might wish to seek assessment preparation help from the Academic Learning Centre and/or Studiosity.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
Vacation week.
Chapter
Please use this mid-term break as an opportunity to rest and recover. Enjoy your break!
Events and Submissions/Topic
No timetabled learning activities.
Please use this week to progress your assessments.
Module/Topic
Clinical governance across clinical settings.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom - Drop-in question and answer - Unit content and assessments.
Assessment 1 - Finalise your assessment. Review originality through Turnitin and make relevant changes.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
The quality improvement cycle.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded presentation - Listen to the presentation.
Assessment 1 - Submit assessment to Assessment 1 submission portal on Unit Moodle site.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Workplace Project - Audit Plan Due: Week 7 Wednesday (28 Aug 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
The quality improvement cycle.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom - Drop-in question and answer - Unit content and assessments.
Assessment 2 - Start your audit and data collection.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
Clinical audits in practice.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded presentation - Listen to the presentation.
Assessment 2 - Continue your audit and data collection.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
Clinical audits in practice.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom - Drop-in question and answer - Unit content and assessments.
Assessment 2 - Start to analyse your data and preparing your 1-slide PowerPoint presentation.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
Identification of deviation from best practice and the improvement of patient care.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded presentation - Listen to the presentation.
Assessment 2 - Finalise audit data collection, analyse results, write up 1-slide PowerPoint, practice your presentation.
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Module/Topic
Identification of deviation from best practice and the improvement of patient care.
Chapter
Readings and activities as outlined in module.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom - Drop-in question and answer, Unit content and assessments.
Assessment 2 - Present your audit at your study day (partnered students) or online (non-partnered students).
Announcements and Discussion Boards - Check for posts and updates.
Student email - Check your student email at least twice per week for communication.
Clinical Audit Report Due: Week 12 Wednesday (2 Oct 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Nil.
Chapter
Nil.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Nil.
Module/Topic
Nil.
Chapter
Nil.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Nil.
As this unit is offered online, students are asked to prepare their own individual study plan to undertake self-directed study throughout the term. A key to your success is a strategic self-directed approach to learning and regular contact with your Unit Coordinator/s. Please check the Announcements page and unit content at least twice a week - there will be regular announcements about assessments and unit resources posted throughout the term and reviewing this information is essential to unit knowledge and your success. CQUniversity communicates with students through CQUniversity email. We recommend that you access your CQUniversity email at least twice a week so that you do not miss vital information about your studies.
1 Workplace Project
Aim
The aim of this assessment is for you to demonstrate an applied understanding of clinical governance in your workplace.
Instructions
In this assessment, you are required to develop an audit plan on one nursing practice in your clinical workplace. Your audit will demonstrate your understanding of clinical governance theories, requirements, and how they are enacted in your workplace.
Please note, an introduction and conclusion are not required for this assessment.
This assessment task will be the basis for Assessment Two, where you will undertake and report the results of this audit. Assessment One is therefore the plan for the audit you have chosen to undertake, and Assessment Two presents the results of the audit.
Please follow the steps below to write your academic essay and complete the task:
1. Provide an overview of clinical governance in healthcare organisations.
Your overview will be informed by current literature to describe and explain what clinical governance is, including how clinical governance impacts clinical risk and influences safety and quality in nursing practice. Then apply this information to how your healthcare organisation addresses clinical governance, including risk identification and nurse-initiated audits.
2. Choose one nursing practice for your audit.
a. State the nursing practice you will audit. Please note: There are national guidelines on the conduct of hand hygiene audits. You may only choose Hand Hygiene as a topic for this assignment if your audit is supervised by a person trained by the National Hand Hygiene Initiative to conduct hand hygiene audits.
b. Collaborate with your unit nursing leaders, i.e., Nurse Unit Manager, Clinical Nurse Consultant, Nurse Educator, and Service/Clinic to identify one nursing practice you will audit using the principles of clinical governance in your workplace. Identify in your assignment who the nurse leaders you collaborated with to decide on the audit you will undertake.
c. Discuss the background to your audit, i.e., why is your audit important in your workplace for patient safety and clinical governance? To do this, you will need to research current literature and your local health service policies and procedures. This background should include the clinical risks associated with the identified nursing practice you will audit.
3. Select the most relevant (1 only) National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard (NSQHSS, 2017) or Aged Care Quality Standard (ACQS, 2019) to link your nursing audit to and then undertake your nursing practice audit. Briefly discuss the most relevant NSQHS (2017) related to your nursing practice audit.
-
- Standard 1 – Clinical Governance Standard.
- Standard 2 – Partnering with Consumers Standard.
- Standard 3 – Preventing and Controlling Infections Standard.
- Standard 4 – Medication Safety Standard.
- Standard 5 – Comprehensive Care Standard.
- Standard 6 – Communicating for Safety Standard.
- Standard 7 – Blood Management Standard.
- Standard 8 – Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration Standard.
Alternatively, briefly discuss the most relevant ACQS (2019) related to your nursing audit if you work in an aged care setting.
-
- Standard 1 – Consumer dignity and choice.
- Standard 2 – Ongoing assessment and planning with consumers.
- Standard 3 – Personal care and clinical care.
- Standard 4 – Services and supports for daily living.
- Standard 5 – Organisation’s service environment.
- Standard 6 – Feedback and complaints.
- Standard 7 – Human resources.
- Standard 8 – Organisational governance.
4. Describe your chosen nursing audit and the steps you will implement to undertake your audit:
Work with your unit nursing leaders to access an audit tool currently used in your healthcare facility or ward.
Alternatively, you can create an audit tool if a tool does not exist for the nursing practice you want to audit. If you create your own audit tool, ensure that the tool is reviewed by your nursing management support and check with the NURS20169 unit coordinators (Dr. Lorraine Thompson or Dr. Colleen Johnston-Devin).
Review the audit to identify what measures of compliance are used to audit the nursing practice within the selected Standard. Briefly describe the audit, its components, and the steps you will use to undertake your audit. Recommendations to guide you include:
a. Describing your audit might include identifying if your audit is in paper/digital format, prospective or retrospective, the number of observations to be undertaken, how many questions are in your audit, describe your audit questions (yes, no, not applicable, open-ended questions), the frequency of auditing, how you will analyse your audit, and who you will report your audit findings to.
b. Consider the quality improvement cycle to describe the steps and include how you will implement them to undertake your nursing audit.
c. Attach a copy of your audit tool as Appendix 1.
Use the following headings to structure your assessment:
- Clinical governance in healthcare organisations.
- Nursing practice to be audited.
- National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard or Aged Care Quality Standard.
- Description of the audit tool.
- Steps to undertake the audit.
- A timeline providing estimated dates for each step of your project.
- References.
Literature and references
In this assessment use at least eight contemporary references (5 years or less) sourced from the CQUniversity library to support your discussion. You may also use seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles as well as textbooks and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the 5 elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature sourced from the internet must be from reputable websites such as government, university, or peak national bodies: for example, the Australian College of Nursing. Note, that websites such as Stat Pearls, Life in the Fastlane, and Wikipedia are not suitable for this assessment task. Lecture notes are not primary sources of evidence and should not be used in this assessment.
Requirements
- Use a cover page to your assessment that includes your name, student number, unit code, workplace, and in-text word count.
- Use a conventional and legible size 12 font, either Times New Roman or Arial font with 2.0 line spacing and 2.54cm margins (standard pre-set margin in Microsoft Word).
- Include page numbers on the top right side of each page in a header.
- Write in the third-person perspective.
- Use formal academic and discipline-specific language.
- Start your reference list on a separate page to the body of your assignment.
- All work submitted must be your own work.
- The use of generative artificial intelligence is permitted in this assessment and only as indicated in the GenAI Permissions Checklist specific to Assessment One in this unit.
- Use the seventh edition American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. The CQUniversity Academic Learning Centre has an online APA Referencing Style Guide.
- The word count excludes the reference list but includes in-text references and direct quotations, including paraphrasing and direct quotes. Please note, direct quotes should be avoided in Post Graduate assessments.
Resources
- National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (NSQHS, 2017) or the Aged Care Quality Standards (ACQS,2019).
- You can use unit-provided materials and other credible sources (e.g. journal articles, books) to reference your argument. The quality and credibility of your sources are important. Please note, that lecture notes are not primary sources of evidence and should not be used in this assessment.
- We recommend that you access your discipline-specific Nursing Resource Guide.
- You may like to manage your citations and reference list. Information on how to use academic referencing software (EndNote) is available at the CQUniversity Library website should you wish to learn how to use it.
- For academic writing and referencing information, please go to the Academic Learning Centre Moodle site. The Academic Communication section has many helpful resources including information for students with English as a second language.
- You may wish to submit a draft to Studiosity.
- Submit at least one draft before the due date to review your Turnitin Similarity Score before making your final submission. Instructions are available here.
Submission
Submit your assessment via the unit Moodle site in Microsoft Word format.
Marking Criteria
Refer to the marking rubric below for details on how marks will be assigned in this assessment.
To achieve a passing grade for this unit you are required to pass this assessment. If you do not receive a passing grade, you may be eligible for a re-attempt. A re-attempt is where you are given a second opportunity to demonstrate your achievement of one or more of the unit’s learning outcomes before you can progress to new learning or participate in subsequent learning activities.
You may be given the opportunity to reattempt an assessment but will only achieve a mark no greater than the minimum for a pass standard for the assessment (50%). You must:
- have shown a reasonable attempt to complete the initial assessment task.
- be granted a re-attempt by your Unit Lead/Coordinator.
- make changes to the nominated assessment task which you have failed and resubmit the revised work for marking within seven consecutive days, no assessment extensions will be approved.
Please note: Only one opportunity for a re-attempt is allowed.
Learning Outcomes Assessed
- Explain the concept of clinical governance and justify its relevance to the clinical setting and nursing practice.
- Apply a framework derived from the National Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to evaluate clinical governance in a clinical setting.
- Explain the use of clinical audits as part of a quality improvement cycle to improve nursing practice and patient care.
Week 7 Wednesday (28 Aug 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Submit your assessment in Microsoft Word format only.
Week 10 Wednesday (18 Sept 2024)
Students will be advised of release of assessment marking via an announcement posted to the Announcement's Board on the Unit Moodle site. Please note, the 'Return to Students Information" is an approximate date.
Marking Criteria
Refer to the marking rubric below for more details on how marks will be assigned.
|
Key Criteria |
High Distinction 84.5–100% |
Distinction 74.50–84.49% |
Credit 64.50–74.49% |
Pass 49.50–64.49% |
Fail <49.5% |
TOTAL |
|
Overview of clinical governance in healthcare organisations (20%) |
(20–17) Concise, accurate and comprehensive summary in student’s own words of clinical governance including how clinical governance impacts clinical risk and influences safety and quality in nursing practice. Comprehensive discussion on how the student’s healthcare organisation addresses clinical governance, including risk identification and nurse-initiated audits. |
(16.9–15) Concise, accurate summary in student’s own words of clinical governance including how clinical governance impacts clinical risk and influences safety and quality in nursing practice. Concise discussion on how the student’s healthcare organisation addresses clinical governance, including risk identification and nurse-initiated audits. |
(14.9–13) Mostly accurate, concise summary in student’s own words of clinical governance including how clinical governance impacts clinical risk and influences safety and quality in nursing practice. Mostly concise discussion on how the student’s healthcare organisation addresses clinical governance, including risk identification and nurse-initiated audits. |
(12.9–10) A satisfactory summary in student’s own words of clinical governance including how clinical governance impacts clinical risk and influences safety and quality in nursing practice; however, contains some inaccuracies and is not concise and/or not comprehensive. Satisfactory discussion on how the student’s healthcare organisation addresses clinical governance, including risk identification and nurse-initiated audits. |
(9.9–0) Clinical governance is not summarised satisfactorily or has some inaccuracies and/or does not include how clinical governance impacts clinical risk and influences safety and quality in nursing practice. Inadequate discussion on how the student’s healthcare organisation addresses clinical governance, including risk identification and nurse-initiated audits and/or does not use the student’s own words, |
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Nursing practice to audit (15%) |
(15–12.75) One appropriate nursing practice was selected to be audited. The nursing practice to be audited is comprehensively identified. The background to the audit is comprehensively discussed in student’s own words including the clinical risk(s) to the patient and the necessity of the audit to the student’s workplace, and nurse leaders involved in the decision-making. |
(12.74–11.25) One appropriate nursing practice was selected to be audited. The nursing practice to be audited is clearly identified. The background to the audit is completely discussed in student’s own words including the clinical risk(s) to the patient and the necessity of the audit to the student’s workplace, and nurse leaders involved in the decision-making. |
(11.24–9.75) One appropriate nursing practice was selected to be audited. The nursing practice to be audited is identified. The background to the audit is adequately discussed in student’s own words including the clinical risk(s) to the patient and the necessity of the audit to the student’s workplace, and nurse leaders involved in the decision-making. |
(9.74–7.5) One nursing practice was selected to be audited. The nursing practice to be audited is identified. The background to the audit is discussed in student’s own words including the clinical risk(s) to the patient and the necessity of the audit to the student’s workplace, and nurse leaders involved in the decision-making. |
(7.4–0) One appropriate nursing practice was not selected to be audited. The nursing practice to be audited is not stated or is not a nursing practice. The background to the audit is not adequately discussed and does not include the clinical risk(s) to the patient and the necessity of the audit to the student’s workplace. Nurse leaders not involved in the decision-making and/or does not use the student’s own words. |
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|
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard or Aged Care Quality Standards (15%) |
(15–12.75) One National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard or one Aged Care Quality Standard has been identified and is the most relevant to the audit. The discussion comprehensively relates the Standard to the nursing practice being audited. Consistently and comprehensively integrates valid and relevant references to support and reflect all ideas, factual information, and quotations and is conveyed using student’s own words. |
(12.74–11.25) One National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard or one Aged Care Quality Standard has been identified and is the most relevant to the audit. The discussion completely relates the Standard to the nursing practice being audited. Consistently integrates valid and relevant references to support and reflect ideas, factual information, and quotations with 1 exception and is conveyed using student’s own words. |
(11.24–9.75) One National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard or one Aged Care Quality Standard has been identified and is relevant to the audit. The discussion adequately relates the Standard to the nursing practice being audited. Frequently integrates valid and relevant references to support and reflect ideas, factual information, and quotations, with 2 exceptions and is conveyed using student’s own words. |
(9.74–7.5) One National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard or one Aged Care Quality Standard has been identified and is relevant to the audit. The discussion relates the Standard to the nursing practice being audited but lacks clarity. Occasionally integrates valid and relevant references to support and reflect ideas, factual information, and quotations, with 3 exceptions and is conveyed using student’s own words. |
(7.4–0) One National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard or one Aged Care Quality Standards has been identified but is not relevant to the audit. The discussion does not relate the Standard to the nursing practice being audited. Minimal or no appropriate and/or valid and relevant references integrated to support arguments and factual ideas and/or cited excessive quotations reflecting the knowledge of others and/or does not use the student’s own words.
|
|
|
Description of audit (15%)
|
(15–12.75) The audit tool is comprehensively described using the student’s own words, including the origin of the tool, the measures of compliance, and audit components. A copy of the tool is attached in Appendix 1. |
(12.74–11.25) The audit tool is concisely described using the student’s own words, including the origin of the tool, the measures of compliance, and the audit components. A copy of the tool is attached in Appendix 1. |
(11.24–9.75) The audit tool is adequately described using the student’s own words, including the origin of the tool, the measures of compliance, and audit components. A copy of the tool is attached in Appendix 1. |
(9.74–7.5) The audit tool is briefly described using the student’s own words, including the origin of the tool, the measures of compliance, and the audit components. A copy of the tool is attached in Appendix 1. |
(7.4–0) The audit tool is not described and/or does not use the student’s own words and does not include the origin of the tool, the measures of compliance, or audit components. A copy of the tool is not attached in Appendix 1. |
|
|
Steps to undertake the audit (15%) |
(15–12.75) Steps to undertake the audit include a comprehensive list of the actions required to complete the project. The timelines proposed are realistic and achievable and conveyed using student’s own words. |
(12.74–11.25) Steps to undertake the audit include a complete list of the actions required to complete the project. The timelines proposed are realistic and conveyed using student’s own words. |
(11.24–9.75) Steps to undertake the audit include a mostly complete list of the actions required to complete the project. The timelines proposed are realistic and conveyed using student’s own words. |
(9.74–7.5) Steps to undertake the audit include an adequate list of the actions required to complete the project. Some of the timelines proposed are realistic, some require revision and conveyed using student’s own words. |
(7.4–0) Steps to undertake the audit do not include the actions required to complete the project. The timelines proposed are not realistic and/or does not use the student’s own words. |
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Professional writing and presentation (10%) |
(10–8.5) Content is students own work, clear, accurate, and presented in a logical, succinct order demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the topic. There are no errors in English grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The language of the discipline is comprehensively used. The assessment is substantiated with a minimum of 8, appropriate contemporary peer-reviewed journal articles. Formatting requirements applied without error. Adheres to the word count. |
(8.4–7.5) Content is students own work, frequently clear, correct and presented in a logical order demonstrating a good understanding of the topic. English grammar, spelling, and punctuation conventions have 1 error. The language of the discipline is frequently used. The assessment is substantiated with a minimum of 7 appropriate contemporary peer-reviewed journal articles. Formatting requirements applied with 1 error. Adheres to the word count. |
(7.4–6.5) Content is students own work, mostly clear, correct and presented in a logical order demonstrating a sound understanding of the topic. English grammar, spelling, and punctuation conventions have 2 errors. The language of the discipline is mostly used. The assessment is substantiated with at least 6 appropriate contemporary peer-reviewed journal articles. Formatting requirements applied with 2 errors. Adheres to the word count. |
(6.4–5) Content is students own work, occasionally clear, correct and presented in a logical order demonstrating a reasonable understanding of the topic. English grammar, spelling, and punctuation conventions have 3 errors. The language of the discipline is used. The assessment is substantiated with at least 5 contemporary peer-reviewed mostly appropriate journal articles. Formatting requirements applied with 3 errors. Adheres to the word count. |
(4.9–0) Content is not students own work, consistently unclear or incorrect and is disorganised demonstrating insufficient understanding of the topic. English grammar, spelling and punctuation conventions have ≥4 errors. The language of the discipline is infrequently or incorrectly used. The assessment is substantiated with ≤4 contemporary peer-reviewed, appropriate journal articles. Formatting requirements applied with ≥4 errors. Deviates +/- 10% of the word count. |
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Referencing (10%) |
(10–8.5) Acknowledges all sources and meets APA (7th Edition) referencing standards with no errors. Literature cited is published in the last 5 years and sourced from the CQUniversity library. |
(8.4–7.5) Acknowledges majority of sources and/or meets APA (7th Edition) referencing standards with 1 error. The majority of literature cited is published in the last 5 years and sourced from the CQUniversity library. |
(7.4–6.5) Acknowledges most sources and/or meets APA (7th Edition) referencing standards with 2 errors. Most literature cited has been published in the last 5 years and sourced from the CQUniversity library. |
(6.4–5) Acknowledges sources and/or meets APA (7th Edition) referencing standards with 3 errors. Some literature cited is published in the last 5 years and sourced from the CQUniversity library. |
(4.9–0) Multiple sources not acknowledged and/or ≥4APA (7th Edition) referencing errors or references not provided. Some literature cited is published ≥5 years and/or not sourced from the CQUniversity library. |
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TOTAL: |
MARKER: |
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Marker’s feedback:
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- Explain the concept of clinical governance and justify its relevance to the clinical setting and nursing practice.
- Apply a framework derived from the National Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to evaluate clinical governance in a clinical setting.
- Explain the use of clinical audits as part of a quality improvement cycle to improve nursing practice and patient care.
2 Presentation
Aim
The aim of this presentation is to demonstrate your applied understanding of clinical audits, and the associated quality standards, as part of the quality improvement cycle. Your analysis of the audit results will include compliance with, or deviations from, evidence-informed nursing practice in your clinical workplace, as you identified in Assessment 1, the significance of the selected nursing practice, and what will happen next as a result of the audit findings.
Instructions
This assessment requires you to present your clinical audit and findings. This assessment is to be undertaken in the clinical setting where you currently practice. Based on the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS, 2017) or the Aged Care Quality Standard (ACQS, 2019) selected in Assessment One, and in collaboration with your local nursing leadership team, undertake a clinical audit of a nursing practice and present your findings. You are not required to repeat information from Assessment 1 unless brief detail is required to give context to your presentation. You are to present the audit cycle and present in a poster-style presentation (using one slide) the steps that you undertook to conduct your audit, the audit findings, and identify what actions were or will be undertaken as a result of your audit findings.
Please follow the steps below to complete your assessment task:
1. Using your audit plan from Assessment 1:
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- Review the audit tool you will use to collect the data.
- In collaboration with your nursing management team/support determine the sample size for your audit. An appropriate size of audit for this assignment could be 10 to 15 audits of practice, with 10 questions in each audit. This would give you approximately 100–150 items of data to analyse.
- Review the audit implementation steps you will follow to conduct your audit.
- Determine the timeframe for each step in your audit, ensuring enough time to analyse the data and write up your report. Create a timeline with estimated dates for each step in your audit.
2. Ensure you have the NSQHS (2017) or ACQS (2019) selected in Assessment One for comparison or benchmarking to achieve compliance.
3. Using the provided PowerPoint template on the unit Moodle website, design a one-slide poster to report on the completed audit and deliver a 5-minute oral presentation. Your presentation should summarise your audit, including an overview of the issue/problem, the audit tool used, data collection methods, findings, recommendations, and references.
4.
A. Students enrolled in a partnered program pathway:
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- Present your audit through a 5-minute PowerPoint Poster presentation at your local health service. You are assessed in your local health service by your graduate program coordinator. The CQUniversity Academic Liaison Officer may also attend your presentation and participate in the assessment process to assist your Graduate Program Coordinator. Please refer to the submission section for further details.
- If a venue location at your hospital is not available to be accommodated, you may be asked to present at your local CQUniversity campus, or online to the Unit Coordinator. Information will be provided throughout the term should this situation arise. Please note, that the vast majority of students present at their hospital.
B. Students enrolled in the non-partnered pathway:
1. Present your 5-minute poster audit presentation using PowerPoint via the online platform - Zoom. You will be assessed by your unit coordinator. Please refer to the submission section for further details.
Literature and references
In this assessment use at least five to eight contemporary references (5 years or less) sourced from the CQUniversity library to support your discussion. You may also use seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles as well as textbooks, and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the 5 elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature from the internet must be from reputable websites such as government, university, or peak national bodies, for example, the Australian College of Nursing. Note, that websites such as Stat Pearls, Life in the Fastlane, and Wikipedia are not suitable for this assessment task. Lecture notes are not primary sources of evidence and should not be used in this assessment.
Requirements
- Use a conventional legible font. Any images used must be published with a Creative Commons (CC) license and the source attributed as per the requirements of their CC license.
- Use formal academic language.
- Write in the third-person context, however you may use first-person context for the actions you undertook to complete your audit.
- All work submitted must be your own work.
- The use of generative artificial intelligence is permitted in this assessment and only as indicated in the GenAI Permissions Checklist specific to Assessment Two in this unit.
- You must include in-text citations and a reference list; however, both can be included in small font to reduce the visual impact. Remember, that your referencing should be readable to your audience and presented on one PowerPoint slide.
- Use the seventh edition American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. The CQUniversity Academic Learning Centre has an online APA Referencing Style Guide.
Resources
- National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (NSQHSS, 2017) or Standards or the Aged Care Quality Standards (ACQS, 2019).
- You can use unit-provided materials and other credible sources, e.g., journal articles, and books, to reference your argument. The quality and credibility of your sources are important. Please note, lecture notes are not peer-reviewed primary sources of evidence.
- We recommend that you access your discipline-specific Nursing Resource Guide.
- For information on academic communication, writing, and referencing please go to the Academic Learning Centre Moodle site. The Academic Communication section has many helpful resources including information for students with English as a second language. There are also Oral Presentation resources.
- For information on using PowerPoint please go to the Academic Learning Centre Computing Basics section – How to use PowerPoint.
- For information on using Zoom to present your assessment, please go to Zoom web conferencing.
- Submit at least one draft of your assessment before the due date to review your Turnitin Similarity Score before uploading your final submission. Instructions are available here.
Submission
Submission instructions for Assessment Two Presentations are related to whether you are enrolled in a partnered program or not.
Students in a Partnered Graduate Program
- Students will present their audit (using their poster) as organised by their partnered Graduate Program Coordinator in their local health service. You may be asked to complete your assessment at a CQU campus, conditional to the availability of rooms within your health service.
- Send your completed poster to your Graduate Program Coordinator. You do not have to upload your PowerPoint poster to Moodle.
- Once you have completed your presentation, you are required to obtain your marked and signed rubric from your assessor. Please check that your assessor has indicated the elements achieved on the rubric and has signed it. You MUST sign it and ensure the rubric contains your student ID number. You can then upload the completed rubric to the Assessment portal in Moodle under the Assessment Two submission portal.
Students NOT in a Partnered Graduate Program
- Students will present their audit (using their PowerPoint poster) to the unit coordinator online.
- Register to attend an online Zoom session to present your audit. Dates and presentation times are identified earlier in this assessment task and are also on the unit Moodle site under Assessment Two. To ensure your availability on the identified dates for the presentations, we have provided 12 weeks advanced notice of the oral presentation times. This will give you time to request rostered time off through your workplace rostering system and ensure your attendance on one of the identified dates.
- Upload your PowerPoint poster to the Assessment Two submission portal on the Unit Moodle site by the due date.
- Attend your selected Zoom session and present your 5-minute PowerPoint poster presentation. The link to attend the Zoom oral presentation sessions can be found on the Unit Moodle site at the Assessment Two portal. The link is named Zoom Oral Presentation sessions.
- Once you have completed your presentation, you will be emailed a marked rubric. Please sign the rubric and upload to the Moodle site within 48 hours. Your earlier submission on Moodle (the PowerPoint poster) will be converted to draft format to allow you to resubmit.
All students
- Please note, by signing your marked rubric prior to uploading to the Unit Moodle site, you are declaring that the rubric and result you are uploading has not been altered after receiving it from your Graduate Program Coordinator.
Marking Criteria
Refer to the marking rubric on the Moodle site for more details on how marks will be assigned.
If you do not receive a passing grade, you may be eligible for a re-attempt. A re-attempt is where you are given a second opportunity to demonstrate your achievement of one or more of the unit’s learning outcomes before you can progress to new learning or participate in subsequent learning activities. You may be given the opportunity to re-attempt an assessment but will only achieve a mark no greater than the minimum for a pass standard for the assessment.
You must:
- have shown a reasonable attempt to complete the initial assessment task.
- be granted a re-attempt by your Unit Lead/Coordinator.
- make changes to the nominated assessment task which you have failed and resubmit the revised work for marking within seven consecutive days, no assessment extensions will be approved.
Please note: Only one opportunity for a re-attempt is allowed.
All students (partnered and non-partnered students) who are offered an assessment re-attempt are to email the Unit Coordinator NURS20169@cqu.edu.au to establish a presentation date for the assessment re-attempt.
Learning Outcomes Assessed
2. Apply a framework derived from the National Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to evaluate clinical governance in clinical a setting.
3. Explain the use of clinical audits as part of a quality improvement cycle to improve nursing practice and patient care.
4. Identify deviations from best practice and discuss areas for improvement.
Week 12 Wednesday (2 Oct 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Students in partnered program: Assessment date is as arranged by Graduate Coordinator; you do not need to submit your PowerPoint presentation to Moodle. Students in non-partnered pathway: Submit your assessment in Microsoft PowerPoint format only.
Week 12 Friday (4 Oct 2024)
Students will be advised of release of assessment marking via an announcement posted to the Announcement's Board on the Unit Moodle site. Please note, the 'Return to Students Information" is an approximate date.
Marking Criteria
Refer to the marking rubric below for more details on how marks will be assigned.
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Key Criteria |
High Distinction 84.5–100% |
Distinction 74.50–84.49% |
Credit 64.50–74.49% |
Pass 49.50–64.49% |
Fail <49.5% |
TOTAL |
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POSTER 50% |
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Presentation (15%) |
(15–12.75) The poster aesthetics were pleasing and highly engaged the audience. The poster structure professionally and comprehensively presented the QI project with no errors in English grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Formatting and font size requirements were met with no errors. Used the required template. Discipline-specific language was comprehensively used and is the student’s own work. |
(11.25–12.74) The poster aesthetics very effectively engaged the audience. The poster structure very effectively presented the QI project with a very high standard with one error in English grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Formatting and font size had one error. Used the required template. Discipline-specific language was consistently used and is the student’s own work. |
(9.75–11.24) The poster aesthetics effectively engaged the audience. The poster structure effectively presented the QI project with a high standard with two errors in English grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Formatting and font size had two errors. Used the required template. Discipline-specific language was mostly used and is the student’s own work. |
(7.5–9.74) The poster aesthetics mostly engaged the audience. The poster structure satisfactorily presented the QI project with mostly correct with three errors in English grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Formatting and font size had three errors. Used the required template. Discipline-specific language was occasionally used and is the student’s own work. |
(7.4–0) The poster aesthetics did not engage the audience. The poster structure was unsatisfactory and there were four or more errors in English grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. Formatting and font size had four or more errors. Did not use the required template. Discipline-specific language was used inconsistently or not used and/or is not the students own work. |
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Content (30%)
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(30–25.5) A comprehensive overview of the audit was provided. The audit steps were clearly and succinctly presented in the audit justification, background, data collection, results, recommendations, and the audit cycle and is the student’s own work. |
(25.4–22.4) A concise overview of the audit was provided. The audit steps were very effectively presented in f the audit justification, background, data collection, results, recommendations, and the audit cycle and is the student’s own work. |
(22.3–19.4) An effective overview of the audit was provided. The audit steps were effectively presented and included most of the audit justification, background, data collection, results, recommendations, and the audit cycle and is the student’s own work. |
(19.3–15) A satisfactory overview of the audit was provided. The audit steps were mostly satisfactorily presented and included some of the audit justification, background, data collection, results, recommendations, and the audit cycle. There were some gaps in content and is the student’s own work.
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(14.9–0) No clear overview of the audit was provided, and the project was poorly explained. The audit steps were not presented clearly including audit justification, background, data collection, results, recommendations, and the audit cycle. There were large gaps in the content and/or is not the student’s own work. |
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Referencing (5%) |
(5–4.25) Acknowledges all sources and meets APA (7th edition) style referencing standards with no errors. Literature cited is published in the last 5 years. |
(4.2–3.8) Acknowledges majority of sources and/or meets APA (7th edition) style referencing standards with 1 error. Literature cited is published in the last 5 years. |
(3.75–3.55) Acknowledges most sources and/or meets APA (7th edition) style referencing standards with 2 errors. Literature cited is published in the last 5 years. |
(3.50–2.5) Acknowledges some sources and/or meets APA (7th edition) style referencing standards with 3 errors. Some literature cited is published in the last 5 years. |
(2.45–0) Acknowledges some sources and/or has ≥4 APA (7th edition) style referencing errors. Some literature cited is published in the last 5 years or references are not provided. |
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ORAL PRESENTATION 50% |
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Content (30%) |
(30–25.5) The presenter demonstrated an expert understanding of their project and professionally and comprehensively presented the audit introducing the background information, description of the project, and implications for practice. |
(25.4–22.4) The presenter demonstrated a very good understanding of their project and comprehensively presented the audit introducing the background information, description of the project, and implications for practice. |
(22.3–19.4) The presenter demonstrated a good understanding of their project and thoroughly presented the audit introducing the background information, description of the project, and implications for practice. |
(19.3–15) The presenter demonstrated some understanding of their project and satisfactorily presented the audit introducing the background information, description of the project, and implications for practice. |
(14.9–0) The presenter did not demonstrate an understanding of their audit and did not adequately introduce the background information, describe the project, and/or discuss implications for practice. |
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Questions (10%) |
(10–8.5) The presenter comprehensively addressed audience questions. |
(8.4–7.5) The presenter clearly addressed audience questions. |
(7.4–6.5) The presenter effectively addressed audience questions. |
(6.4–5) The presenter mostly addressed the audience's questions. |
(4.9–0) The presenter did not adequately address the audience's questions. |
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Presentation (10%) |
(10–8.5) The presenter consistently engaged the audience, did not use notes, and effectively used voice, eye contact, and body language to maintain interest. Adheres to time limit. |
(8.4–7.5) The presenter mostly engaged the audience, used notes infrequently, and effectively used voice, eye contact, and body language to maintain interest. Adheres to time limit. |
(7.4–6.5) The presenter often engaged the audience, relied on their notes as a prompt, and intermittently used voice, eye contact, and body language to maintain interest. Adheres to time limit. |
(6.4–5) The presenter occasionally engaged the audience, read directly from notes, and occasionally used voice, eye contact, and body language to maintain interest. Does not adhere to time limit (<1 min over). |
(4.9–0) The presenter inconsistently engaged / or did not engage the audience. Read directly from notes. No eye contact with the audience. Does not adhere to time limit (> 1 min over). |
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Total Marks: / 100 |
Date: |
Marker signature: |
Student signature: |
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Marker’s feedback:
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- Apply a framework derived from the National Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to evaluate clinical governance in a clinical setting.
- Explain the use of clinical audits as part of a quality improvement cycle to improve nursing practice and patient care.
- Identify deviations from best practice and discuss areas for improvement.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
