Question: Written Assignment: The application of practice development to a context of nursing practice
Please consider the criteria of the essay:
Criteria for the academic content of the essay
1. (2,500 words and please do not include the word count of abstract, table of contents, headings and references)
2. Abstract (10% around 250 words
3. Table of contents
4. Headings
5. References: around 25 References that must be modern and not more than 10 year old.
• Introduction 10% around 250 words
• Summary of the main philosophical or conceptual premises of practice development
• Relevance of the practice development in a context of clinical leadership of nursing practice
• Discussion and Conclusion
Presentation and style
• Structure of the assignment and clarity of expression
• Citations and references - Use the style APA 6th Edition referencing.
Task: Write an essay in which you examine the theory/philosophy of practice development and consider the relevance of applying this in a nursing practice context.
Details of task: The aim of this assessment task is to demonstrate your reading about practice development and your thinking about its application in a context of clinical leadership of nursing practice.
In the essay you will:
• Introduce the topic.
• Summarise the main philosophical or conceptual premises of practice development.
• Examine the relevance of practice development philosophy/concepts for a context of nursing practice and its/their utility for clinical leadership.
• Draw a discussion and a conclusion relevant to the material discussed and your emergent insights from the work.
For this assignment students need to read and explore practice development ‘theoretically' and consider a potential application in a workplace context.
The goal is to gain sufficient understanding so that some practice development work can form a part of each student's clinical leadership toolbox.
Requirement and Suggested Activities and Sources:
Introduce the topic
• Begin with an orientating statement to the topic - a brief general statement.
• Provide a position in relation to your essay focus, define your key idea/s.
• Indicate the scope and context of the paper.
• Provide an outline of how you will present the argument/structure of your essay.
Summarise the main philosophical or conceptual premises of practice development. You will need to:
• Define practice development.
• Read and write in some detail about on one or more aspects of practice development theory/philosophy/concepts. For this section you need to visit primary sources regarding practice development: Latest theoretical textbook:
• McCormack, B., Manley, K., & Titchen, A. (Eds.). (2013) 3 Practice Development in Nursing and Healthcare, 2nd Edition. Wiley-Blackwell ISBN: 978-0-470-67311-9. Chapters 1, 3, 4 will be particularly useful.
International Journal of Practice Development (IPDJ) - free access journal (Go to the Foundation of Nursing Studies - Website fons) Select relevant papers from the journal.
Consider the relevance of practice development philosophy/concepts to a context of clinical leadership of nursing practice. You will need to:
• Outline the context (a brief scenario may be useful).
• Identify and argue how the philosophy or concepts identified in the previous section of your paper could be used in the selected context.
• Also identify why this application would be important, and what the likely impacts/expected outcomes from the activity would be.
• Link these ideas to clinical leadership in the context.
• Areas for leadership and practice development could include for example: advancing person-centredness in care, achieving greater consumer involvement in care, supporting a patient safety culture, enhancing innovation in practice, advancing the use of evidence in practice, enhancing workplace learning, or strengthening values based practice. (You may find that you are also drawing on other nursing literature to support your activity/intervention).
Draw a discussion and then a conclusion relevant to the material discussed and your emergent insights from the work).
• In a brief discussion gather up the position and focus of the essay, draw through (summarise/synthesise) the key things that have been achieved throughout the essay.
• Write some recommendations and ‘so what' pointers emerging from the prior sections of your essay.
• Create your conclusion. Make sure that your conclusion does justice to what you argued, presented, gained from undertaking the work.