A NEW STANDARD Issue#1

A New
Standard
The
Convergence
of Standards
of Practices

MAKING DIFFERING STANDARDS OF PRACTICE WORK TOGETHER FOR A COMMON GOAL IN THIS ISSUE: DEVELOPING STANDARDS

Understanding the Context

The Bigger Picture
by Jamie M. Belec
In the Beginning…
It started with the PME-800 Course at
Queen’s University. The idea was to devise a
project that involved setting Proximal (short
term) Goals that would ultimately lead to the
fulfilment of an overarching or, Distal Goal.
That was it. The latitude and freedom to
carry this out seemed immeasurable.
Identifying the Plan
I wanted to make the Project relevant to me.
I am a Registered Psychiatric Nurse (RPN).
Although I live in Ontario, I maintain my
practice through the College of Registered
Psychiatric Nurses of Manitoba—CRPNM. As
a RPN, I am required to maintain certain
Standards of Practice. These Standards
provide a framework to guide my practice.
As I worked through the Project, several
observations emerged:
1) I was the only person who fully
grasped its purpose and function.
Mobilizing the Plan
The process of getting to the Distal Goal 2) A set of competencies similar to the
required tracking. I used two mechanisms to CRPNM Standards of Practice exist at
accomplish this: my local college (see below).
One mechanism was to develop a tool to
convey the identified goals (process). This
was a single page “roadmap” to show the
project direction. Below is a snapshot of the
initial tool used to create the roadmap. Three
PPT revisions ensued along the journey.

Currently, I am employed in a role other than

direct-care psychiatric nursing. I am a
professor at a local college. There are no
official postsecondary “Standards of
Practice.” As a result, I wanted to create
nursing Standards of Practice for the context
of teaching. This became my Distal Goal.
Having identified the Distal Goal, I was to
generate a series of Proximal Goals to propel
me towards it.
The second mechanism I needed, was a
venue to share the progress. This led to the
creation of a website. Not being very tech
savvy, I found the learning curve for this task
to be a bit steep (and a work in progress). I
posted BLOG updates along the way to share
my progress. Blogs included challenges I was
met with at points during the project.
3) Existing college competencies, are
not standardized (the same for all
colleges across Ontario). Local
colleges have developed their own
competencies.
 A NEW STANDARD| Issue #1 2

4) In Ontario, a professional association

exists for public school teachers.
(Ontario College of Teachers—OCT)
The OCT has Standards of Practice
for school teachers across Ontario.

5) I needed to compare the OCT

Standards with the competencies at
the local college to identify
similarities. COMPARISON HERE

6) By comparing the OCT Standards

with the local college competencies, I
was able to draw similarities.

7) Because OCT Standards are

consistent across Ontario, I wanted to
compare them with my nursing
Standards for similarities.
COMPARISON HERE

Pressing on Towards the Goal

The question to ask was, “So what?” I had
discovered the existence of a professional body
that held public school teachers accountable;
that local colleges held similar—but not
standardized—competencies to help guide the
practice of postsecondary educators; and
finally, through comparison, there were clear
linkages between teachers’ Standards and
nursing Standards. What was the next step?
With this new information, I needed to modify
the “roadmap” tool I initially developed for my
project because my Distal goal needed
adjustment. Click on the picture!

New Horizons (slightly)

Instead of “reinventing the wheel” to create a
new set of standards as a Registered
Psychiatric Nurse in the college teaching
environment, I could amalgamate the two sets
of Standards (nursing and teaching) by making
modifications to create a unified set of
Standards. The challenge in doing this was to
maintain a sense of fidelity to both
proefssional bodies (especially to nursing, for
which I am legally accountable).

Comparison Leads to Convergence

So, the comparison chart to the right reveals the
modified Standards of Practice (third column).
They become a succinct cohesive set of
Standards to guide my practice in the college
milieu by providing a relevant framework of
practice. The next page displays the end product.
A NEW STANDARD Issue#1

Nursing Standards of Practice for the College Setting

5 Steps of Psychiatric Nursing Accountability in the College Classroom, and Beyond

UPHOLD EFFECTIVE INTRAPROFESSIONAL

AND TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS

ONGOING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

INTEGRATED INTO PRACTICE

PROFESSIONAL INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

WITHIN LEARNING COMMUNITIES

PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE WHICH

INCLUDES ETHICAL FRAMEWORK

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

THE COMPLETED STANDARDS OF

PRACTICE PROVIDE AN EXCELLENT
FRAMEWORK TO DIRECT THE
REGISTERED PSYCHIATRIC NURSE
IN ANY COLLEGE SETTING