1. Selection criteria: Classification ANF Level 2
ESENTIAL
1. Eligibility to be registered with the Nurses and Midwives Board of Western
Australia
I am currently registered with the Nurses and Midwives Board of Western Australia
as a Registered Nurse (Division 1). My Registration Number is NMW0001549995;
the registration is due for renewal before 31/05/2016. I currently hold a Certificate in
Nursing, Diploma in Nursing and have completed a Post Graduate in Mental Health.
I am currently working as a Clinical Nurse Manager at Braemar House.
1. Relevant experience, knowledge and skills in area of specialty.
I have achieved experience in the areas of adult acute inpatient and community, and
older adult inpatient care. Along completing nurse training, I maintained the role of
general nursing from September 1990 to up to present date. On qualification, I obtained
a permanent post as registered nurse in my country of origin until I left for overseas
working in both adult and old adult inpatient wards. My main duties and responsibilities
included: personal care, administering medication, attending to patients’ relatives. I
have also worked as an allocated nurse for clients, carrying out admission and discharges
of patients, formulating, implementing, evaluating management plans in accordance to
care planning approach and involved in multi-disciplinary team meetings to discuss
patient care.
As a CNM at Braemar, I’m working closely with Facility Manager to ensure quality
nursing care is delivered to care recipients, and expected outcomes are achieved. I’m
directly supervising RN/ENs and care staffs to ensure assessments and care-plans are
completed timely and accurately. I’m working closely with RN/ENs and Care staff in
collecting accurate data for ACFI.
I have exceptional knowledge in mental illness and dementia care, an understanding of residents
and their presentation. For example, when in distress they require guidance due to confusion and
reduced alertness. I am fully aware and understand that people with dementia have reduced
functioning due to the degeneration of brain cells therefore giving them enough time will always
help. They need assistance with medication in promoting their wellbeing, and caution should be
taken as they are at risk of falls. I am aware of the policy regarding falls and reporting
procedures. I have excellent knowledge of medication and policy, arousal charts, side effects,
local procedures and have confidence in liaising with doctors when prescribing medication,
which I spend, time and explaining to residents & relatives using simple terms.

2. My current duties and responsibilities include; risk assessment and management,
continence assessment, assessments & care-planning, attending to residents’ relatives
with updates of their progress, carrying out admission of residents, implementing and
evaluating management plans. I am also involved in activities with patients, working as a
link between residents and medical &allied health team, and internal & external
stakeholders involved in providing quality health care to care recipients.
2. Advanced communication and interpersonal skills at an individual and team level
I have excellent oral and written communication skills that enable me to communicate
effectively with staff members and residents at different levels. My day to day duties
involve ongoing interaction with residents and other staff and during my practice I have
managed to establish good rapport with residents and staff through communicating with
them in a respectful manner. This is regarded as one of the best practice tools in working
within the aged care settings.
In my work experience, I have always worked with residents and professionals from
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and I am able to meaningfully
communicate with them. Whilst working in the adult ward at Fremantle Hospital, we had
a patient who struggled with his hearing, staff on the ward were getting injured due to
the level of aggression and needed at least 4 people to assist with his Activities of daily
living (ADL`s). His family used to come and help him out with easy; eventually the use
of pictures changed his behaviour and by the time of his discharged only one person
could assist him with easy.
I am aware of the interpreter services in WA and the process of acquiring one if
the need does arise. My current designation also involves a lot of verbal communication
during assessments and reporting and any other correspondences. I have excellent
writing skills ranging from writing reports and residents’ progress notes, observations
charts and also have skills in the use of iCare in care facility level.
I am very much aware of the effects of mental illness in the elderly, and the impact to
their loved ones. I have managed working with these residents and their relatives; I have
achieved this due to the good communication skills during Family Case Conference &
when working with them, hence is a key to good results.
The following communication tools are some of the effective techniques that I use when
nursing patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s illness. It is noted that these techniques
can vary depending on the uniqueness of each client. The communication techniques
include: low voice so that you won’t scare them, slow and brief sentences to give time to
process data, write things down as this works as a reminder, using pictures so that an
individual can recognise what is being asked or directed to do.

3. For example, I had a client who had hearing problems and it was hard when attending to
his Activities of daily living (ADL`s). When nursing him he easily understood what was
being said to him when the use of pictures was introduced and it shows that he was not
being difficult but only that he was not aware of what people were trying to make him
do. I am also aware that it is very important to keep good eye contact and being on the
same level as the person you are talking to. For example if they are seated and there are
no chairs around take it will be better to kneel rather than stand over them.
In my practice, I also note that it is important to get to know the individual’s history
before the illness by accessing iCare system, and also liaising with family. I also
communicate with other agencies at different levels i.e. RCL, community teams such as
FOAMHS, DBMAS, Continence Advisors when in need of care intervention which
cannot be accessed at nursing home level, and this is useful in continuity of quality care
required by residents under my care. In crisis situations I am effective and always
communicate in a calm voice, I always offer guidance to my team on how to manage the
situation if any does arise & also debriefing staff and relatives post a traumatic incident
happening.
3. Leadership and management skills within contemporary care frameworks
I have 24 years’ experience working as a registered nurse and have also manage to study
as a Post Graduate Mental Health Nurse, I have managed to cover most of the shifts in
the absents of the Facility Manager; also my current role includes toolbox on continence
management, skin tears to all staff. I have also taken lead roles in dealing with
aggressive patients. In order to enhance my leadership and management skills, I carry
out meetings with all staff & allied health to discuss resident of concern and to discuss
management of residents of concern.
I have a unique style of leadership that makes my day to day job easy to manage. I am
assertive when dealing with crisis at aged care level and escalate with Facility Manager
if unmanageable. When delegating task I always look on the skill mix of staff for
effective results. I always think of residents’ and core staff safety comes first.
For example, a resident with a diagnosis of dementia became aggressive and punched a
fellow resident, duress was activated. Being the CNM I took control of the situation by
delegating tasks, taking into account that the resident might have already forgotten about
the incident due to his illness, and seeing people approaching him could be considered as
a threat. I then requested my colleague to make sure there were no injuries to the other
patient and directed others to calming the other residents who appeared upset about the
incident, while I calmly support the resident in question away from the scene. When the
situation calmed down I discussed and debriefed the whole incident to the Facility
Manager, and made plans to manage the patient in question for that day until reviewed
by the GP. I also documented this resident’s behaviour on iCare. Verbal handover was
done to next staff taking over the shift.
4. Ability to plan, implement and evaluate client, carer and staff education

4. In my role of supervising RNs and ENs, I work with them to plan what tasks need to be
undertaken during a shift and we work together to review the plan to determine what
tasks need to be changed depending on what is required by residents in relation to their
care plans.
I have demonstrated to RNs and ENs how to administer Intramuscular Injection (IM)
medication and the importance of the 6 R`s which are; right route, patient, medication,
time, dosage and right documentation .I am aware of The Poisons Act 1964 and the
Poisons Regulations 1965 which provides clear instructions on management, recording
& storage of Schedule 8 (S8) medications.
I have also encouraged and demonstrated that family involvement in care of the resident
is very important to achieve quality continuity of care. If a resident experiences
dysphagia; my role as CNM is to assess the resident during meals and referral to the
speech pathology for swallowing assessment is implemented. Also GP is informed to
initiate any changes in medications. Documentation on iCare is done for continuity of
care. I also inform the kitchen staff and change on the dietary assessment forms on iCare
In my Clinical Nurse role I always make use of the resident centred approach and this
entails treating each resident as a unique individual with specific needs that cannot be
just generalised. This approach is one of the key’s best practice principles in managing
residents and effective care.
Recently I have been reading articles on dementia care and have discussed with the team
my goals of wanting to raise awareness and consistent approach that will eventually
result in high quality of care. This has increased my interest in elements of Dementia
care, mainly on spirituality, and sexuality, as I feel this avenue is not explored as much
as other aspects of mental health. I endeavour to undertake a research that will be based
on best practise and principles and tailored to individuals not generalised.
The process will include; research, professional development, information sharing
sessions, as well as a self-directed learning package. This research will enhance my skills
and knowledge base thereby improving the quality of my practice, as well as those who
will be involved. It will also be used as reading material by RN/ENs and Care staff.
After reading a toolkit compiled for the old adult of (Do`s and Don’ts of Dementia care
Management), I have taken the initiative to introduce a sign-in sheet to everyone who
has read it as it gives simple and straight forward answers to up to date Dementia care
and how to deal with various situations.
I have acquired a detailed knowledge of nursing law and legislation through reading and
my experience working in inpatient wards. Some of these laws are affecting nursing
practice to some extent in promoting physical and mental health. They include; Mental
Health Act (2007), Consent to Treatment Act (2008) and Guardianship and
administration Act (1990) reporting of adult and child sexual abuse.

5. The basis of Equal Opportunity legislation is that all work promotion and employment is
based on merit and ability to perform a task not on personal characteristics. In delivering
care, I always practise in a non-discriminatory manner, maintaining residents’
confidentiality, dignity, independence and rights. I respect residents’ individuality and
choices, regardless of their gender, age, sexuality, race, disability and above all their
illness.
I am aware that I have obligations under Work health and Safety Act (2011) and the
Occupational Health and Safety Act (1984) to provide and maintain a safe workable
environment for staff, visitors and above all the residents I care for. I am aware of the
obligation nurses and midwives have regarding reporting any actual and potential risks in
the workplace to the appropriate authority, and the procedure of how to go about it.
I am aware of the Disability Services Act (1993) in providing services to individuals with
disabilities in aged care sectors in an effort to improve life styles by placing adaptation to
accommodate people living with disabilities in work place.

6. The basis of Equal Opportunity legislation is that all work promotion and employment is
based on merit and ability to perform a task not on personal characteristics. In delivering
care, I always practise in a non-discriminatory manner, maintaining residents’
confidentiality, dignity, independence and rights. I respect residents’ individuality and
choices, regardless of their gender, age, sexuality, race, disability and above all their
illness.
I am aware that I have obligations under Work health and Safety Act (2011) and the
Occupational Health and Safety Act (1984) to provide and maintain a safe workable
environment for staff, visitors and above all the residents I care for. I am aware of the
obligation nurses and midwives have regarding reporting any actual and potential risks in
the workplace to the appropriate authority, and the procedure of how to go about it.
I am aware of the Disability Services Act (1993) in providing services to individuals with
disabilities in aged care sectors in an effort to improve life styles by placing adaptation to
accommodate people living with disabilities in work place.