NRSG377: Transition to Contemporary Nursing and Clinical Leadership
Assessment 2 – Professional Discourse

ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

Assessment Title

Assessment 2 – Professional Discourse

Purpose

This assessment enables students to demonstrate sound written communication skills, synthesis of concepts through contribution, reflection and response to discussions about professional leadership issues in nursing and healthcare.

Due Date and Time

Tuesday 21st October 2025 – 1400hrs (2pm)

Weighting

50%

Length

1500 words

Assessment Rubric

Attached as Appendix A of this document

Canvas Resource

A National Q&A Session will be held during Week 8 of the semester. The Q&A session will unpack the assessment task requirements. Students will have the opportunity to ask the National LICs any questions or clarifications they require. All students are recommended to attend this session. A recording of the National Q&A session will be made available for students. The link will be made available on Canvas

LOs Accessed

LO3, LO4, LO5

Task

You are a graduate registered nurse working on a surgical ward in a large metropolitan hospital. As an emerging clinical leader, you have been asked by your Nurse Unit Manager to propose a quality improvement initiative to address one (1) of the following patient safety risk concerns:

1. Medication errors

2. Human errors

3. Healthcare associated infections

4. Patient falls

5. Venous thromboembolism prevalence

Use the Quality Improvement Proposal template provided and respond to the following through your proposal:

1. Identify the patient safety risk concern that you would like to address in a change initiative. Provide a purpose, background, two (2) specific and achievable objectives and evaluation of change concepts, inclusive of (2) specific evaluation practices for your change initiative proposal. Use current literature to support your proposal. (500 words)

2. Stakeholder engagement is a pivotal aspect of quality improvement. Identify the main stakeholders whom you need to engage in your change initiative proposal and critically discuss communication strategies with the stakeholders. (350 words)

3. Identify the leadership style that you will adopt in this innovation for change. Analyse how the two (2) specific attributes of this leadership style would benefit and guide success of this quality improvement proposal. (300 words)

4. Identify two (2) possible barriers to change, one (1) individual barrier and one (1) organisational barrier that you could encounter when implementing change. Critically discuss using current literature. (350 words)

Submission

This assessment must be submitted by Turnitin through NRSG377 Canvas Site. Multiple submissions can be made up until the due date for the assessment (please note that there can be a 24-48 hour lock out period between each submission). Resubmissions are NOT permitted after the due date and time.

Presentation

This assessment should be presented using the Quality Improvement Proposal template provided.

FORMATTING

File Format

.doc or .docx (Do not submit .pdf files or pages files). ACU has made Microsoft Office 365 available for students for either PC or Mac versions.

Margins

2.54cm, all sides

Font and Size

11-point Calibri or Arial

Spacing

1.5 spacing including the reference list

Paragraph

Aligned to left margin, indent first line of each paragraph 1.27cm

Title Page

Not to be used

Headings

As per template provided

Structure

As per template provided

Direct quote

Always require page number. No more than 10% of word count in direct quotes

Header

Page number top right corner (9-point Calibri or Arial)

Footer

Name - Student Number – Ax2 - NRG372 - 2023 (in 9 point Calibri or Arial)

REFERENCING

Referencing Style

APA 7th edition

Minimum References

A minimum of eight (8) high quality nursing related resources are to be

used.

Age of References

Published in the last five (5) years as this area of knowledge is rapidly developing, unless seminal literature is used.

List Heading

“References” is centred, bold, on a new Page. (14point Calibri or Arial)

Alphabetical Order

References are arranged alphabetically by author family name

Hanging Indent

Second and subsequent lines of a reference have a hanging indent

DOI

Presented as functional hyperlink – all references must be hyperlinked

Spacing

Double spacing the entire reference list, both within and between entries

APA Guides

ACU Library APA Guides & APA Style Handouts

ADMINISTRATION

Late Penalties

Late penalties will be applied from 14:01 on the due date, incurring 5% penalty of the maximum marks available up to a maximum of 15%.

Assessment tasks received more than three calendar days after the due or extended date will receive feedback but will not be allocated a mark.

Example:

An assignment is submitted 12 hours late and is initially marked at 60 out of 100. A 5% penalty is applied (5% of 100 is 5 marks). Therefore, the student receives 55 out of 100 as a final mark.

Return of Marks

Marks will be generally returned in three weeks; if this is not achievable, you will be notified via your Canvas discussion forum.

Final Assignment

Marks for the final assessment NRSG377 will be withheld until after grade ratification and grade release.