Roshani Wijeratne

Student number: 822-868-733

Learning Plan
The first goal that I had planned to achieve during my pre-graduate clinical experience was to
be able to communicate clearly and effectively with patients, family and staff. There is a strong
focus on communication skills in a mental health unit due to the nature of the patients illness.
Nurses need to be able to communicate with the patient in order to understand the mental status
of the patient. Family visits are frequent in the mental health unit and it is important to be able to
build the confidence needed to explain the health status of the patient to the family and be able to
keep patient information confidential and respect the privacy of the patient at the same time.
Communication between the different members of the health care team is very important on any
unit; once a week the entire health care team, which is comprised of OT, PT, dietitians, medical
doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, the pharmacist and the nurses all meet up to discuss each
patients plan of care. As a student, it is intimidating to stand up and speak in front of the entire
team at once. I had made it my goal be able to do this before the end of my consolidation. Using
the help of my preceptor to prepare myself with all the information needed before the meeting
and also having witnessed my preceptor and other nurses speak up at previous meetings, I had
used this knowledge to help me achieve my goal.
The second goal that I had planned to achieve during my pre-graduate clinical experience was
to be able to develop a healthy therapeutic nurse-client relationship with the patients on the unit.
My pre-graduate clinical experience is different from my other clinical experiences in that I am
able to visit the unit more often than once a week, this allows me the opportunity to build a
healthy therapeutic nurse-client relationship with myself and the patients. The nurse-client

relationship is based on respect, empathy, trust, professional intimacy and appropriate use of
power by the nurse (CNO, 2006). I plan to use resources such as the CNO documents on the
therapeutic nurse-client relationship and professional standards as well as asking my preceptor
and the other nursing staff on ways they have developed a healthy nurse-client relationship.

Referernces
College of Nurses of Ontario. (2006). Therapeutic Nurse-Client Relationship. Retrieved April
15,2015 from https://www.cno.org/Global/docs/prac/41033_Therapeutic.pdf
College of Nurses of Ontario. (2002). Professional Standards. Retrieved April 15, 2015 from
https://www.cno.org/Global/docs/prac/41006_ProfStds.pdf