All individuals, in all societies, are accountable for their own actions. Whether that be to other persons, such a parents or teachers, organisations such as employers, the justice system or a regulatory body such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Everyone is responsible for their actions. The Nursing and Midwifery Council is a register of practitioners that have completed a satisfactory level of competence that enables nurses to practice. This register conveys to the public that the minimum standards have been met and that a certain standard of behaviour can be expected (Burnard and Chapman, 2003). It would appear that there is no one singular definition of accountability, yet it is cited by many professional nursing organisations as “a …show more content…
Confidentiality is an important part of nursing practice and the NMC Code (2015) states “As a registered nurse or midwife you must protect confidential information”. Patients are disclosing private and sensitive information and they have the right to expect that it will only be used for the purpose it was given (Burnard and Chapman, 2003) however, there are exceptions, which will be explored further on in this essay. During the course of this essay, confidentiality will be discussed in further detail and will be considered in relation to the law, nursing ethics and accountability under the NMC standards of conduct. There will also be an exploration of how consent, capacity and duty of care relate to
Consequently RCN Principles: a framework for evaluating health and social care policy, was published in April 2006 by the RCN to ‘provide a standard against which the RCN could evaluate service and policy developments, consultations and initiatives across health and social care settings and sectors within and outside the UK’. Since its publication, ‘score cards’ and other benchmarking tools have also been developed for use by local groups in specific situations, such as trust mergers. The Fellows of the RCN, whose mission is “to improve standards of nursing care by influencing others and working through the Royal College and with those
Supervision provides nurses with the opportunity to be able to reflect and review their own actions or inaction (self-awareness) within the clinical practice (Bush 2005; Care Quality Commission (2013). However, lack of supervision or poor supervision has detrimental effects (such as mistakes, injuries, incidents and death) which may impact on patient care. Significant failures in care in the early 1990s brought about the start of clinical supervision and two examples of such cases include the Bristol heart surgery tragedy and cervical screening mistakes at Kent and Canterbury hospital (Cottrell and Smith,
Similarly, provision six states that nurses must keep the conditions and standards of the ethical environment high to achieve the best care (ANA, 2015, p.v). In other words, nurses have a duty to be ethically aware and supportive to help maintain the best environment for patients, families, and other healthcare members. Additionally, when an ethical dilemma arises within the environment, it is appropriate to make informed decisions and advocate for the patient. Provision seven expresses the idea that scholarly research, the advancement of professional standards, and the implementation of health and nursing policy allow nurses to advance the overall practice (ANA, 2015, p.v). In my opinion, provision seven describes the nurse's obligation to lifelong learning.
On any given shift, nurses have access to some of the most personal private information about a patient and his or her family. A right to privacy is grounded in the society and is protected by the United States Constitution. In addition, the American Nurses Association (ANA) Codes for Nurses prohibits disclosure of confidential patient information, as do the ethical codes of many other professional organizations (Malek, 2010). The Joint Commission mandates that institutions maintain and adhere to policies and standards to protect patient information. According to Malek (2010), nurses must remember that a right to privacy protects more than the patient’s medical record; it protects them from unauthorized photographs and news stories, as well
Information among vulnerable adults and children’s safeguarding is considered private, distinctive and personal. Safeguarding is a regulation amongst the Care quality commission it means, protecting people’s health, wellbeing and human rights and enabling them to no longer be without harm, abuse and neglect. Its fundamental to high quality health and social care. Producing a policy for safeguarding vulnerable adults consists of, person centred approach the care and support that respects the person as an individual and promotes dignity, choice, independence and wellbeing. This type of information is governed by the duty of confidentiality.
The standard of care has set a minimum criterion for job proficiency (Melanie T. Gura, 2008). 4. Discuss professional accountability and responsibility and their implications for nursing
(2013) suggest that the safety of patients is important and therefore, professionals and all stakeholders should encourage a practice that does not compromise the humanity and dignity of the service user. Nurses have a duty of care to support patients and to help them to make choices that offer the least amount of risk and make them aware of the implication of their choices and the risks involved (NMC, 2015). However, that is if they have the mental capacity to understand all of this. The Mental Capacity Act (2005) states that it is assumed that everyone has capacity unless it is proven otherwise. Acton (2015) also identified the need for professionals to fully understand and implement the Mental Capacity Act (2005).
If nurses make mistakes, they have to admit it. In addition, Nurses have an ethical responsibility to keep their patients ' medical record confidentiality. Nurses shouldn 't release this confidential data to other persons. Furthermore, Nurses need to be trusted with a great deal of high profile information. A patient counts on a nurse 's professionalism and integrity to keep their medical information confidential.
Part A As part of my studies of the Perspectives on nursing module I have been assigned to examine dignity as a value which underpins nursing practice. Dignity is a multi-faceted concept and can be defined as ‘’ The state or quality of being worthy of honour or respect’ (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/dignity, 2015)’. Respect for the dignity of the person is the number one principle of the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Nurses and Midwives (NMBI, 2014). Also, this principle notably finds its origins in the Universal Declaration of human rights (United Nations, 1948) (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, 2014).
The essay talks about the role of the Nursing and Midwifery council and the application of the NMC Code (2015) in my practice as a student nurse. The nursing process was also deemed over and analysed in relation to the evidence based practice and application of the NMC standards. Nursing is a profession regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC 2015), an organisation set up by the Parliament to regulate nurses and midwives from England, Scotland and Wales to deliver high quality of care throughout their careers (NMC, 2015).These standards are legally binded in the NMC (2015) Code to set out professional principles for education, training and conduct as well as providing in keeping up to date skill and knowledge for nurses midwives.
If we as nurses respect the confidentiality of a patient, we should do so for all the patients. However, Griffith (2007) argues that the duty of confidence should not be absolute and nurses should always consider sharing information if required. Though the principle of respecting patient autonomy and their right to confidentiality is broken here, the principle of beneficence and non-maleficence is uphold. Nurses have an obligation to protect patient’s confidentiality but the duty to warn an innocent party of imminent harm is far more critical. Therefore, breaking confidentiality here is potentially doing more good than
Accountability: A literature search was carried out to find a definition of accountability using the BNI and CINHAL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) ‘accountability’ was inputted into the databases. 18,114 results from search engine BNI and 16,725 results were produced from CINHAL respectfully. Results were reduced as filters were applied (see appendices 2). Filters were applied, before titles, abstracts and whole articles were reviewed, this was the case for Mullen (2014) on CINHAL.
As a group we all decided that it is best for the patient’s notes to be filed in the nurse’s station due to issues surrounding confidentiality and privacy. As a group we chose to show a clinical scenario which started off with a role play and ended with a debrief discussion which also incorporated the Australian nursing and midwifery code of ethics (2008) and the competency standards for registered nurses which explained where an ethical breach had been made.
As an experienced nursery nurse, I believe that “we are responsible for our actions” Shacklock and Smyth, (1998, p.5)also shares this same belief, this is in the sense that our reflection on the day’s events is imperative “to learn from experience or to make greater use of learning where there is no formal guidance or teaching” Fry, Ketteridge and Marshall, n.d.(2014,p.6). To look at a critical incident and reflect on it, Ramsey, (2010, p.44) states that when “writing our past experiences we learn most and gain the most satisfaction” for the reason that by critically analysing our experience, our understanding and control over professional judgement and consequently over practice is increased Ramsey, (2010, p.44). Critical incidents such as safeguarding ’refers to some event or situation which marked a significant turning point or change in the life of a person or institution’ Ramsey, (2010, p.24).
Confidentiality is a central trust between doctors and patients, also it's one in all the foremost vital things in nursing fields. nurses, as well as midwives, have legal and skilled responsibilities to respect the rights of patients and purchasers and treat them equally. In addition, confidentiality as a part of the social, moral and ethical basis of operating in the care setting, it considers the key to determining trust, promote sensible relationship and interaction. information that's confidential covers all diagnosable patient data, whether or not written, processed, visual or audio recorded, for example, any clinical data regarding associate degree individual’s diagnosing or treatment also including an image, photograph, video, audiotape