Writing assignment 1

Name : Apsara paudel

Course : Masters of nursing practice
T2, HSNS206
Student no : 220191405
Unit co-ordinator : Sally Bristow
Topic : Registered nurse’s legal and ethical practice requirements in
Australia
Due date : 30th july 2018
Word count :
Nursing as a profession has its own criteria. Nursing has specific ethical as well as

legal principles those are quite different from other profession. The nurses hold the

responsibility of ethical decisions in their workplace. In Australia, each health care

professionals has their own ethical principles to be followed however the registered

nurse including enrolled nurse and midwives have the same legal and ethical

responsibilities (Berman et al.,2014). From the Australian Nurse Registering

Authorities conference (ANRAC) 1990 the codes of ethics for nurses in Australia was

first adopted by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) in 1993. After

the national registration scheme in 2010, NMBA is responsible for all the registration

related to nursing with the ownership of nursing standards and codes of conduct.

NMBA has selected eight aspects under the standard of nursing. Those includes

quality of nursing care, dignity for self and others, valuing the diversity, access of

quality care for all, informed decision making, safety in care, ethical management of

information and providing sustainable environment in promoting health care (NMBA,

2013) Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia (2008).

The ethical issues related to nursing practices are generally known as nursing ethics.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, (NMBA, 2013) focuses on the four

domains of ethical responsibilities for a registered nurse. NMBA has highlighted

professional practice as the main aspect required for a registered nurse and also

states that registered nurse should be competent in critical thinking and analysis.

Further domains are coordinated care and collaborative as well as therapeutic

practice. Accountability as the responsibility of nurses is highlighted by the Code of

Ethics for Nurses in Australia (NMBA 2018).The nurses are responsible for all the

decisions and action taken by them (NMBA, 2018). Beauchamp and Childress
(2013) as cited by (Berman et al., 2014) emphasizes autonomy, non-maleficence,

beneficence and justice as the basic ethical principles for health care workers.

(Berman et al.,2014) defines autonomy as the right of patients to choose the care

and decisions for themselves. Non-maleficence in ethical aspect is the duty of care

provider with no harm for the care receiver. Beneficence means implementation of

the action which focuses in benefit to the individual and is one of the obligatory

responsibilities of nurses. Justice means fairness. While providing care in group or

more than one patient all the patient should be equally treated in sense of providing

care. Moreover (Berman et al., 2014) specifies the fidelity and veracity as the ethical

principles in nursing. Fidelity refers to faithfulness toward own duty and follow the

professional responsibility to patient, organization and society and veracity refers

being truthful and accept own conduct. The main responsibility of nurse is to provide

a holistic care to the patient irrespective of their age, gender, religion, cultural values

and health condition

“Nurse must be able to describe the care they give and the clinical decisions they

make” (Buresh & Gordon, 2013) as cited in Levett-Jonnes and Bourgeois, 2015.

Relating to the case of Semantha, she is able to describe Lucinda that the reason of

denying the admission of her husband is following the provision of admission and

availability of bed only for the critically ill patient. Through the effective

communication the nurses should be able to answer and make clear all the queries

of the patient and family.

In case of RN Gemma as mentioned in case study 1 she has followed the nursing

standard as a registered nurse. She has maintained therapeutic and professional

relationship while guiding the students in planning and providing care to the patient.

The case also evidenced the team work as the student nurse and Gemma helped
each other in busy situation and the student nurse took help from Gemma in

providing bed bath and bed making of the patient who was in bed rest.

In another case of dealing with Lucinda, Gemma should not disclose the detailed

information about Salvatore in telephone conversation. This is against the codes of

conduct and can be the breach regarding privacy and confidentiality. All the ethical

aspects related to the registered nurse in Australia is same to the other nurses such

as enrolled nurse, nurse practitioner, midwives and also the student nurse.

In Australia accountability applies even in case of student nurses. Nursing students

are accountable of their own for the activities or any act of misconduct and

negligence during the course of their clinical practicals. The legal responsibilities of

student nurses during their practice are same as of the registered nurse. Students

nurse should maintain the same standards as of the registered nurse (McIlwraith &

Madden 2010) as cited in (Berman et al., 2014). Nursing students requires a clear

criminal history reported to NMBA in the process of getting registered as the

individual with the criminal history or record can be rejected for registration despite of

their academic qualification.

References

Kozier, B., Glenora Lea Erb, G.L., Berman, A., Synder, S., Levett-Jones, T., &

Dwyer,T. (2014), Kozier and Erb’s Fundamentals of Nursing: Legal aspects of

nursing. (3rd ed) Pearson Australia

Levett-jones, T., & Bourgeois, S. (2015). The clinical placement: An essential guide

for nursing students (3rd ed). Elseiver, Australia

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2018), Codes of Conduct for Nurses,

Retrieved from http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-

Statements/professional-standards.aspx