Peer Responses/ Scope of Practice
Peer Responses/ Scope of Practice essay assignment
Peer Responses/ Scope of Practice essay assignment
In your peer response to two (2) students in Group B, discuss the relationship between the Scope and Standards of Practice and issues related to accountability and liability within nursing practice. How are accountability and liability related? How do the Scope and Standards help protect patients and nurses from unsafe care? How does deviating from the Scope and Standards affect a nurse’s potential liability for patient outcomes?
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Student One:
“Nursing ethics is a system of principles concerning the actions of the nurse in his or her relationships with patients, patients’ family members, other health care providers, policymakers, and society as a whole” (Cherry & Jacob, 2016, p. 163). A Code of Ethics for nurses was established by the American Nurses Association as “a guide for carrying out nursing responsibilities in a manner consistent with quality in nursing care and the ethical obligations of the profession” (NUR 400, Module 5, Lecture Script, 2018). Nurses must follow this set of duties and ethical obligations when providing care, and they can utilize the code as guide when faced with ethical challenges at the societal, organizational, and clinical levels (Epstein & Turner, 2015).
Provision 3 of the ANA Code of Ethics is “the nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient” (Fowler, 2015). This provision includes the protection of patient information, whistleblowing, promoting a culture of safety, and processes that address questionable practice (Fowler, 2015). Nurses must protect patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality, therefore “the nurse advocates for an environment that provides for sufficient physical privacy, including privacy for discussions of a personal nature and policies and practices that protect the confidentiality of information” (American Nurses Association, [ANA], 2015). Only information that is pertinent to patient treatment and welfare should be disclosed with health care team members and those designated by the patient (ANA, 2015). However, confidentiality guidelines may be modified, if needed, to protect the patient, other innocent parties, or in cases of state mandated reporting (ANA, 2015).
Patients have the right to choose whether to be involved in research studies or not. Nurses must assure that patient rights are protected during research activities, and that all available information has been provided to the patient (Fowler, 2015). Regarding a culture of safety, nurses are required to report errors and near misses. “Given that errors will occur, there must be processes and guidelines for prompt reporting and remedying, and for disclosure to the patient, whether the error is one’s own or that of a co-worker” (Fowler, 2015, p. 51). Questionable practice includes incompetent, unethical, illegal, or impaired practice (Fowler, 2015). If a nurse is witness to this type of practice, they have an obligation to protect the patient, and they must take appropriate action to rectify the situation (Fowler, 2015).
Provision 3 states nurses are advocates, and as such, must ensure that the health, safety, and rights of the patients are protected (Fowler, 2015). Additionally, nurse can not ignore impaired care provided by others, that could jeopardize patient safety (Fowler, 2015). Lastly, any observance of unethical or unsafe care by any health care professions requires immediate reporting (Fowler, 2015).