Definition Of Accountability In Nursing

The ANA Scope and Standards of Nursing Practice include a list of standards. These standards are statements, which summarize what is expected from nurses in professional nursing practice. The standards form the foundation for decision-making and provide nurses with direction including which actions to take (Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, 2015). The ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements aids as the ethical structure in professional nursing and offers direction for the future. The ANA Code of Ethics includes nine provisions, which summarize the main ethical ideas, values, and morals for the nursing profession and provides a guide for nurses to use in ethical analysis and decision-making, including which actions to take (Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements,

When incompetent, unethical, illegal, or impaired practice is not corrected and continues to jeopardize patient well-being and safety, nurses must report the problem to appropriate external authorities such as practice committees, professional organizations, licensing boards, and regulatory or quality assurance agencies. (“Code of Ethics for Nurses”, 2017) basically meaning that nurses must do whatever it takes to protect the patient. The radiologic technician’s code of ethics number 8, states that the radiologic technologist practices ethical conduct appropriate to the profession and protects the patient’s right to quality radiology technology and care. (“ARRT STANDARDS OF ETHICS”, 2016) it does not go any further for the protection of patients’ rights.

Examples of nonmaleficence in nursing include holding a medication due to adverse reactions or taking steps to ensure a safe work environment.” Learn more about how non-maleficence applies to nurses, including per diem nurses. These ethical principles are vital for nurses to provide high-quality, compassionate care while upholding ethical standards and prioritizing patient welfare.

Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing Numerous situations present with ethical dilemmas in the field of providing and receiving nursing care. Although laws and regulations are in place to guide healthcare workers in setting up care plans and in making choices while following those, day-to-day events may challenge those choices. Clients and their families may have requests or needs, outside of the plans already set, where values and beliefs are clashing. One such dilemma is placing a patient in restraints.

According to the ANA Code of Ethics (American Nurses Association, 2015, p. 2), provision

A. A regulatory agency, such as a board of nursing, is a government agency that is established by law with the aim to protect the citizens through efforts of carefully setting the standards and maintaining the dignity nursing practice. Regulatory bodies such as the Board of Registered Nursing enforces and implements the Nursing Practice Act. This act involves the scope of practice and responsibilities fo registered nurses. A professional nursing organization on the other hand may admit those who show interest in participating.

According to the provision 3.4, nurses should have professional competence in nursing practice. Nurses should promote health and patient safety, reduce errors and create a culture of excellence. When errors occur, nurses should follow the institutional guidelines in reporting errors and ensure responsible disclosure of errors to patients. When error occurs, whether one’s own or an error of a coworker, nurse should not condone through silence or try to hide it. It is important to report the errors to the concerned authority to maintain a safe patient care environment.

Accountability is a very controversial subject among different careers. Although accountability it is a simple word, it has a very big meaning. As careers differ, so do the standards one must hold in order to keep the company working and moving smoothly. With a higher standard comes a smaller area to make mistakes; therefore leading to a much higher amount of accountability one holds. For example, a doctor cannot make a mistake during a procedure on a patient and then go back and “edit” it to make it like new.

I agree with you Walter. Nursing is a teamwork. In an acute hospital setting, an RN is assigned a set of patient to deliver care that means RN has full responsibility about these patients. In this case, RN who is the primary care nurse can complete her task by herself or delegate some of the task to the nursing assistant according to their scope of practice. The abilities to delegate, and supervise other healthcare workers is not an easy job.

In this case study the primary nurse, Amelia Wilkerson, is caring for a patient, Katy Palmer who has recently been admitted to the hospital for fatigue and abnormal lab counts. The patient asks Amelia for information regarding her diagnosis. Amelia has seen Katy’s results and knows that she has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. The ethical dilemma seen in this situation is that it is outside of the scope of practice for Amelia to discuss Katy’s original diagnosis with her.

Throughout the years, the nursing profession has transformed considerably. With the quality of care always being the main concern; The Nursing and Midwifery Council was established in 2002 by parliament to ensure both the public and nurses/midwives are protected, whilst offering high quality care for every patient [Karen Wild,2014,p.27]. In order to qualify as a nurse/midwife; each individual must agree to follow the NMC Code of conduct throughout their entire career. Therefore, they have a responsibility to perform the professional requirements issued for practice and ethical behaviour. This relates to the care practitioners provide, as most importantly safety should be sustained.

The importance of accountability in the health care industry Accountability

Equality, responsibility, and accountability are a few key values found in group work. Accountability grows out of responsibility and goes hand in hand with it. Just as responsibility is a derivative of authority, accountability is a derivative of responsibility. While responsibility is the obligation to perform assigned tasks, accountability is the obligation of reporting the performance. Attending meetings on time, accepting mistakes, and dedicating time to practice are all examples of accountability.

The first code outlines safe and competent nursing practice , my understanding regarding this code is that Nurses are expected to ensure that the standards and the level of their actions match with the standards that are developed by the professionals. The primary responsibility of a nurse is to provide competent and safe nursing. In any case, if a nurse finds any situation where there is ethical conflict or is illegal, then he/she must inform the immediate superior and should not support the

Accountability: I was able to meet this standard by always identifying myself to new employees and staff, advocating for clients in need, seeking assistance when unsure of which resources to provide to families, and sharing nursing knowledge with the clients. Continued Competence: I was able to meet this standard by investing time and effort to improve my knowledge on a variety of topics such as positive discipline, flu information, and local resources. As well, I spent time engaged in a learning process in order to enhance my practice when working with clients and children at an Ontario Early Years Centre. Ethics: I was able to meet this standard by identifying ethical issues at The George Hull Centre, discussing them with my preceptor