Accountability In Nursing Case Study
A professional nurse has the responsibility to practice within his/her scope of care, calling upon his/her knowledge and skills to make decisions in the best interest of the patient.
The level of responsibility and accountabilitydepends on professional levels. The Charge Nurse has more responsibility then the staff nurse, the RN has more responsibility then the LPN, and therefore their levels of professional judgment and practice are different. Their levels of professional accountability are not different.
Professional nursing is based on altruism, integrity, accountability and social justice. Judgments and practice that are based with those ethical values will always be in the best interest of the patient, no matter what the professional …show more content…
To be accountable to the nursing profession, you need to be accountable to yourself too. Keeping a reflective diary is one way of accounting to yourself for your thoughts and actions and questioning and improving the quality of the care you provide, perhaps through discussion with colleagues or with your manager or clinical supervisor. Reflective practice was considered in part 2 of this series (Nursing Times, March 1, p45-48).
Accountability and autonomy
The UKCC report Project 2000: A new preparation for practice (UKCC, 1986) explained that autonomous practitioners were to exercise increasing clinical discretion and accept greater professional responsibility by making their own decisions. They were also required to carry out more direct care, research and management, and were expected to contribute to policy-making and strategy …show more content…
Patients have their own standards of personal health care that will affect their view of the nursing care they receive. This means that what is acceptable to a nurse may not be acceptable to a patient, and vice versa.
Equally, although each qualified health care professional may be an independent and accountable practitioner, he or she also works as part of a team and teams often have members with different standards. In addition, the team develops standards of care that affect the patient. The team, as well as each individual practitioner, is also affected by organisational and occupational standards.
Standards - the wider picture
Applying individual standards to health care can be problematic because one person's standards may not be acceptable to others. One way of addressing this potential discrepancy is by establishing a framework within which care should be delivered. This framework can range from high-level statements, such as a vision and mission statement, to detailed guidelines, procedures and protocols for delivering specific services (to be discussed in Part 6: Delivering quality
The level of responsibility and accountabilitydepends on professional levels. The Charge Nurse has more responsibility then the staff nurse, the RN has more responsibility then the LPN, and therefore their levels of professional judgment and practice are different. Their levels of professional accountability are not different.
Professional nursing is based on altruism, integrity, accountability and social justice. Judgments and practice that are based with those ethical values will always be in the best interest of the patient, no matter what the professional …show more content…
To be accountable to the nursing profession, you need to be accountable to yourself too. Keeping a reflective diary is one way of accounting to yourself for your thoughts and actions and questioning and improving the quality of the care you provide, perhaps through discussion with colleagues or with your manager or clinical supervisor. Reflective practice was considered in part 2 of this series (Nursing Times, March 1, p45-48).
Accountability and autonomy
The UKCC report Project 2000: A new preparation for practice (UKCC, 1986) explained that autonomous practitioners were to exercise increasing clinical discretion and accept greater professional responsibility by making their own decisions. They were also required to carry out more direct care, research and management, and were expected to contribute to policy-making and strategy …show more content…
Patients have their own standards of personal health care that will affect their view of the nursing care they receive. This means that what is acceptable to a nurse may not be acceptable to a patient, and vice versa.
Equally, although each qualified health care professional may be an independent and accountable practitioner, he or she also works as part of a team and teams often have members with different standards. In addition, the team develops standards of care that affect the patient. The team, as well as each individual practitioner, is also affected by organisational and occupational standards.
Standards - the wider picture
Applying individual standards to health care can be problematic because one person's standards may not be acceptable to others. One way of addressing this potential discrepancy is by establishing a framework within which care should be delivered. This framework can range from high-level statements, such as a vision and mission statement, to detailed guidelines, procedures and protocols for delivering specific services (to be discussed in Part 6: Delivering quality