Topic: identity

Legal obligations underline that nurses must respect and uphold patient confidentiality, not only in the hospital but also outside of work. If nurses do not uphold and promote patient’s confidentiality, the patient may no longer trust medical staff, no longer providing them with essential information concerning their health, therefore diminishing the prospects of effective and safe patient care in the hospital setting. The code of confidentiality states that The people in your care must be able to trust you with their health and well-being. To justify that trust you must be open and honest (NMC 2008, p.1). Nurses must be honest and forward when addressing their patient’s condition, allowing the patient to comprehend the possible outcomes if they do things that will compromise their health. Each hospital has a similar yet different set of code of conducts associated with its hospital’s beliefs and values. However, the major contributor to the codes of conduct that every nurse must abide by is the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), which identifies the three major standards: the codes of conduct, standards for practice and the code of ethics. The codes of conduct identified how a nurse should act in a working environment with reference to how they treat their patients and each other, it establishes the legal requirements for each nurse, professional behaviour and how a nurse is expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner. The next standard of practice is standards for practice which have seven standards. All of which affect and influence on quality patient care and what the registered nurse (RN) sees best fit to that person. The code of ethics allows for nurses to find time out of their busy schedules to reflect upon what they’ve done or could have done better; reflection is essential for all nurses. It allows them to properly manage their thoughts in a calm manner. The code of ethics also allows for the wider community as well as nurses to understand the standards and values they should expect from their careers and themselves. Hospitals monitor the quality of care and services provided by nurses by allowing for inspectors to come and look around the hospital, displaying any concerns about potential hazards which may include, the introduction of slip-resistant shower mats, cables attached to machines, etc. Hospitals also provide patients with surveys that they can fill out identifying anything they would have changed and anything they were not pleased with, as well as stating their overall comfort while at the hospital. Professional agencies such as the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (APRAH) guide for the provision of safe and effective patient care by their efforts of sustaining 15 national boards including the NMBA which nurses are registered to. The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (2018) stated that the jobs of AHPRA worked by Protecting the public, setting national standards, auditing compliance, managing complaints (notifications) about health practitioners, Publishing the online register, Accrediting training and education, facilitating a mobile health workforce and Registering 700,000+ health practitioners (diagram 1). AHPRA allows nurses to register themselves, ensuring that they are meeting specific requirements, allowing them to practice; this gives patients and other nurse’s reassurance that they are well trained and equipped to handle the demands of a nurse effectively, since they must meet certain training and different requirements each year including completing Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and having to undergo first aid every three years making sure they are at a high level of personal care and being able to effectively manage and treat their patients when they are found in different circumstances, e.g.) stroke, heart failure, snake bite, cleaning of wounds, etc. APRAH ensures that nurses are performing to the highest of standards and making sure they are protecting the public by taking a nurse’s registration away if they are not conducting themselves in a professional manner or putting patients lives at risk, by doing this AHPRA is minimising the risk associated with nurse’s poor conduct. AHPRA monitors the quality of care and services provided by nurses by registering them ensuring that they are qualified to be working and effectively treating patients. They are also able to remove a nurse’s registration if the complaints made towards them are true and they see that as unprofessional or putting patients lives at risk. AHPRA also allows for individuals to search nurses and discover if they are registered and able to practice, giving peoples a peace of mind. Quality agencies such as the Australian Institute of health and wellbeing (AIHW) guide for the provision of safe and effective patient care by providing nurses with statistics and information. Information is collected by gathering statistics from different communities in order to improve health and wellbeing. The AIHW (2018) stated that Our high-quality, independent evidence is used by many to improve policies and services on health and welfare issues and topics, including expenditure, hospitals, disease, injury, mental health, ageing, homelessness, housing, disability, child protection and the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (para. 3). It allows nurses to read upon and understand new or pre-existing conditions in the community, such as the rise in anxiety and common mental illnesses such as afflictive disorders. The AIHW (2019) reported that Anxiety disorders (such as social phobia) were the most prevalent, afflicting 1 in 7 (14.4%) of the population, followed by Affective disorders (such as depression) (6.2%) (Survey of Adult Population (aged 16″85)). AIHW allows for nurses to gather information on conditions and be able to effectively manage it, hence providing safe and effective patient care of being able to bring them back to their original state of health or improve it faster. AIHW monitors the quality of care and services provided by nurses with the assistance of supplying them with statistics and valuable information to tackle new and pre-existing conditions relevant to the communities they are working in, nurses will be more equipped and knowledgeable to address issues in the community and fix it. In conclusion industries such as hospitals, professionals’ agencies such as AHPRA and quality agencies such as AIHW guide the provision of safe and effective patient care in nursing. Hospitals provide nurses with guidelines, the legal obligation of confidentiality, codes of conduct, standards for practice and code of ethics all which is through the NMBA. AHPRA registers nurses ensuring that they are qualified and able to effectively and safely treat patients, AHPRA can also remove nursing registrations if it is seen they do not act in a professional manner or they put patients at risk. The AIHW provides nurses with statistics and valuable information to be able to treat new or pre-existing conditions prevalent to a community.