Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct in Nursing - Essay Example

Professional Conduct Name Course Lecturer Date In Australia, any person who feels that a service rendered to him/her by a medical practitioner is below the set standards of competence and diligence is entitled by the Legal Professional Act to complain about the solicitor in question. The legal Professional act assists the complainant and the solicitor on arriving to right procedures and processes as many are not familiar with them. According to the lawyers, the solicitor conduct description may vary from professional misconduct, consumer dispute or unsatisfactory professional conduct. These kinds of conducts are in occurrence in many fields of professionalism nursing field being one of them (Gardner et al, 2009). Therefore, in the context of this study unsatisfactory professional conduct is any act done by a person in practice of medicine that reveals the lack of knowledge and appropriate skill in the act. This may reveal lack of clear judgment or care by the practitioner. This usually occurs when the practitioner fails to comply with the directives administered by the Health Practitioner Regulations National Law. Therefore, any licensed medical practitioner should have a full understanding of what entails the accepted standards and seek to comply with them in his/her daily duties in the discipline in question. In Australia, there is a Code of Professional Conduct for nurses, which is mandated to set national standards for all Australian nurses. Therefore, nurses are supposed to carry themselves in a professional manner, which will enhance public trust and confidence in their duties. It also translate that nurses are liable to any malpractice conduct and can be sued to a court of law (Creegan et al, 2003). In reference to the scenario given, it is evident that the registered nurse conducted unsatisfactory professional behavior in her line of duty. This is because her conduct towards the client was not within her ability. Therefore, it caused damage, which led to the amputation of the client leg. This conduct is against the regulations set by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia and the Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia (Nursing & Council 2008). The nurse went ahead in offering medication to the client despite being explained by the patient of previous situation concerning the issue at hand, which was likely connected. Though no symptoms were found after the examination, the nurse could have referred the patient to another professional to handle the matter rather than administering pain relievers. This made the client to think that the problem was rectified when not and eventually lost his leg. The nurse was sued for her conduct and was charged for unsatisfactory professional conduct. Therefore, in line with the conduct of the registered nurse, several breaches relating to the professional standards and regulation are observed. First, the hospital administration placed a registered nurse alone in the emergency department to carry out triage duties with no doctor to guide. This was not supposed to be, since the nurse did not have all the necessary skills and competence to handle the emergency cases. There ought to be a doctor present to prescribe the right medication. Secondly, the registered nurse failed to advice the client to seek services to a professional elsewhere upon realizing that the condition was beyond her means to handle. It is a requirement for all nurses to offer services to clients in regards to client need. If unable to provide the service, it is advisable to refer the patient to another professional (Turner et al, 2007). Thirdly, the nurse failed to maintain her professional boundary. She instead went ahead by prescribing medication to the client despite being informed of the past condition of patient leg. This would have required a further check up by the doctor. The nurse therefore crossed the boundary at the expense of the patient. Lastly, the nurse failure to communicate to the seniors of her inability to perform such triage duties, which she was not, qualified. She could have acknowledged limitation in knowledge to carry out the task. A nurse is supposed to carry out duties when able to do them safely and skillfully. It is the nurse responsibility to inform the employer of those duties that she is able to do (Edwards 2011). This is a concern for any other nurse who may find herself in such a situation. This scenario therefore provides some guidelines, which should be taken into consideration. Thus, any registered nurse should comply with the laid down regulations so as to avoid those conducts of unsatisfactory professional conducts. This is because one is liable for any malpractices conducted in the course of duty. Therefore, the registered nurse should take the responsibility of informing the employer of her competency. This will avoid situations where one is assigned duties, which are beyond his means to perform due to limitation in knowledge, skill and judgment. The nurse should aim at maintaining the professional boundary. One should understand his/her primary role and stick to them unless directed otherwise. In addition, when a case is presented to a nurse, whom she is unable to handle, she should advice the client to seek the services from another professional elsewhere. A nurse given triage duties should ensure that she has a back up (Gunn 2010). In a bid to eliminate cases of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct among others, a minimum requirement for conduct in nursing is put in place. This constitutes the code of Professional conduct for Nurses, which was developed by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council. Its purpose is to ensure that nurses conduct themselves professionally in the areas of practice. The code o professional conduct stipulates that nurses should adhere to the agreed regulations and standards. This is to ensure that they do not compromise the safety of the individuals. It also asserts that nurses to practice safely by being accountable to maintain the standards set. They should uphold competency by increasing knowledge in their clinical expertise (Scanlon 2012). The code of conduct also posits that nurses should strive to ensure that they do not bring a bad reputation to the nursing profession. This implies that their behaviour should always aim to uphold ethics at all times in order to build trust in their practice. It is required of them to comply with the governing laws of the area of the practice hence not to engage in actions that are prohibited by law. Nurses are expected to respect the beliefs and values of people irrespective of their religion, race, and profession among others. Nurses are expected to support a client to arrive at an informed decision and also help those unable to make decision on their own. They should seek to maintain the professional boundary between them and the client and should not exploit them. They are to ensure confidentiality of the information obtained from the client (Peternelj‐Taylor & Yonge 2003). The National Competency Standard for registered nurses in accordance with the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council has set some of the competencies to be followed by those in nursing practice (Nursing & Council 2005). It asserts that nurses to ensure that they meet the set standards and be accountable for their actions. It is required of nurses to comply with policies and guidelines set in line with their practice. Nurses are required to work within their knowledge and skills. They are not supposed to perform that which they are not qualified to do. They are supposed to work in line with the law and should not implement unsafe practices. In addition, they are obliged to start their practices once they have full knowledge of legislation and obligations pertaining nursing. With an increase of medical disasters, poor policies and practices in the medical field a need arose to come up with a remedy for such occurrences. Therefore, clinical governance was established and implemented in hospitals all over the world (Phillips et al, 2010) Clinical governance is a tool used to ensure that high standards in medical field are met. In Australia, clinical governance has led to maintenance of professional standards in hospitals thereby reducing if not eliminating acts of professional misconducts and unsatisfactory professional conduct. Clinical governance entails developing professionals through appreciation and performance appraisal. In addition, it includes clinical risk management and auditing which scrutinizes performance and assessing outcomes in relation to set standards (McSherry & Pearce 2011). Among the many legislations applying to nursing, unsatisfactory professional conduct is one of them of which a breach could result to a complaint about the practitioner. It is defined in sections 139B and 139 C of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law. It includes any action that reveals deficiency in skill, knowledge and care by the practitioner. Presence of law in nursing is of great importance since it provides a blueprint for describing which actions of nursing are legal in relation to client care. Therefore, the law puts a boundary on nursing practices. This makes nurses accountable when under the law and hence it is easier to develop and maintain standards in nursing practice (McHale & Tingle 2007). In conclusion, presence of laws and regulations alone in the medical field and all others cannot guarantee provision of quality and safe services from the practitioners. This is because of the various cases which arises a while after another in relation to malpractices in conducts. Therefore, it is the duty of all practitioners on practice to ensure they uphold the high standards of professionalism in their work References Gardner, A., Della, P. R., Middleton, S., & Gardner, G. E. (2009). The status of Australian nurse practitioners: the first national census. Australian Health Review, 33(4), 679-689. Turner, C., Keyzer, D., & Rudge, T. (2007). Spheres of influence or autonomy? A discourse analysis of the introduction of Nurse Practitioners in rural and remote Australia. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 59(1), 38-46. Creegan, R., Duffield, C., & Forrester, K. (2003). Casualisation of the nursing workforce in Australia: driving forces and implications. 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