The Provisions of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board - Case Study Example

WE ARE ONLY HUMAN By Course Instructor Institution Location We Are Only Human Introduction The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board (ANMB), performs its function according to the directives of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (the National Law). The board regulates both nursing and midwifery sectors in Australia. Firstly, it plays an important role in safeguarding the public from the extremities of incompetent nurses and midwives. Secondly, it controls the nursing and midwifery practice in the whole nation (Danak 2010). In this regard, the ANMB enacts rules to govern the registration protocol of either nurses or midwives. For that reason, the board sets the standards, professional codes, and guidelines, which ensure safety and competence in the nursing field. These rules aid the board in the clarification of the expected results in a wide range of matters. Any individual, who desires to become either a registered nurse or a midwife, must meet the board’s nurse registration standards of the decision-making framework. For this reason, there is a need for the Australian population to understand this framework. Moreover, the publicity of the framework will aid the board in identifying violators in the nursing practice. However, the current survey indicates that more than 75% of the Australian population is not aware of the board’s mandate to the nation (Hoare, Mills & Francis 2013). These statistics are even worse because out of the 75% people who know nothing about it, 50% are from the medical sector. This reflective practice paper aims at describing the frameworks of ANMB based on the forum discussions on nursing and midwifery awareness. Forum discussions Therefore, it is high time the public understands the provisions of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board (ANMB) board especially the medical practitioners in the field of nursing and midwifery. The essence of being humans is to understand our environment and make it worthy. Many people have questions, which they can only understand through forum discussions. Some of the questions asked by different students are as follows. Who else should do this task? Is there more information that the public does not know about the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board (ANMB)? What is the best way of creating public awareness? However, they all lead to one major question. What is the structural framework of the national law in relation to nursing and midwifery? I want the public to understand fully the frameworks of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board (ANMB). It requires both the contextualization of the framework and the creation of public awareness (Schluter et al. 2011). My forum discussion revealed that ANMB should create public awareness on how the board functions and the professions regulated by it. Additionally, to ensure the nursing and midwifery guidelines are followed to the letter, the board needs to incorporate the skills of different scholars. Through public forums, the scholars will spread the guidelines, enhancing awareness and knowledge about the national nursing and midwifery laws. Moreover, to demystify the ANMB framework, I engaged in four discussion forums that dealt with the organization of ANMB. The conclusions from the first discussion revealed features of the national decision making framework under ANMB, which is available in two major active domains (Harvey, Driscoll & Keyzer 2011). The first domain consists of set principles that create the platform for the development and analysis of decision-making tools. The second domain has two models of decision-making tools. The first domain deals with registered and enrolled nurses while the second domain deals with midwives. Therefore, the models are important in creating a difference between the two professions. The national decision making framework encompasses national principles that aid in the development of decision-making tools. Thereafter, these tools act as templates that necessitate viable decision making process in midwifery and nursing practice. Moreover, they describe the difference in decision-making guidelines between the nursing and the midwifery professions (Danak 2010). The second forum discussed the purpose of the framework in Australia. The framework is responsible for reinforcing steadiness across the jurisdiction. The framework does this by, firstly, portraying the functions of the principles and guidelines in the two fields. Secondly, it identifies the accepted protocols for the decision-making tools. The ANMB regulates the professions for the benefit of the public. The regulation enhances the safety of the public by ensuring that those responsible in decision-making are competent and reliable, particularly in professions that require experience, skills, and knowledge. Therefore, the participants argued the use of the national principles in the development and analysis of decision-making tools will not only enhance public safety, but also improve the quality of the services delivered in midwifery and nursing sectors. On the other hand, the application of template tools enhances flexibility in the practice of midwifery and nursing. Additionally, it enables individualistic reflection on the current state of nursing practice and practice transformation (Lowe, Plummer, O’Brien & Boyd 2012). The third discussion described the context in terms of nursing practice of both an individual and a profession according to the national framework. Firstly, an individual’s context of practice entails competence, education, and authorization that allow that individual to perform in a given field. The context of practice of either a midwife or a nurse is more defined than their professional context of practice. In that, individuals need to increase their skills, competence, and knowledge to practice well within their profession. Secondly, a profession’s context of practice involves a full range of responsibilities, activities, functions, roles and decision-making capabilities required by an individual within a particular profession. Additionally, the individual must be educated, competent, and authorized to work in that particular profession. The context of practice enlists various functions shared by different professions and individuals. Therefore, the context of practice in the health profession is influenced by several factors that include the surrounding environment, legislation, policy, standards, specific setting, health needs, and education of the public among others (Gardner, Chang, Duffield & Doubrovsky 2013). Contextual analysis of the forum The fourth discussion stressed on the national principles necessary for the creation of decision-making tools. Many students in this particular forum agreed the national principles govern the creation and analysis of the decision-making tools in the country. These principles and their derivative tools increase the confidence of consumers, governments, professionals, recruiters, and regulators in nursing and midwifery irrespective of the individual’s registration category and area of practice (Harvey, Driscoll & Keyzer 2011). The confidence is because the nurses and midwives are competent enough to make viable decisions. Therefore, the national principles’ decision-making tools are responsible for the execution of the core purpose of the framework. As such, some of the functions include, guiding the midwives and nurses in making the right decisions based on daily practice and subsequent changes in the health practice over time, in order to satisfy the community’s healthy needs effectively. Secondly, they play a role in organization, negotiation, and implementation of health practice changes to suit the community’s expectation on midwives and nurses (Chang, Gardner, Duffield & Ramis 2011). Thirdly, the decision-making tools acknowledge that, the enhancement of the process of customer service delivery, contributes to the changes in the nursing practice. In addition, they enhance the professional safety and quality when amalgamated with an inclusive approach of risk management. Fourthly, it enables the recognition and application of all domains and contexts of medical practice. In that, it encourages an active relationship between the health workers and the consumers. The relationship ensures that the health workers respond quickly to the consumers’ health needs. Additionally, the tools acknowledge the existence and influence of several determinants of practice. These determinants include evidence for health practice, contextual support for the practice, legislative authority for practice, and individual capability for practice. Finally, the tools make up the core of the National Board’s professional practice frameworks for health practice (Dooley-Hash 2011). It is clear from the discussion forums that the Australian population is concerned about the essence of the framework in the country. Australia presents a dynamic health environment that needs these frameworks to curb the constantly changing nature of medical practice. In addition, the nurses and midwives need these frameworks to guide them in delivering quality services to the consumers. For instance, the nursing and midwifery tool for decision-making is part of ANMB framework that ensures midwifery and nursing health care are delivered according to the public’s interest. It is important to note the development of these tools is by qualified, competent, and experienced individuals. Therefore, there is no room for error in the development of the framework (Buckley et al. 2013). Since the template tools are based on definite principles, they exhibit sustainability characteristics over a long period. Hence, decisions made by following these templates are characterized with guided protocols and informed expert discretion. Moreover, the templates eliminate the indifferences of education, competence, and experience of a professional. They tend to capture the context of the same individual’s practice. Registered midwives and nurses have an important role in ensuring that they deliver services according to the procedure outlined by the framework. In addition, they are supposed to supervise, control, and coordinate other nurses (unregistered) in the same field. Therefore, the template tools of the framework do not only provide individual practice guidance, but also aid both the registered and unregistered midwives and nurses in making viable decisions. Additionally, it gives a wide scope of decisions on how registered nurses and midwives should delegate consumer services to other support workers (Currey, Considine & Khaw 2011). Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear from the forum discussions that the framework allows the establishment of nursing and midwifery organizations. These organizations have the responsibility of ensuring the nurses and midwives operate in an environment with sufficient resources. They ensure that nurses and midwives provide appropriate services to the consumers. Therefore, the organizations play an important role in the creation of the framework. Other sources suggest that, the organizations provide policies and health practices that motivate changes and development in midwifery and nursing practice. A risk free environment characterizes the changes needed. The template tools explain why it is important to uphold high standards of competence in the midwifery and nursing practice. The public should understand that these tools do not either condone or allow the substitution of unqualified workers with midwives and nurses. The tools encourage the health sector to employ registered midwives and nurses based on their knowledge, competence, and experience. The guidelines provide the ethics of health care practice in the midwifery and nursing sectors. References Buckley, T, Cashin, A, Stuart, M, Browne, G & Dunn, S 2013, ‘Nurse practitioner prescribing practices: the most frequently prescribed medications’, Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 22, no. 13, pp. 2053-2063. 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