Code Of Professional Conduct For Nurses In Australia

Concept behind the development of the code of conduct

Question:

Discuss about the Critical Analysis Case study of NMBA.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) have initially adopted an idea of introducing a code of conduct for registered nursing and Midwifery professional practising in Australia.

The concept behind the development of the code of conduct is to determine the capacity of the professional conduct within a set of regulations. The development of the code of conduct would be helpful for understanding the activity of the nursing professionals within regulations which eventually monitor and restrict unprofessional and unethical conduct regarding handling health care users. The primary objective of the Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia is to formulate a set of professional conduct for the nursing professionals within their professional domain.  The healthcare users, regulatory and professional bodies can expect or assess the performance of the  nursing professionals with the help of these guidelines or code of conduct. In the present discussion, a reflective essay has been outlined for the understanding of the professional conduct of the respondent in the case study in line with the Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia.  The contextual case is the documentation of the tribunal conducted by Nursing and Midwifery professional standards committee NSW against a set of professional conduct by Heather Conyard within the health care premises. The objective of the reflective essay is to develop a scope of further research and new incorporations through the analysis of the professional conduct of Heather Conyard mentioned within the tribunal proceeding in line with the professional code of conduct.

The below mentioned standards are the suitable code of conduct for the best outcome relative to the critical situation mentioned in the case study

I am considering three nursing standards for conducting the critical analysis of professional conduct of Heather Conyyard within the health care premises regarding patient A. Therefore a comparative analysis could be done on that basis for the understanding of the nursing code of conduct mentioned in NMBA and for the development of the comprehensive idea about an unsatisfactory performance (Fisher& M, 2017 ).

Standard 1.6: According to registered nurses standard of practice, Standard 1.6 is applicable to maintain the standard practice of nurses with the health care premises for developing a research applicable for the treatment plan. According to the standard 1.6, a registered nurse needs to maintain a comprehensive, accurate and on time documentation of the vital signs of the patients for the development of the assessment and corresponding treatment plan (Terry et al. 2017). 

Objective of the Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia

Standard 3.7: The nursing standard 3.7 has been mentioning the core competencies of a registered nurse. According to the Standard 3.7,  a registered nurse has to encourage the best practises during the professional service period resulting from the best outcome for the treatment plan of the health care user. Therefore, a nurse has to be competent for the role in the health care system in accordance with all necessary code of conduct during a treatment procedure which would be helpful for developing the best treatment plan for the health care user (Brown et al. 2017).

Standard 4.4:  The nursing standard 4.4 has a crucial role in developing a nursing credential. The standard 4.4 elaborates the role of a registered nurse during a crisis period and ability to evaluate the importance of the situation. A nurse should assess the situation and available resources present in the health care premises for encountering the critical situation for further course of treatment as the best outcome for the health care user (Vogt & T, 2015).

Standard 5.5:  A registered nurse has to perform according to a necessary code of conduct for coordinating necessary resources for evaluating the critical situation and construct an efficient planning for the implementation of the significant steps as the best outcome of the practice. Therefore the assessment of the situation would have a huge reflection on the future course of action depending upon the competency of the registered nurse (Terry et al. 2017).

Standard 7.3: A registered nurse who has been handling a critical situation has been being competent with the necessary practices which would be helpful for developing a course of action applicable to the situation. Therefore, the nurse has to note and determine the necessary vital signs of the patient and communicates with the concerned person for further guidance (Terry et al. 2017). 

The Nursing and Midwifery Council of NSW is the responsible body for assessing the professional conduct of registered nurses within the nursing code of conduct for establishing the professional conduct as unsatisfactory. The contextual case study is the documentation of the decision statement regarding an unsatisfactory conduct of Heather Conyyard within the healthcare premises. According to the case study, an 81 years old female patient has admitted to Glen Innes District hospital with various physical discomforts and various treatment attempts have failed to recover her. She died on 12^th January 2012 under the supervision of Heather Conyyard who was the respondent for recording and conducting the professional duties within the protocol or nursing code of conduct.  I am conducting a critical analysis of the professional conduct done by Heather Conyyard within the capacity in line with the nursing code of conduct for the understanding of the unsatisfactory conduct which would be helpful for reviving the patient A.  The contextual case study, the patient, an 81 years old female patient admitted to the Glen Innes District Hospital with significant physical discomfort. The vital signs at that time were not critical and associated treatment plan has been advised by Dr Haron and waited for the further review. On 11^th January, Heather Conyyard, a registered nurse was in charge of the shift. According to the case study, the respondent has done all necessary steps during the shift change procedure regarding the patient but there was a significant unsatisfactory professional conduct took place between 17.10 hours to 21.00 hours which results in an unfortunate demise of the patient in the following morning.  Heather Conyyard failed to assess the situation completely between 17.10 hours to 21.00 hours and performed significantly critical mistakes contrary to the code of conduct.as a registered nursing professional, Heather Conyyard has to perform accurate and timely documentation as the reference of the further treatment plan which she failed to do (White and E. 2017).

Reflective essay and contextual case study

The lack of documentation has been further resulting in an insignificant reviewing which misled the course of treatment. Heather Conyyard has to identify the appropriate course of nursing conduct complying with the critical situation for the best outcome for the patient. According to the case study, Heather Conyyard failed to identify the necessary course of conduct suitable for the best outcome of the patient as the vital signs of the patient showing no significant improvement and additional complains also has been mentioned (Fisher& M, 2017 ). Therefore, the nursing practices performed for the patient was not complying with the code of conduct mentioned in NMBA and not in line with nursing standard 3.7. Therefore, it is a significant breach of the code of conduct which would a critical offence according to section 139B of the National Law. Furthermore, Heather Conyyard also breached the nursing standard 4.4 as she failed to assess the significance of the situation between 17.10 hours to 21.00 hours resulting in a delay of the treatment (Brown et al. 2017). Hence an unsatisfactory performance regarding code of conduct takes place which is a clear violation of the section 139B. Standard 5.5 and 7.3 also have been violated during the treatment proceeding as the respondent failed to assess the resources during the critical situation and simultaneously failed to inform the concerned doctor or any substitute doctor. Therefore, the whole treatment has been delayed which resulting in the demise of the patient (Brown et al. 2017).

From the above discussion it could be concluded that the competency of the nursing profession would be very crucial for assessing and handing a critical medical situation. NMBA has developed a significant code of conduct for the registered nursing professionals, which clearly identifies the role of the nurses during various critical conditions and liability towards the nursing ethics. Therefore the professional conduct of the nurses has been monitored and controlled by NMBA for the best outcome of the health care users. During the critical analysis of the unsatisfactory conduct of Heather Conyyard, I have noticed that as a registered nurse she has completely failed to perform in accordance with the standard code of conduct which is a clear breach of standard practice. Therefore, a violation of section 139B of national law has been observed in this case which identifies critical unsatisfactory professional conduct not performed for the best interest of the patient.

Every registered nurse has to be competent about their responsibility and perform in accordance with the capacity of the code of conduct for the best interest of the patient. This critical analysis has clearly identified the areas of the standard code of conduct which has been violated during the course of treatment and a comparative study also has been done for the comprehensive analysis of the unprofessional conduct by Heather Conyyard. Therefore, critical areas have been identified which need to assess for further evaluation of necessary code of conduct during the various critical medical emergency.

References:

Brown, R.A. and Crookes, P.A., (2017). How do expert clinicians assess student nurses competency during workplace experience? A modified nominal group approach to devising a guidance package. Collegian, 24(3), pp.219-225.

Daly, J., Speedy, S., & Jackson, D. (2017). Contexts of nursing: An introduction. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Edmonds, L., Cashin, A., & Heartfield, M. (2016). Comparison of Australian specialty nurse standards with registered nurse standards. International nursing review, 63(2), 162-179.

Fisher, M. (2017). Professional standards for nursing practice: How do they shape contemporary rehabilitation nursing practice?. Journal of the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses Association, 20(1), 4.

Schneider, Z., & Whitehead, D. (2013). Nursing and midwifery research: methods and appraisal for evidence-based practice. Elsevier Australia.

Terry, K., Stirling, C., Bull, R., & Fassett, D. (2017). An overview of the ways nurses understand and utilise the existing Australian Competency Standards for Registered Nurses. Collegian, 24(2), 109-116.

Vogt, T. (2015). Life after graduation–Professional issues and registration 101. Women and Birth, 28, S6.

White, E. (2017). Clinical supervision: Invisibility on the contemporary nursing and midwifery policy agenda. Journal of advanced nursing, 73(6), 1251-1254.