Demonstrate developing skills in academic and information literacy that provide a foundation for evidence based nursing.

You witness a nurse perform a procedure on a patient without consent. As the witnessing nurse what is your immediate action? What must you do following this? Which sections of the Australian National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse apply

Order Description
Assignment 2
TITLE: Understanding Law, Ethics, Professional Guidelines and their Relationship to Nursing Practice

Length: 2000 words (+/- 10%) including in text referencing but not your reference list

ESSAY PURPOSE

This essay will give you the opportunity to develop your understanding of how law, ethics and professional guidelines guide nursing practice. It will allow you to reflect on the values and characteristics of professionalism in the healthcare setting. Completing this essay will also further develop your academic and information literacy skills.

ESSAY QUESTION

Select one of the three discussion board scenarios. Identify the main issues inherent in the scenario and make appropriate recommendations to address these issues.

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You witness a nurse perform a procedure on a patient without consent.
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As the witnessing nurse what is your immediate action? What must you do following this? Which sections of the Australian National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse apply here and why? What are the possible legal/ethical implications?

It is expected that your essay will address/contain the following information:

Your immediate and subsequent actions as the witnessing nurse (these actions need to be supported by literature)
An overview of the relevant sections of the Australian National Competency Standards that apply and why
The possible legal/ethical implications
The NUR 120 Learning Outcomes addressed by this assignment include:

On completion of this unit a student should be able to:

Critically reflect on the values and characteristics of professionalism that contribute to health care through collaboration, cooperation and therapeutic communication;
Articulate the key principles underlying ethical, legal and professional guidelines and codes that underpin the practice of registered nurses in Australia.
Demonstrate developing skills in academic and information literacy that provide a foundation for evidence based nursing.
Articulate and define the NMBA Competency Standards, Codes of Ethics and Codes of Practice for the Registered Nurse.
Develop a critical and reflective approach to nursing practice.
Writing

Write in the third person; avoid personal pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘you’.
Avoid long, confusing sentences and check that your tenses (past, present and future) are consistent within the same sentence.
Avoid posing questions; work the information into the paragraph.
Use plain English. It is essential your meaning is clear and that you demonstrate your understanding of the nature of the topic.
Write your essay to the marking rubric, as this is where lecturers mark from.
Writing Tips

As you construct your essay you need to:

Use correct punctuation, spelling and syntax (sentence structure)
Paraphrase ideas from your reading/research, don’t just copy them
Avoid use of direct quotations.
Ensure you use APA 6th referencing style.
References

As good practice, whenever you include (cite) an author in your writing, ensure you include the full reference to the text referred to, at the end of your writing task.
To find appropriate sources, use the CDU library online journal databases.
Use APA referencing guidelines can be found on the CDU Library website. Download a copy and keep it to hand so that you can refer to it regularly as you learn the skills of referencing.
The APA 6th referencing system should be used as per the referencing guidelines on the CDU Library Website
Peer reviewed journal articles are your best sources. Avoid non-refereed sources such as editorials, monthly columns or non-refereed journals.
It is useful to include your set text as a reference but otherwise keep the number of books to a minimum.
Your reference list should contain a minimum of 4 quality references that are no older than 5-8 years. This does not include Wikipedia or dictionaries.
Information gained from Internet sites varies greatly in depth and quality of content.
Internet sites must be relevant and reputable, for example, the NWBA website.
Physical presentation

Use Times New Roman, Tahoma or Arial, 12 point font. Do not use bold type.
Use 1.5 or double spacing;
Justify left and right;
Hit enter twice between paragraphs;
Do not use headings or dot points;
Justify left and right;
Include page numbers; provide your name in the footer of the document, e.g. smith_jane-s0077363_Assign2_NUR120
Ensure you submit this assignment through SafeAssign. The ‘Draft checking’ (see green menu) facility is available to you as a check regarding the quality of your paraphrasing.

All nurses should be familiar with nursing law and ethics and understand how nursing legal issues can affect them. Know your basic nursing laws and avoid lawsuits and liability:

Remember the following points.

1. Signatures Are Golden
When a medical officer or other health care provider orders a procedure be done to a patient, it is the nurse’s responsibility to obtain an informed consent signature. This means that the patient:
Understands the procedure and the alternative options
Has had a chance to ask the provider any questions about the procedure
Understands the risks and benefits of the procedure
Chooses to sign or not sign to have the procedure performed.

If the nurse does not obtain signatures, both the nurse and the operating provider can be held liable for damages incurred.
2. Document, Document, Document
It is the nurse’s responsibility to make sure everything that is done in regards to a patient’s care (vital signs, specimen collections, patient presentation, medication administration, etc.), is documented in the chart. If it is not documented with the appropriate time and what was done, the nurse can be held liable for negative outcomes. A note of caution: if there was an error made on the chart, cross it out with one line (so it is still legible) and note the correction and the cause of the error.
3. Report It
Allegations of abuse are serious matters. It is the duty of the nurse to report to the appropriate authority when any allegations are made in regards to abuse (emotional, sexual, physical, and mental) towards a vulnerable population (children, elderly, or domestic). If no report is made, the nurse is liable for negligence or wrongdoing towards the victimized patient.
4. Rights to Privacy
Nurses are responsible for keeping all patient records and personal information private and only accessible to the immediate care providers. If records are leaked or a patient’s privacy is breached, the liability usually lies on the nurse because the nurse has immediate access to the chart.
5. The six rights of medication administration
Medication errors account for many deaths in Australia. It is the nurse’s responsibility to follow the six “rights” of medication administration: right dose, right drug, right route, right time, and right patient and right documentation. Nurses that adhere to these rights reduce the likelihood of a medication error, thereby saving the nurse and health care institution from liability for damages.

While these are some of the main issues nurses might face legally, please read from your text.

Chapter 11: An introduction to legal aspects of nursing practice. (p 167)
References no later than 10 years old.
1.5 spacing
Arial font
Must relate back to current AUSTRALIAN NMBA standards