Health Practitioners Regulation National Law

Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
Name of the student
Roll number
Date of submission.

1Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
Introduction
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) works under Health Practitioner
Regulation National Law, that commonly comes under national law in each state. It’s the job of
the NMBA to regulate the practice of the nursing and midwifery in Australia. NMBA develops
registration standards, code of conduct for the RN, RM, and prepares the guidelines that establish
requirement for the nurses to work in a professional and safe mode. Its sole job is to protect the
public of Australia from any mis-conduct. It works by taking care of safe practice of nurses and
midwives are taking place in Australia (Hurwitz, 2015). A student nurse should be registered
before practicing or joining a medical centre for interests of public safety. Students who are not
eligible to practice nursing in the Australia state owned health centers are not allowed to be
registered by the NMBA. It has different legislation and law sections in each state and territory.
They also look after the research and publications published related to the medical field
(Kerridge, Lowe and Stewart, 2015).
The Code of conduct for nurses (the code) is a set of legal requirements, which defines the
professional behaviour and conduct of the nurses in Australia. Nursing practice settings is written
in such a way that nurses can extend to work in a non-clinical environment along with clients,
working in management, administration or other roles that provides a safe, effective delivery of
services in the profession. Code of conduct is one of the most important parameters depending
on which the nurse performs their duties (Thompson, Fullerton and Sawyer, 2011). The code
helps in defining the line of duty.
The code can be used:
• To support all nurses to perform a safe duty and working professionally.
• It works as a guide to the public who are concerned about the service in medical center.
• To make safe and effective nursing practice and to help the NMBA protect the public, to
maintain the standards set by the code.
• It works when the nurse misconduct from the outlined code, nurses has to explain the decisions
and actions taken.

2Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
• It is a resource for activities whose main purpose is to enhance the culture of professionalism in
the Australian health system by the RN/RM or student nurse.
It’s important that Nurses abide by the rules and regulation of NMBA standards, and follows the
codes of conduct as lined by NMBA.
Case 1
According to the case study I am a student nurse, who has started to work in the operating theater
of the gynecologist dept. I have registered with the NMBA to be eligible to join a health care
centre as student nurse as per the health practitioner national law act 2009. I have registered
myself as per the National Board under section 38 and section 229 for the student nurse. Thus I
have rights to learn and observe the procedure related to my specialization. But as per the code of
conduct the duty of the nurses is to provide safe, evidence-based practice for wellbeing of people
and, in partnership with the person, the nurse should promote decision-making and care delivery
among the patient and other nurse. The nurse has to work with the consent of the patient,
partners, family and friends (McIvor, 2015). As per the culture practice and respectful
relationship the nurses has to engage with people as individuals safe culturally and respectful
way, they have to show a professional relationships, and follow the obligations of privacy and
confidentiality (Braithwaite, 2011).
Thus as per the National Law and other relevant legislation under sections 129, 130, 131 and 141
of the National Law and the NMBA Guidelines it becomes mandatory for me to take a person
centered approach, to respect the person’s values and preferences. It is guided in the code book
that a nurse hands over care should confirm the qualifications, experience, skills and knowledge
of the care provider (Fraser et al, 2016). NMBA Decision-making framework, and should know
that their practice can influence decision-making. This can include type and location of practice
setting, the degree to which the autonomy is practiced (Scanlon et al. 2016).
As per the informed consent code the nurse has to follow some of the code of conduct before
performing the duty. The major conduct is :

3Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
 To communicate to the patient about their health in a way or in a language that they can
understand.
 To give the patient an option to ask questions, take decisions or refuse care/treatments,
and the nurse has to proceed as per the choice of the patient.
 If the nurse is attending a kid the nurse has to take the consent form its guardian before
performing nay action. So is the case for elderly person and all individuals.
 The most important part is to obtain informed consent from the patient or its guardian
before carrying out an examination or investigation, or involving people in teaching or
research.
 The duty of the nurse is to inform the person of the benefit, and associated risks and also
the cost if been accessed or treated further.
Thus as per the code of conduct I should not disobey the decision of the patient. He disagrees to
allow me to assist in the procedure while under anesthesia (Chappel et al, 2017). If he is not
allowing a new intern to take part in the procedure the RN or RM is not allowed to associate
while performing medical procedures. I should not take part in the procedure and follow the code
of conduct. I should not take stress and work on other patients and gain experience.
Case 2
As per the case I am a registered nurse (RN) midwife (RM) working at the local hospital. I am
working in the organization from quite some time. We work by sharing the duties and in this
instance we keep checking the work of the previous nurse as well. In this process I have caught
an instance where my colleague is not following the cleanliness norms of the hospital. My
colleague is not washing the hands between the patients (Cashin, et al, 2017). There are many
consequences of not following the cleanliness rules. There can be chances of cross
contamination. There are many infection control procedures that a hospital has to follow and this
is compulsory for the nurse and doctors to keep in mind while dealing with patients. In this
process last month lot of cases of urinary tract infections and wound care infections were
registered in this connection (Atkins, De Lacey, Britton and Ripperger, 2017).
I know that the infection and other problems to the patients are due to the poor infection control
procedures. This procedure is not been checked so many of the nurses ignore this while operating

4Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
the patient. Nurse are ignoring the hospital policy regarding the of hospital protective
equipments. There are many procedures in the medical context which are performed on the
patient. In all this process there is 99% chances of contamination and that may lead to serious
consequences. In other places there have been cases where the patient dies or caught new
diseases while treating the existing one (Scanlon et al, 2016).
As per the code of conduct for nurses according to National Law act 2009, under section 49(1),
section 47(3); section 182 for performance and professional standard panel. It is mentioned
clearly that any action can be taken against the registered nurse, if they are found guilty in
relation to the health issue of the patient.
As per code of conduct under Adverse events and open disclosure:
When a patient healthcare is compromised, the nurses should take the responsibilities to be
honest while informing and reporting the event in a correctly as per the local policy.
 The nurse should identify and reflect about the incident and report the incident to the
respective department or person.
 They should act immediately to correct the problem or else personally intervene to
protect the person’s safety. This may include escalating concerns if needed.
 They have to follow the principles of open disclosure and non-punitive approaches to
incident management.
 The nurse can ask the guilty to write an apology to the affected person as per the open
procedure conduct under the super vision of the senior nurse. .
 The nurse should ensure person to be able to get the information on how to make a
complaint, but they should also protect the dignity of the health care centre by seeking
advice from their employer, AHPRA, their professional indemnity insurer, or other
relevant bodies.
The Australian Open Disclosure Framework has mentioned all the obligations that are applicable
to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care’s publication.
Nursing practice describes its primary and mandatory role of advocating the patient by being
there well wisher and not mere hospitals. The major role of this is ensuring the safety of the

5Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
patient. This is especially important for perioperative nursing and the surgical patient. In any
kind of surgical experience, the patient has to be treated in a immediate sequence of care from a
multi-disciplinary team within a shortened period of time. The most delicate phase of the patient
is the operating room. The patient trusts their doctor and nurse and this trust is broken when the
procedure is not followed rightly, and they fail in preventing the infection on several treating
instances. This is not a duty of the individual person it is the objective and desired result of a
team process. The process of infection control requires to includes a variety of techniques and
strategies (Ralph, Birks and Chapman, 2015).
Case 3
A clinical facilitator work in the hospital is to keep the patient under care and provides a patient
with one professional nurse or nursing services during the stay. A patient may see more than one
nurse during a stay in the hospital. The care facilitator constantly ensures the nursing staff meets
the patient's care needs. I am a nurse facilitator at a hospital. My duty is to appoint nurse to the
patient care. In my job I find that while assigning a nurse/midwife to the patient care unit is
exhibiting behaviour that is a not normal presentation from what he use to be. The student is not
okay he is not able to concentrate and even not able to follow the instruction. He is constantly
fidgeting it appears that something is wrong with the nurse. As per my duty it’s my job to inspect
the situation and ask the nurse why is the behavior not normal (Edmonds, Cashin, and Heartfield,
2016).
The student confesses that he is under some drugs a night before and the effect is still on him.
The student accepts of being drugged due to some personal reason but as a facilitator my job is to
keep the sanity of the work intact. The personal reason is very emotional but still the mistake has
been done by the nurse by joining the work without being mentally or physically in good state
(Hildingsson et al, 2016). To some extent I am find the case to be substance use disorder. In this
case the there can be any addiction, which means that the person is compulsive use of chemicals
(drugs or alcohol). The person is constantly a dependent or addicted to alcohol or drugs. It has
been found that a substantial amount of nurses are under drug control while being on job in
Australia (Degenhardt et al, 2017). Some of the drugs are
The action that needs to be taken under the code of conduct for nurse are:

6Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
It’s the duty of the nurses to promote health and wellbeing for people and their families,
themselves and in a way that addresses any health inequality.
 It’s the responsibility of the nurse to keep a good physical and mental health. To be
eligible to practice effectively and safely.
 To not only do promotion for nursing practice, they should understand and promote the
principles of public health.
 To act to minimize the effect of tiredness on their health, and should be able to provide
safe care.
 To encourage colleagues and also support them when they need or if they can make out
that their colleague’s health is them to practice safely, they should be utilising services
from the Nurse & Midwife Support centre, that comes under the national health support
service for nurses, midwives and students.
 They should seek expert or may deal independently to advices or objectify the illness or
impaired in their ability or their colleagues ability to perform the duties safely.
 The Nurses must know the risks of self-diagnosis and self-treatment, to reduce any
causality.
 Nurses must give mandatory or voluntary notification to AHPRA if they find themselves
or their colleague having a health condition that can negatively affect the ability to work
safely and at some instance may risk the life of patient under their care.
As per the legal compliance of the sections 129, 130, 131 and 139 of the national law act
2009. It is informed to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and
their employer if there is any legal or regulatory entity that put restrictions on their practice,
that may include g limitations, conditions, undertakings. It should be under their knowledge
that any breach may lead to dismiss form the duty or suspension for certain amount of time.
This can come under any doing that forms the restriction and place the public at risk.
As per the rules under the subsection (1), the National Board is does need to give any notice
before taking action if the student, nurse or practitioner found guilty of -
(a) placing a person life at risk and compromising at a high level with the health or safety of
the person.

7Assignment on Nursing practice and legislation
(b) If the practitioner is found to be involved in harassment case with the patient or person
under care.
(c) National Board acts by giving notice to the practitioner after receiving a complaint or
notification about a registered health practitioner.
It is the responsibility of the individual nurse to make sure that they are responsible towards their
own safe practice. They should follow their work performance and occupational health and
safety regulations (Pilgrim, Dorward, and Drummer, 2017). Drug use, or alcohol use imposes
higher cognitive dysfunctions, that results in risk for safety for the client, nurse and their own
colleagues.
The legislation, code of conduct and the legal compliances works as guide to the practitioner and
the medical care center. This set up ensure a safe practice and low risk involvement. There are
many cases every year related to these issues. In some cases the patient complains about the
behavior of the nurse, or harassment or drug abuse. These all can be minimized if everyone
performs responsibility and do the duty as per the guidelines. The most important factor is that
all registered nurse and student nurse have to abide by the code of conduct and legislation act so
that they are promoting transparent and honest working environment.
References;
Atkins, K., De Lacey, S., Britton, B. and Ripperger, R., 2017. Ethics and law for Australian
nurses. Cambridge University Press.
Braithwaite, J., 2011. The challenge of regulating care for older people in
Australia. Bmj, 323(7310), pp.443-446.

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Cashin, A., Heartfield, M., Bryce, J., Devey, L., Buckley, T., Cox, D., Kerdo, E., Kelly, J.,
Thoms, D. and Fisher, M., 2017. Standards for practice for registered nurses in
Australia. Collegian, 24(3), pp.255-266.
Chappel, S.E., Verswijveren, S.J., Aisbett, B., Considine, J. and Ridgers, N.D., 2017. Nurses’
occupational physical activity levels: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing
Studies, 73, pp.52-62.
Degenhardt, L., Sara, G., McKetin, R., Roxburgh, A., Dobbins, T., Farrell, M., Burns, L. and
Hall, W.D., 2017. Crystalline methamphetamine use and methamphetamine‐related harms in
Australia. Drug and alcohol review, 36(2), pp.160-170.
Edmonds, L., Cashin, A. and Heartfield, M., 2016. Comparison of Australian specialty nurse
standards with registered nurse standards. International nursing review, 63(2), pp.162-179.
Fraser, J.A., Mathews, B., Walsh, K., Chen, L. and Dunne, M., 2016. Factors influencing neglect
recognition and reporting by nurses: A multivariate analysis. International journal of nursing
studies, 47(2), pp.146-153.
Hildingsson, I., Gamble, J., Sidebotham, M., Creedy, D.K., Guilliland, K., Dixon, L., Pallant, J.
and Fenwick, J., 2016. Midwifery empowerment: National surveys of midwives from Australia,
New Zealand and Sweden. Midwifery, 40, pp.62-69.
Hurwitz, B., 2015. Legal and political considerations of clinical practice
guidelines. Bmj, 318(7184), pp.661-664.
Kerridge, I., Lowe, M. and Stewart, C., 2015. Ethics and law for the health professions (p. 225).
Sydney: Federation Press.
McIvor, R., 2015. The community treatment order: clinical and ethical issues. Australian and
New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 32(2), pp.223-228.
Pilgrim, J.L., Dorward, R. and Drummer, O.H., 2017. Drug‐caused deaths in Australian medical
practitioners and health‐care professionals. Addiction, 112(3), pp.486-493.

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Ralph, N., Birks, M. and Chapman, Y., 2015. The accreditation of nursing education in
Australia. Collegian, 22(1), pp.3-7.
Scanlon, A., Cashin, A., Bryce, J., Kelly, J.G. and Buckely, T., 2016. The complexities of
defining nurse practitioner scope of practice in the Australian context. Collegian, 23(1), pp.129-
142.
Scanlon, A., Cashin, A., Bryce, J., Kelly, J.G. and Buckely, T., 2016. The complexities of
defining nurse practitioner scope of practice in the Australian context. Collegian, 23(1), pp.129-
142.
Thompson, J.B., Fullerton, J.T. and Sawyer, A.J., 2011. The international confederation of
midwives: global standards for midwifery education (2010) with companion
guidelines. Midwifery, 27(4), pp.409-416.