Effective Team Working and Communication

Effective Team Working and Communication
EFFECTIVE TEAM WORKING AND COMMUNICATION
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Effective Team Working and Communication
Introduction
Patient safety is one of the compelling reasons why nurses are registered to practice in their
career. Registered nursing practitioners have to comply with rules and obligations pertaining to
their profession as well as applying proper reasoning to maximize patient safety and maximize
the delivery of care to patients. There are, however, cases where registered nurses fail to comply
with the regulations in place and this leads to adverse effects on patients as well as on their
career. Birks, Davis, Smithson, and Cant (2016) explain that nursing profession is one of the
highly regulated professions in Australia. The reason for regulation is to maximize professional
standards while at the same time maximizing quality service delivery and safety of patients
handled by nurses. The National Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) plays the role of
investigating and enforcing disciplinary measures against registered nurses who fail to comply
with their professional standards (Cashin et al., 2017). This paper reviews the case of Dental
Board of Australia v Karen Fazey.
Case Overview
Ms. Fazey treated patients beyond her scope of practice and administered patients without
screening her patients. She was supposed to provide dental services on children and adults, but
went ahead to carry out dental surgeries, which were beyond her scope of registration and
practice. She contributed to the early failure of the medicine prescribed due to lack of examining
or screening her patients before prescription. The Dental Board of Australia suspended Ms.
Fazey, cancelled her registration, suspended her service for three years, fined $3000, and asked
to pay the board a total of $5000.
Omissions that Contributed to the Case

Effective Team Working and Communication
According to the Dental Board of Australia (2016), Ms. Fazey was a registered nurse between
2007 and 2014 where she worked as a school nurse at Port Kennedy and Naroddin Primary
school. Ms. Fazey was a registered nurse and was supposed to treat children and adults during
her tenure as a nurse. However, she is reported to have treated thirteen patients without any
initial screen or examinations of the patients before treating them. Ms. Fazey is also reported to
have performed two oral surgical treatments on two patients while aware that she had not taken
any education in the field of dental surgery. The Dental Board of Australia (2014) has set the
scope of professional practice for all physicians working in the country. Additionally, Ms. Fazey
is also reported to have undertaken eighteen extensive treatments without consulting a dental
officer and also ignored the instructions given by the dental officer. The board found that Ms.
Fazey’s treatment plans were substantially below the set standards and translated to adverse
effects on treatment of patients she handled.
Several factors contributed to this case. First, the registered nurse did not conduct proper
screening of her patient before treating them. This is against the professional code of practice and
standards. According to Nursing Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) (2019), nurses are
required to practice in accordance to established code of practice when dealing with patients.
Proper screening of the patient and examination before prescribing medication is one of these
mandatory requirements. Nurses are also supposed to consult their seniors whenever they are in
doubt. Ms. Fazey did not take these requirements into consideration. She, instead, decided to act
on assumptions without prioritizing the health of her patients. This is a professional misconduct
as it placed the health of her clients at risk.
NMBA (2019) has also set standards for all nurses regarding their scope of practice. The
standards also reflect those of Dental Board of Australia. According to the case, Ms, Fazey

Effective Team Working and Communication
practiced beyond her scope when she performed surgeries on two patients even when she was
aware that it was beyond her scope of practice. This is against the Dental Board of Australia’s
regulations and attracts disciplinary measures that affect the nurse’s profession. Additionally, all
nurses are required to make person-centered approaches when managing patients. They are
supposed to support patients in accordance to the human values that support the welfare of the
patient. Ms. Fayez failed to provide person-centered approach when she treated her patients even
without screening them.
One of the important roles of a nurse is to make decisions on treatments and medications
to administer to patients. According to Dental Board of Australia (2019), the decisions that
nurses make have to be within their scope of training and qualifications. Ms. Fazey knew her
scope of practice, but failed to adhere to the scope of practice. It is important to take into
consideration some of the factors that may have contributed to Ms. Facey’s case can help
understand the impact of weaknesses in the healthcare sector and the transfer of adverse impacts
to the patient.
Other Factors that Contributed to this Case
While it is true that Ms. Fazey carried out responsibilities beyond her scope, it is
necessary to consider some of the factors that could have made her to provide medications
without screening. The healthcare sector in Australia has suffered the adverse impact of
registered nurses in the recent past, and the problem is still persistent. According to Woods and
Murfet (2015), the higher ratio of patients to nurses in healthcare setting has caused many
patients to strive in providing healthcare services. Ms. Fazey may have been working under
pressure while dealing with a higher number of patients, making it impossible for her to follow
all the relevant procedure required for her profession. While it is true that this should not be an