Law, Ethics and Professional Guidelines in Health Care Profession

Running head: NURSING PROFESSION 1
LAW, ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL GUIDELINESS IN HEALTH CARE RPOFESSION
Student’s Name
University Affiliation
Course
Date

Running head: NURSING PROFESSION 2
INTRODUCTION
The nursing as a profession is often underpinned by a wide range of professional, ethical
and legal issues that are important for safe nursing practice and that ensures interests, needs and
requirements of all patients are fully met. Nursing profession is governed by professional and
legal requirements that are meant for protect the well-being and safety of patients. The National
Board works with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) in the
National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme) in order to maintain the
safety of the public by that ensuring competent and qualified nurses attend to their needs. Based
on case 2 whereby my fellow student made a derogative, disrespectful and threatening comments
about my lecturer, this essay will discuss on the immediate and subsequent actions taken. The
essay will also capture on some of the most applicable sections of the Australian Registered
Nurse Standards for Practice, ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses and Code of Conduct for Nurses
and the possible legal and future implications of this behaviors.
Immediate actions
Professionalism can be categorized into three major sections. They include professional
behaviors, professional parameters and values and professional responsibilities. Simply,
professional parameters are related to the principles of lawful and ethical matters while
professional behaviors and values pertain the area of abilities, knowledge, way an individual
carries himself or herself in terms of appearance and behavior and fostering bonds with other
colleagues. Professional responsibilities on the other hand include employers, personal, societal
responsibilities and patients. Professional values and behaviors include acceptance, non-

Running head: NURSING PROFESSION 3
judgmental attitude, communication, accountability, confidentiality, self-improvement and
collegiality (Curtis, Horton & Smith, 2012).
Based on the scenario, what the student did was unlawful and unethical based on the code
of ethics of nursing provision 3 on acting on questionable conduct which violates the rights of
another person. What the colleague did in the scenario was questionable and it’s a violation of
individual rights. The first immediate action that I should take is contacting the student who was
responsible for the disrespectful and derogative post and talk to him or her regarding the issue
and inform him to withdraw it form Facebook. In relation to nursing code of ethics, provision 1
elaborates more on respect for human dignity and relationships with colleagues and others in
institutions. Taking this action shows that as a nurse am concerned about the dignity of the
lecturer who was threated and disrespected via a social media. Provision 1 of nursing code of
ethics adds that the nurse is accountable for the needs, values and dignity of others. This code of
ethics emphasizes on respect in all areas of nursing interaction (Curtis, Horton & Smith, 2012).
The second immediate action is approaching the colleague and find out the reason as to
why he or she did such as thing for the lecturer. I will take time with the colleague and find
interrogate him or her to find out any underlying issues between him and the lecturer that might
have led to such a behavior in a social media. This will help me gather adequate and detailed
information about the incidence hence enabling me to make appropriate and effective decisions
regarding the scenario. According to the regulation standards and nursing code of ethics, nurses
should conduct an assessment of an issue in order to implement appropriate interventions for the
case.

Running head: NURSING PROFESSION 4
The third immediate action I would take will be advising the colleague regarding the
issue, According to the American Nurses Association code of ethics, nurses are guided by the
ethical and legal issues in order to make ethical decisions. Provision 5 of the code of ethics
addresses moral-self-respect whereby nurses have moral obligations to self as they do to others.
Based on this case, the colleague needs to be reminded of a self-respect, respect to others,
personal integrity and wholeness of character. The code plays an important role of delineating
the ethical standards for the nurses in all settings, roles, levels, guidance provision and setting
expectations. Based on the scenario, the decisions made were based on these codes to ensure that
the issue is handled in an ethical manner which does not violate anybody. The values involved in
nursing practice ensure advocacy, barrier elimination and respect for humans (Brown et al,
2017).
Provision 9 of the code of ethics for nurses advocates for collaboration between nurses
and other professional to protect the rights of other people , promote diplomacy and reduce any
form of disparities in nursing profession. The actions of collaborating with the administration
and other authorities was important. When the practice of a nurse falls below the accepted
standards of competence and care, like for this scenario, exposes him or her to litigation. The
basis for litigation is related to malpractice, negligence and failure to exercise at a reasonable
level (Epstein & Turner, 2015). Prudence and professional negligence are also associated with
litigation. The omission and commission acts are obliged to subject the nurse to professional
license review and litigation which can consequently lead to reprimand of his or her license or
total loss of the license. Based on this scenario, this fellow can be subjected to litigation since
posting a threatening and disrespectful message on a social platform violates the legal and ethical
issues and code of ethics of nurses (Epstein & Turner, 2015).