Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia

Running head: NURSING AND MIDWIFERY BOARD OF AUSTRALIA 1
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

NURSING AND MIDWIFERY BOARD OF AUSTRALIA 2
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
Introduction
The nursing and midwife Board of Australia (NMBA) protects the public at large by
regulating the nursing and midwifery practice in Australia. The NMBA regulates the nursing
and the midwifery practice in Australia using the established standards of practice that all the
registered nurses must adhere to. These standards are the foundation of nursing practice and
they exist to protect the patients (Cashin et al., 2015). Also, NMBA recently came up with
a professional code of conduct that outlines the professional behavior to guide safe nursing
practice. The NMBA’s code of conduct is meant to streamline the nursing practice by
ensuring that nurse’s behavior is always safe for the patients (Cashin et al., 2017).
However, despite their being well-outlined standards of practice for nurses and the
professional codes of conduct, many nurses are still found crossing the line by violating these
standards of practice. For example, in the case study given, Mary who is a registered nurse is
found neglecting the patients she is assigned to care which is against both the NMBA’s
standard of practice and the professional code of conduct. Therefore, it’s important to show
why some nurses like Mary are still violating the NMBA standard of practice and what
actions should be taken against them.
Section A
Based on the actions of Mary in the case study provided, it’s evident that Mary does
not meet NMBA standards of practice for the delivery of safe and quality care. Seven NMBA
standards guide the registered nurse standard of practice within person-centered and
evidence-based frameworks (Jones, Shaban & Creedy, 2015). One of the main NMBA
standards of practice detects that every registered Nurse should provide safe and quality care
using the appropriate strategies and the existing evidence to make sound health-related

NURSING AND MIDWIFERY BOARD OF AUSTRALIA 3
decisions. Based on the case study, it’s justifiable to say that Mary has not applied
appropriate strategies that take into consideration the health and safety of her patients when
making decisions. For example, Mary spends a lot of time in the nurse’s station leaving her
patients unattended. This is a wrong decision on the part of Mary because it puts the lives of
her patients in danger. As a registered nurse, Mary should prioritize the lives of her patients
because that is her main duty according to the NMBA standard one as described above. The
fact that Mary is not concerned about the lives of her patients as her actions in the case study
suggests means that Mary has not met the NMBA standards in applying the person-centered
and evidence-based care for delivering safe and quality care.
The existing evidence based on the case study shows that Mary has not formed a
therapeutic, patient-centered relationship with her clients. A therapeutic nurse-patient
relationship is characterized by mutual trust and respect for patients as well as being sensitive
to both physical, spiritual and emotional needs (Registered nurses standard of
practice , 2016). Mary as a registered should adhere to the above guidelines when caring
for her patients. However, the actions of Mary based on the case study go against this
principle. For example, Mary does not change the wet bed sheets of patients under Mary’s
care have not been changed and the urine bottles are not being changed. These actions of
Mary shows that she does not only respect the patients but she is not sensitive to the needs of
patients. Also, Mary does not give the patients attentions required because she spends much
time in the nurse’s station. In doing this, it's difficult for Mary to know how patients under
her care are faring on that is, which patients need to be discharged and which one still needs
attention. This shows that Mary is not concerned about the health of her patients as the
principle of therapeutic nurse-patient relationship dictates.
One way that Mary can form a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship is by respecting
her patients. Respect in this context means that Mary should start regarding the rights of her