Breach of Practice in Nursing: A Case Study Analysis

Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1NURSING
Introduction: 100 words approx
In the field of health care, excellent quality of care is dependent on the values of
accountability, safeguarding patients from risk and following all relevant standards for practice.
However, breach of conduct may occur when any nursing staff is involved in an incidence which
goes against the professional values and principles of care. The main purpose of this paper is to
analyse a case study of a nursing student and identify any two breaches of practice. The two
incidence of breach of practice will be discussed and response will be provided regarding the
actions taken by me if I was involved in such issue. The paper will also give an insight into the
impact of the discussion of the two incidences on nursing practice.
Incident 1: 450 words approx
The first incident related to the case scenario where a breach of conduct has been seen is
the incident where Mrs. Gianopolis’s daughter-in law asks for pain medication and the team
leader Adam Vronsky ask the nursing student to provide Panadol to the patient without
consulting the doctor in charge of the patient. Even when the nursing student came to check for
the medication, Adam did not cared and asked the nursing student to stop checking and give the
medication. This incident breaches the principles of good clinical governance in care. This is said
because as a health care staff, it was the duty for the team leader to demonstrate accountability
for practice, involve the patient in care, demonstrate evidence based care and enter into effective
partnership with the multi-professional team as per the principles of clinical governance Van
(Zwanenberg & Edwards, 2018). The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health
Care (2018) emphasizes on patient safety and effectiveness of clinical performance to

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demonstrate clinical governance. However, all these principles were not followed by Adam
while supporting nursing student in care.
The above incidence is said to be breach of clinical governance because Adam did not
consult the doctor in-charge to ensure that the medication was safe for patient. Hence, he ignored
the value of accountability for practice. Accountability is a professional attribute needed by
health care professionals to protect client or staffs from effect of negligent and unsafe practice
(Drach‐Zahavy, Leonenko & Srulovici, 2018). However, Adam did not demonstrate any
willingness to consider whether Panadol was safe to be administered to Mrs. Gianopolis or not.
In addition, willingness to work in partnership with other discipline is vital for health care staffs
to fulfil the principle of clinical governance. However, Adam did not took the approach to
consult involved staffs neither support the nursing student to ensure that safe medication is
provided. The right of safe medication administration was also violated thus increased risk of
safety issues for patient. According to Wilson et al. (2016), collaborative practice is critical for
safe medication prescribing, dispensing and administration as miscommunication or
communication gaps between health care professional lead to medication errors and poor patient
outcome.
If I were in a similar situation above, I would have avoided breaching the principle of
clinical governance by calling the doctor in charge of Mrs. Gianopolis and reporting that no
medication order for pain is there for the patient. Next I would have enquired whether providing
Panadol is effective for patient or not as I have no knowledge about the patient health history or
current medications that she is taking. This action would have supported me to be accountable
for the safety of patient, enter into effective partnership with multiprofessional team to improve
the quality of care and promote health and safety of patient.