Law, Ethics and Professionalism in Nursing Practice

Running head: LAW, ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM IN NURSING PRACTICE.
Law, Ethics and Professionalism in Nursing Practice
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LAW, ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM IN NURSING PRACTICE.
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Nursing practice is the habitual exercise of roles, responsibilities and activities that a
registered nurse is eligible, authorized and is competent to perform (Lewis & Squires, 2016). The
role of a nurse encompasses the care of a patient as an individual, family and community at
large. The care is individualized and is client-centered. The nursing practice is governed by a set
of laws, ethics and professional guidelines that determine the way care is administered in order to
ensure rights of each individual are maintained and that outcome is of best quality. The
governing criteria is in such a way that evidence based professionalism is administered to ensure
client needs are met and efficiency of the organization is accounted for. They ensure safety of the
client and the nurse at the same time. The laws, ethics and professional guidelines are
constructed based on a set of principles and values underpinning the code of conduct.
There are values and characteristics of professionalism that contribute to health care
through collaboration, cooperation and therapeutic communication. These values are; respect,
honesty, responsibility, fairness and compassion. In order for professional standards to be
observed in the healthcare, the registered nurse ought to show respect. Respect towards other
clinicians, the patient and any individual or group offering assistance towards care delivery. The
nurse should respect the cultures and embrace the diversity in customs regarding the patient and
the members of healthcare team. The nurse should respect the dignity and patient’s
confidentiality (Moss, Good, Gozal, Kleinpell & Sessler, 2016). Nurse should respect other
people’s responsibilities and expertise and work in collaboration to achieve high quality of care.
The nurse should be honest to self, the team members and the facility at large. Patient care
should be explained and the nurse should be answerable. Honesty is a key value in patient care
no matter the outcome. Honesty helps in building trust and confidentiality between the caregivers

LAW, ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM IN NURSING PRACTICE.
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and the individuals receiving the care. This also contributes to maintenance of respect and
professionalism in the care for patient. In the healthcare field, the nurse is responsible for the
roles he is authorized. He is accountable for all the procedures and planning of patient care from
the time of contact till discharge. He is responsible to ensure collaborative planning and patient
care is administered to the patient. The nurse has a responsibility of ensuring the interests of the
patient and needs are satisfied through collaborative approach and a therapeutic relationship is
established. He is responsible to ensure quality standards of practice and ethical conduct is
maintained according to the code of conduct. He has a role in ensuring competence is applied in
the field and the team member are working in cooperation towards achieving the best care.
Fairness and justice in healthcare is a critical aspect. Regardless of the social status and condition
of the patient (Yanicki, Kushner & Reutter, 2015). To ensure collaboration the nursing fraternity
ensures no discrimination among patients. This assurance promotes patient cooperation and trust.
It encourages openness and confidentiality that at the end leads to better patient outcomes and
issuance of quality standards. Therapeutic relationship is successful when patients are treated
with fairness. Compassion and tenderheartedness is a core value when creating a therapeutic
relationship and in ensuring professionalism in the healthcare field.
The key principles implicating the legal, ethical and professional course of action and
codes that corroborate the practice of registered nurses in Australia are; nonmaleficience,
beneficence, Fidelity, autonomy and principle of totality and integrity (Preshaw, Brazil,
McLaughlin & Frolic, 2016). Nonmaleficience principle constrains one not to instill any
deliberate harm. This principle is based on four rules; the innate reason of an action is not wrong,
the intended goal is not bad, in an action the benefit exceeds the bad and a good outcome is not