Nursing Role and Responsibilities

Running head: NURSING ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
NURSING ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

NURSING ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1
Introduction
A good healthcare sector work as per the practice of the health care professionals and
nurses with the goal to provide quality care to the patient. The student nurse who are aspiring to
get registered, and other registered nurse needs to work according to the moral and legal law
formulated. The paper aims to discuss about the role of the nurse and various legislative law
which ensure the quality of care. The paper will highlight two case scenario which deals with
safety measures in nursing practice.
Understanding of the key legislation
The case study highlights the unhealthy practice that is being practiced by the nurse in the
health care sector, which can lead to the poor health outcome of the patient. It is noted that the
nurses did not perform hand hygiene before and after assessing the patient which is violation of
the infection control procedure of the hospital. It can increase the chance of cross-contamination
from the patient and can lead to an incidence of infection. From the study of Epstein and Turner
(2015), it can be said that healthy practice by the nurse is of prime importance for the health of
the patient, which is directly related to the reputation of the hospital. It is inferred from the case
study that nurses are not following the standards of NSQHS of infection control, which highlight
that importance of hand hygiene in control of infection. According to the code of ethics of
nursing, nurses are required to maintain the safety standard in their practice and offer quality
care to the patient for better health (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia 2018). According
to Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (Cth), nurses are responsible for
giving effective care to the patient by following the standard norms of the hospitals (Australian
Health Practitioner Regulation Agency 2018). However, the nurse was accountable for the

NURSING ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
2
infection control procedure. According to the Work Health and safety act (2011), if the
registered nurse found to be guilty of the misconduct in their practice area, they shall be liable
for legal obligation and lead to suspension of their registration. Australian Health Practitioner
Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has also impeached the nurse for not maintaining hygiene in
practice. Thus, it reviewed from the case study, that nurse is not following the rule and
legislative law, which can put their career into trouble. For the nurse who is not following the
infection control procedure, can pose the risk of infection to both patient and nearby staffs, and
the nurse has violated the principle of non-maleficence and beneficence.
Reflection
From the past personal experience which has observed a similar case can be helpful to
explain the future situation concerning the matter of the unhealthy practice of the nurse. It was
during the clinical practice, which involved the case where the patient was suffering from a skin
infection. Two nurses was assigned to take of the patient under the supervision of the senior
nurse. The nurse was ignorant and unaware of the healthy practice associated with hand hygiene.
They neither performed hand hygiene nor sanitize the hand by alcohol. As the consequence of
such practice, the two nurses acquired the infection from the patient, which was also spread to
the other staffs who worked with them. Upon investigation, it was found that nurse knew about
the infection control standard, but was not accountable toward their duty of care, they were
punished for their unethical act and suspended for five years. This experience gives insight into
the severe consequence to the health and future career. Thus, based on the learning from
experience, it can be inferred the nurse who did not perform the hand hygiene and follow the
nursing practice can lead to cross-contamination and lethal health consequence to themselves and
other co-workers. Additionally, they shall also be questioned for their ignorance behavior in