Professionalism in Nursing

Running head: PROFESSIONALISM IN NURSING 1
Professionalism in nursing
Student’s name
Institution affiliation

PROFESSIONALISM IN NURSING 2
Professionalism in nursing
A transgression is something that is against the codes of conduct, rule, and the existing
law. In simple terms, transgression can be described as something offensive. (Mudge et al.,
2013) In the given case study, there are different cases which pose as potential transgressions or
are offensive in nature. . The first case of transgression is the case where Jane who is a registered
nurse takes medicine and puts it in her pocket and even goes for more when she does not feel
well. The second case is that which Jane comes to work feeling unwell because of
hangovers .Then the last case is where Dan takes photos of Fred’s wound posts them and even
shares with friends. The study will emphasize more on the issue of going to work with hangovers
and taking photos of the patient’s wounds.
In Australia, there are different codes and standards which guide nurses in their jobs. The
codes provide all the conduct expectations, professional behavior and legal requirements. The
public gets awareness on how nurses should behave and conduct themselves when performing
their duties in hospitals. (Gardner, Gardner and O’Connell, 2014). An organization in Australia
known as The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) maintains and sets standards
for secure nursing practice through these rules.
Jane openly violates the Australian registered nurse standards when she comes to work
with hangover, puts hospital medicine into her pockets and even comes for more when she does
not feel well. According to the Australian Nurse Standards, Jane’s actions were unlawful. She
did not respect her profession by taking property that does not belong to her. Also, coming to

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work with hangover is considered unprofessional according to the nurse standards. It will affect
their performance or destroy the image of the institution and that of their own. Jane’s personal
interest could largely affect or lead to personal gain. This will disadvantage the patient who is
supposed to be the main focus for the nurse. The nurse standards require nurses to try and
decrease consequence of exhaustion and anxiety on their health and on capability to provide
health care. She violated this by going out the previous night and coming to work feeling unwell
and with hangovers. This will hinder her from providing the required quality services to the
patients as per the Australian Registered Nurse standards. Dan failed to take obligatory action
like making a required or deliberate statement to the AHPRA on realizing that his colleague had
health condition which could largely affect safety performance of duties. Because of her health
condition, she handed over Fred’s care to Dan who ended up acting against the nursing standards
by violating the privacy of the patient. From Jane’s actions, a lot of professional misconduct is
identified.
In Dan’s case, The Australian Registered Nurse Standard are violated in a number of
ways. He violated the patient’s privacy by taking pictures of his wound then sharing them to his
friends and the world at large. The nursing standards require the nurse to protect privacy of the
patient and hold information about them in confidentiality unless it is needed by law or needed in
for emergency to provide additional care. (Gallagher, 2018) He failed to seek informed concise
like formal documenting before disclosing information about the patient. He also failed to
provide an environment to enable private and confidential consultation and discussion because
apart from the nurses, the people he shared the picture with his other friends. This could
therefore not provide a conducive and confidential environment about any consultation. Dan

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openly posted the patients wound images and directly identified him by mentioning his name on
social media without first gaining written and informed consent. He also failed to observe
professional boundaries as required by the Nursing Standards. (Bennett, 2019)There was over
involvement through taking pictures without formal consent. He expressed personal belief on
social media in a way that could largely cause unnecessary distress to Fred. His understanding of
his nursing profession as an eye opener was not clear and as per the stated nursing standards
because he was negatively using it in reference to a patient’s disability which he had unlawfully
shared on social media. He also arrogantly talks about how her colleague come to work with
hangover and handed him the responsibility to take care of the patient. (Polit and Gillespie,
2011).From Dan’s action, we can realize that there was on effective communication. His way of
communicating was disrespectful, unkind and was not companionate about the whole situation.
He failed to take into account the health literacy when communicating on his social media. He
did not meet specific language and communication needs and how the needs will affect the
people, patient and his family at large. He irrelevantly communicated information about the
patient to his friends, nurses and even social media without considering the bounds of relevant
privacy requirements. His acts are judgmental and also refers to the patient in unprofessional
manner that is not tolerated socially and culturally from his statement, he refers to Fred’s wound
as ‘gory butt wound’ he then goes ahead to refer to him as poor blind Freddie. This is likely to
cause distress to the patient, family and the other people around him. The Australian nursing
standards does not approve this. Dan did not conduct himself in a professional manner. (Kang,
2019) He went against many Australian Nursing Standards in so many ways when handling the
situation.