Nursing Report: Consent, Confidentiality, Legal and Ethical Issues

This report examines critical aspects of nursing practice, focusing on consent, confidentiality, and legal/ethical obligations within the healthcare setting. It begins by defining and differentiating between various types of consent, including informed, verbal, and implied consent, providing a foundational understanding of patient rights and healthcare protocols. The report then delves into the legal and ethical responsibilities of nurses and midwives regarding patient information confidentiality, emphasizing the importance of adhering to professional codes of conduct and the potential legal consequences of breaches in patient privacy. The report underscores the significance of maintaining patient data security and highlights the necessity of these practices to uphold ethical standards and ensure patient trust within the healthcare environment. It concludes by reiterating the significance of consent and confidentiality in the healthcare landscape.

Nursing Project

Table of Contents
PART C............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
3.1 Consent ( informed, verbal and implied)..............................................................................1
3.2 The legal and ethical obligations of nurses and midwives to keep patient information
confidentiality.............................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................2

PART C
INTRODUCTION
Consent is considered as the process of taking permission in order to accomplish the
tasks. Also, there are some legal and ethical obligations that are required and are essential to
maintain the security of the records and data of the patients.
3.1 Consent ( informed, verbal and implied)
Consent refers to the prior permission to be taken in order perform any action or activity.
It can be referred to as an agreement between two persons regarding a particular fact. A violation
of this consent may become an unlawful activity and legal considerations may be filed against
the person who has violated this consent (Fain, 2017). There are various legal consents that can
be adopted by the personnel. Informed consent: It is a kind of document which informs the patients regarding the
possible benefits as well as risks involved in the medical procedures that are being
undertaken by the health care professionals. Verbal consent: In this type of consent, an individual verbally agrees to the facts relating
to a particular document. It avoids any written documentation.
 Implied consent: The consent which is not given either in written form or verbally, but is
assumed to be granted by a person through his/ her actions over a particular situation is
termed as implied consent (O'brien, 2017).
3.2 The legal and ethical obligations of nurses and midwives to keep patient information
confidentiality
There are various codes of conducts that are to be followed by the nurses as well as
midwives in order to perform the nursing practices in an efficient manner. One of these
statements of conduct, prescribes nurses to treat their patients personally and keep the
information regarding the diagnosis private, i.e. it should not be disclosed to anyone. They are
obliged legally to follow this code of conduct, or else, necessary legal actions will be taken
against them in response to violation of this provision (Halter, 2017).
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CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that taking consent in various factors in the health
care is very important. Also, it is very important to consider all the factors that helps in
maintaining the confidentiality of the data of the patient in the health care.
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REFERENCES
Fain, J. A., 2017. Reading, understanding, and applying nursing research. FA Davis.
Halter, M. J., 2017. Varcarolis' Foundations of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing-E-Book: A
Clinical Approach. Elsevier Health Sciences.
O'brien, M. E., 2017. Spirituality in nursing. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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