Legal and Professional Issues in Nursing: Detailed Report and Analysis

This report delves into the legal and professional landscape of nursing, examining key aspects such as the roles of regulatory bodies like AHPRA, NMBA, and ANMAC, and the requirements for nursing practice registration. It explores the importance of maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality in computerized documentation, referencing the Privacy Act 1988 and relevant guidelines. The report also discusses the professional responsibilities of nurses, including adherence to ethical principles, collaborative practice, and the application of NSQHS standards for healthcare quality and infection control. Furthermore, it outlines how nurses can contribute to effective record-keeping using models like ADPIE, and the scope of practice for enrolled nurses. The report provides a comprehensive overview of these critical issues, offering valuable insights for nursing students and professionals. This document is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand the complexities of legal and professional issues in nursing, and is available on Desklib, a platform offering study resources like past papers and solved assignments.

Running Head: LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
Legal and professional issues in nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
Answer to question 1
a)
The partners of AHPRA are “Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia” (NMBA) and
“Australian Nursing & Midwifery Accreditation Council” (ANMAC). The nursing practice
registration is governed by Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act (HPRNLA)
commenced on 1 July 2010 is the legislation that establishes a national registration and
accreditation scheme. This scheme is for health practioners in more 12 professions and is in
force since 1 July 2015 (Data, 2014). The role of NMBA is to carry out the functions set by the
HPRNLA as it is in force in each territory and state. It regulates the nursing practice and it means
that the nursing and midwifes only if registered under NMBA can work in Australia. It provides
framework for regulatory, ethical and legal considerations. Currently, ANMAC establishes high
quality standards for nurses, midwifes, and emphasise on their assessment, training education. It
puts great effort to protect the health and safety of the Australian community. ANMAC is also
responsible for assessing the skills of the nurses and midwifes for the purpose of migration
(Bryce et al., 2017).
b)
The two requirements that are to be fulfilled for Suzy to fulfil her renewal are (Ralph et
al., 2015)-
 Suzy must meet all the registration standards that are mandated by the NMBA.
 Suzy must be able to declare that she has met all the requirements as an enrolled
nurse set out in the registration standards.

2LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
The core registration standards Gray et al., (2014) those are applicable for the already
registered nurses and the applicants for the registration are as follows-
 The applicant must maintain the recency of practise
 Nurses must hold the professional indemnity insurance arrangements in relation
to the practice
 The applicant must disclose all the charges against criminal history
 The nurses or midwifes must demonstrate their English speaking skills- Suzy can
submit approved English language test score such as TOEFL, IELTS to
demonstrate her English proficiency
 Nurses must engage the continuous professional development and give an
evidence for the same.
The two examples that can help Suzy to fulfil some of her criteria are-
 Suzy can submit any documents related to past criminal history (if any). She can
maintain recency for practice for quick renewal of registration. This can be done
if Suzy proves to be highly competent in caring for jasmine in surgical wards
 Suzy may try to submit the certificate of additional courses such as diploma,
training on learning additional language or skills that will demonstrate her plan
for continuous professional development. She must try to excel in other activities
such as problem solving tasks that can enhance her nursing practice
Answer to question 2
a)

3LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
Maintaing privacy and confidentiality is essential when using the computerised
documentation. The healthcare organisation can ensure confidentially by keeping the files locked
and secured. Without the informed consent from the client, the staff and carers should no
handover the files to other people. In case of the computerised documentation, the nurses must
keep password protected and log off after using the terminal. The nurses must follow the
organisation’s guidelines on staff members with whom the information can be shared (Hattingh
et al., 2015).
The privacy ACT 1988 is the legislation that protects the patient’s data and its handling.
It gives provisions to allow an individual to access the patient information and regulate how the
health care organisation handles the personal information of the patient. Two more sets of legally
binding guidelines are issued by the “National Health and Medical Research Council”. These
guidelines. If the organisation uses someone else’s password, it might infringe a organisation’s
policy of privacy such as loss of sensitive information (say communicable disease) from the
record. The client may file a lawsuit against the worker and that may damage the hospital’s
reputation due to disrespect of patient’s dignity and privacy (Sahama et al., 2013).
b)
The privacy Act 1998 informs about the patient’s right to access the health information. It
mentions in its fact sheet 50, that health careers can allow the patients to look at their health
records only if it is asked in reasonable and practical manner can be given in form of soft copy
than the hard copy. Access can be denied if it causes threat to health and safety. Access can be
given via agreed intermediary. As per the legislation the, system operator can access the

4LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
information and other health care providers in case of threat and service. The patient can access
the name, billing details, race, ethnicity, Medicare number, religion and sexuality (Gajanayake
et al., 2014).
c)
Nurses have to adhere to the domain of professional and collaborative practice. It relates
to the ethical, legal and professional responsibilities to help a competent EN to emerge. The
nurse must adhere to the laws and policies in the organisation that guide the EN practice. The
nurse must protect the confidentiality, privacy of the client, dignity and respect of the client. The
nurse must be responsible and accountable for her actions (Panel, 2016).
Suzy can ensure meeting the standard by-
 Engaging self reflection regularly
 Having awareness of ethical principles
 Can engage with collaborative interdisciplinary education program
 Master interpersonal and communication skills
d)
The NSQHS standards were developed by the commission to improve the quality of
health service provision. It focuses on governing the health and safety in the health care
organisation, partnering with the consumers and on ways to prevent the healthcare associated
infections. These standards emphasise on identification and matching of the patient, regulates the
medication safety, clinical handover, management of pressure injuries, blood products and

5LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
immediately responses to the clinical deterioration in acute setting. It regulates fall prevention
and injuries (Boyd & Sheen, 2014).
1.The standard for preventing the health care infections is ensured by the hand hygiene
protocol. Other tools that are used are surveillance, providing the education and online training
sessions for the care workers. The standard is ensured by development of “Australian
Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in health care” and by ensuring the
Antimicrobial Stewardship. Under these standards, it is mandatory for the organisation to
reprocess the equipments and instruments .
2.The standard on effective clinical handover is to ensure the effective transfer of
professional responsibility and accountability to other staff or professional group in regards o
every aspect of the patient care. To ensure the standard the resources that the commission
provides is the “OSSIE Guide to Clinical Handover improvement” and “Implementation Toolkit
for Clinical Handover Improvement”. It ensures that all the organisation have structured process
of clinical handover (Pascoe et al., 2014).
It is the role of the enrolled nurse to practice to the full extent implementing knowledge
from education and training. It is the role of the enrolled nurse to engage in full partnership with
the staff members, physicians and the workforce in decision-making. It is their role to understand
organisation dynamics, ethical principles and work in compliance (Boyd & Sheen, 2014).
e)
Nurse can contribute to the record keeping of client by following the ADPIE model. It
stands for “assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation (evidence based practice) and
evaluation (SMART goals)”. This stepwise process helps to collect sufficient information,

6LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
deliver patient care and take accurate decisions. Nurses can expand their work to variety of
setting such as counselling, anaesthetics, emergency department, and triage. The current scope of
practice involves adhering to the guidelines of NMBA and Australian Nursing and Midwifery
Council and its competency standards to contribute to the social political mileu to enhance
patient outcomes (Goode & O’Donnell, 2015).

7LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
References
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requirements for orientation and induction within Australian Healthcare: A review of the
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Midwifery Journal, 25(2), 21.
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Goode Jr, J. S., & O’Donnell, J. M. (2015). Simulation in nursing education and
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8LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING
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