NURS 2022 Assignment: Role of RN in Consent and Mandatory Reporting

This nursing assignment examines the role of a Registered Nurse (RN) in relation to consent and mandatory reporting, focusing on the care of a 10-year-old boy with Down syndrome in a pediatric ward. It explores the legal constituents of consent for children, referencing relevant Australian laws and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) guidelines. The assignment discusses the RN's responsibilities in mandatory reporting, detailing the processes and legal requirements within the context of the chosen scenario. It highlights the importance of ethical practice, critical analysis, and adherence to legislation in ensuring patient safety and well-being. The paper references the NMBA Registered Nurse Standards for Practice (2016) and relevant legislation to support its discussion, offering a comprehensive overview of the RN's role in protecting children and upholding ethical standards in healthcare.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing assignment
Name of the student
Name of the university
Authors note

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Introduction
The code of practice for the nursing professionals has been developed by the Nursing
and Midwifery Board of Australia (2019) and it includes aspects such as legal requirements,
professional conducts and behaviour (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 2019). These codes are
implemented for each type of nursing professionals so that while providing quality and
effective care to their patients, nursing professionals could meet their needs
(Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 2019). Especially while working with children, it is
important for the nursing professionals to provide their patients with protection and
understand their needs, as child protection has been placed among the top priorities of
healthcare system of Australia (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 2019).
In this paper, discussion about one such patient Harry Tehrani (10 years) would be
conducted who has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. In this aspect, the legal
constituents of consent for infants and children would be described so that decision making
and mandatory reporting related aspects could be discussed.
Legal constituent of consent for children
There are multiple laws and regulations that has been implemented by the Australian
federal and state governments so that the rights and responsibilities of the children could be
protected. The Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 has been developed and
implemented by the healthcare system of Australia so that when a child and young patient is
at risk, their rights could be protected (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 2019). The Nursing
and Midwifery Board of Australia has developed 5 P strategies to deal with child protection
and safety related issues in healthcare facilities of Australia. There P’s are Prevention,
Paramountcy, Partnership, Protection and Parental Responsibility so that the children in
healthcare facilities could be protected from the three types of abuses such as sexual abuse,

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emotional abuse and physical abuse. Further, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
guideline includes a section namely the legal practice domain, as per which, the healthcare
professionals required to implement or practice legal aspects including obtaining consent and
maintaining lawful behaviours and conducting mandatory reporting so that the importance of
mandatory reporting could be understood. However, if any healthcare professional observes
any harassment or violation of ethical codes of the patients, then it is important for them to
implement mandatory reporting. In this aspect, it should be mentioned that mandatory
reporting is the process which requires nursing professionals to be aware of ethical
obligations so that they could promote or protect the patient, as per the regulations o national
law.
The scenario
Harry Tehrani is a 10 year old boy suffering from Down syndrome and lives with his
parents, grandparents and siblings. Despite of his disease condition, he is an active kid and
has socialized with his friends at his school (City of Horizon 2019). The Horizon paedeatric
ward has already decided the flow of healthcare interventions that would be implemented for
his care process and there are several aspects such as continuous fasting and administration of
morphine are aspects which requires proper consent and discussion so that all the ethical and
professional code of conduct for nurses could be complied with and the legal rights of the
patient could be protected (City of Horizon 2019).
Role of RN in mandatory reporting in case of Harry
From the scenario of HHHS paediatric ward, it cannot be said clearly that the nursing
professional violated the ethical right of patient consent or not, however it could be easily
observed that the healthcare professionals’ implemented interventions which would require
consent or permission from the patient or from his/her care taker prior to implementation.

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While caring for Harry, it was seen that healthcare professionals implemented effective
interventions for the intensive care of the patient and starting from his ulna fracture to his
dislocation of radial head (City of Horizon 2019). In this aspect, if it was observed that the
healthcare professional is unable to fulfil the roles and responsibilities of effective and ethical
care process, then mandatory reporting would be the option for the registered nurses. The
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2019) also mentions about the nursing ethical
practices and as per the legislation, it is important for the healthcare professionals to
implement effective care through critical analysis and nursing practices. It requires registered
nurses to comply with the Australian laws and regulations, policies and guidelines so that
while making decisions with them, they could provide the patient with effectiveness care
(City of Horizon 2019). Hence, the laws and regulations also provide the registered nurse
with the responsibility to comply with the process.
Legal requirements for mandatory reporting (process of mandatory reporting)
In Horizon city, the legislation developed and implemented by South Australia works
and as per the legislative body Tonmyr et al. 2016), the primary aim of the registered nurse
while mandatory reporting is to judge or analyse the reasonable ground. The registered nurse
should understand the type of violence the patient is suffering from and then with the help of
the legal and ethical means, they should be able to decide the reasonable grounds upon
which, the person would be convicted. Finally, if they are guilty, they would be charged with
Sections 6, 10 and 11 of the Children's Protection Act 1993 of South Australia implemented
in the City of Horizon (Mathews, Lee and Norman 2016). Further, the healthcare
professionals need to report the incidence in local law enforcement bodies such as local
police department or at the county child welfare department (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au
2019). Hence, these are the processes that should be followed while attempting mandatory
reporting for children or infant abuse or violation of consent related rights.

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Conclusion
While concluding this paper, it should be mentioned that mandatory reporting and
other legal aspects has been provided to the registered nursing professionals and other
healthcare staff so that while providing care to the patients, they can understand the presence
of violence. In this paper, discussion about one such child admitted in the paediatric ward has
been conducted so that the healthcare violence and abuse related condition and its possibility
could be understood. In this paper discussion about the mandatory reporting, the NMBA
guidelines for the rules and regulations has been mentioned so that while going through the
patient scenario chosen, they can conduct effective care for the growth and development of
the patients. This paper also identifies the aspects due to which majority of the registered
nurses are able to conduct their mandatory reporting for the welfare of any patient.

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References
City of Horizon (2019). City of Horizon [online] 2019 R 4, computer program, City of
Horizon., Novus Res, Adelaide.
Mathews, B., Lee, X.J. and Norman, R.E., 2016. Impact of a new mandatory reporting law on
reporting and identification of child sexual abuse: a seven year time trend analysis. Child
Abuse & Neglect, 56, pp.62-79.
Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au (2019). Code of conduct for nurses - Nursing and Midwifery
Board of Australia [online] Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au. Available at:
http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?
record=WD17%2F23850&dbid=AP&chksum=L8j874hp3DTlC1Sj4klHag%3D%3D
[Accessed 13 Aug. 2019].
Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au (2019). Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia -
Guidelines for mandatory notifications. [online] Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au. Available
at: https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Codes-
Guidelines/Guidelines-for-mandatory-notifications.aspx [Accessed 13 Aug. 2019].
Tonmyr, L., Mathews, B., Shields, M.E., Hovdestad, W.E. and Afifi, T.O., 2018. Does
mandatory reporting legislation increase contact with child protection?–a legal doctrinal
review and an analytical examination. BMC public health, 18(1), p.1021.