Defining Post-Surgical Nurse's Scope of Practice in Healthcare Setting

This report examines the scope of practice for a post-surgical nurse at Redcliffe Hospital, a 250-bed regional facility. The student, working as a post-surgical nurse, outlines their roles and responsibilities, which include providing safe post-operative care, monitoring patients, managing pain, and administering medications. The report emphasizes ethical and legal standards, such as informed consent and adherence to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia's code of conduct. It also highlights the benefits of the role, such as job training, and identifies limitations, such as staff shortages. The nurse's duties involve ensuring airway patency, monitoring vital signs, managing surgical sites, assessing pain, and providing patient reports. References include guidelines from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, Queensland Government, and Queensland Nursing Council, underscoring the importance of safe, competent, and ethical patient care.

Running Head: PROFESSION'S SCOPE OF PRACTICE
PROFESSION'S SCOPE OF PRACTICE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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PROFESSION'S SCOPE OF PRACTICE
Introduction:
Out of the five hospitals of the metro-North health center, Redcliffe hospital is the one
which is established in the year 1965. It is a 250 bed regional hospital that spread across the
campus. It has six operation theaters and delivers quality per and post-operative care
(Queensland Government, 2019).
Job role:
I work as a post-surgical nurse at Redcliffe hospital. At the same time, I also find my job
rewarding and satisfactory.
Roles and responsibilities:
As a post-surgical nurse, it is my responsibility to deliver safe and appropriate care to the
patient post to their surgery which includes care given while the post-operative period, both in
post anesthetic care unit (PACU) and operating room. Post-surgical recovery nurse are
responsible for ensuring the airway passage of the patient, recording and making results from the
regular surveillance of the patient and making changes accordingly. Along with that, they are
also accountable for assisting the patient in dealing with the negative impacts of the surgical
procedure by delivering pain management options in order to relief from the post-operative pain,
post-operative complications and nausea relief. The post-surgical nurses are also responsible for
the proper documentation and administration of the medication prescribed by the physician
(Queensland Nursing Council, 2019).

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PROFESSION'S SCOPE OF PRACTICE
Post-surgical nursing roles involve monitoring vital signs and neurological status, airway
patency, managing surgical site, assessing pain, maintaining fluid balance and providing
thorough report to patient and their family.
Ethical and legal standard:
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2019), nurse should
maintain the principles listed among the code of professional conduct for nurses such as,
providing safe and competent care, allying with the laws and other to avoid any further risk of
getting into ethical and legal complications. Before treating the patient, I should take informed
consent from the patient as per O'Donoghue et al. (2015). As a post-surgical nurse, I should
abide by the four main ethical principles which are beneficence, autonomy, justice and non-
maleficence. All the patients are treated equally irrespective of their caste, background, gender
and age. The nurse should provide high quality care and safe care to the patients who are more
vulnerable till they became stable. To provide effective and safe care the nurses undertake
ACPAN certification and other post graduate qualification. As per the ACPAN recommendation,
only registered nurse should be hired in stage 1 of PACU in order to provide required care.
Benefits and limitations:
The benefit of the nurse rendering to the Queensland Government (2019) is that, it
protects the privacy of the healthcare staff working in the hospital is protected by the Queensland
government Health policy. In addition to that, it also helps nurses in becoming competent by
providing job training and counseling facility. However, there are certain limitation associated
which includes shortage of nursing staff, biasness for the no-union members and discrimination
among the staff.

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PROFESSION'S SCOPE OF PRACTICE
Conclusion:
To conclude, as a post-operative nurse at Redcliffe hospital, it is my primary
responsibility to provide safe post-surgery care to the patient in order to avoid any further risk of
infection. While providing effective treatment to the patient, I should also consider the ethical
and legal rules of the patient care formulated by the Queensland government and the hospital.
Upon reviewing the above discussion, certain benefits such as privacy protected, job training and
counseling and limitation such as staff shortage are also identified.

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PROFESSION'S SCOPE OF PRACTICE
References:
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2019). Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia -
New codes of ethics in effect for nurses and midwives. Retrieved 13 December 2019,
from https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/News/2018-03-01-new-codes-of-
ethics-in-effect.aspx
O'Donoghue, S. C., DeSanto-Madeya, S., Fealy, N., Saba, C. R., Smith, S., & McHugh, A. T.
(2015). Nurses' perceptions of role, team performance, and education regarding
resuscitation in the adult medical-surgical patient. Medsurg Nursing, 24(5), 309.
Queensland Government. (2019). Healthcare Services – Redcliffe Hospital. Retrieved 13
December 2019, from https://metronorth.health.qld.gov.au/redcliffe/healthcare-services
Queensland Nursing Council. (2019). Setting the standard. Retrieved 13 December 2019, from
https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0034/372868/nursingscprac.pdf