Professional Identity in Nursing: NMBA Code and Patient Relationship

This essay, addressing NUR1202, explores the multifaceted concept of professional identity in nursing, with a specific focus on the role of registered nurses in delivering high-quality patient care. The study examines a case scenario involving a nurse, Mary, whose practice deviates from the ethical standards and codes of conduct established by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). The essay delves into the components and benefits of therapeutic relationships, emphasizing the significance of evidence-based practice and patient-centered care. It analyzes how the NMBA Code of Conduct and Registered Nurse Standards for Practice should guide nursing actions, specifically in addressing Mary's observed negligence. The essay discusses how peer members can report professional misconduct to managers, who can then take necessary actions to improve the nurse's practice and ensure adherence to NMBA guidelines, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes and a more ethical nursing environment.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY
PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Introduction
The study will focus on the nursing code of conduct to enhance the patient care by
delivering high quality of support and nursing care within the healthcare domain. The
registered nurse primarily focus on delivering enhanced patient care that will assist the
patient to adapt fast recovery and overcome from their illness (Davidson & Everett, 2015).
This study will focus on the registered nurse, Mary, who was working in an aged care unit.
Mary was not performing her duties adequately and was violating the ethics of nursing
practice. Her behaviour towards the patient was not appropriate with no support or care.
Hence, this study will reflect on the quality of patient care that is delivered by Mary and how
it is relevant with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) standard (Nursing
and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2019). The study will also identify how the NMBA Code
of Conduct for Nurses and the Registered Nurse Standards for Practice will assist the peer
members of Mary to report her behaviour to the manager, which will help them to manage
the entire situation in a systematic way.
This study proposes to concentrate on the presentation of nursing code of conduct
and NMBA standard within the nursing practice for better patient care.
Section- A
Effective nursing practice includes the concept of delivering adequate care and
support to the patient and help them to recover from their illness or injury. Rendering to the
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2019), standard 6, it is crucial for any registered
nurse to provide suitable and effective care to the patient that will enhance their health
results. In order to fulfil the aim under NMBA standard 6, the registered nurse can adapt
diverse strategies which includes evidence-based practice or patient-centred care. According
to Spector et al. (2015), the registered nurse must adapt evidence-based practice approach for

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delivering safe and effective care to the patient and also obtain high patient outcome. The
registered nurse can also adapt patient-centred care to fulfil the fundamental care requirement
of the patient that is important for their recovery and safety. This will also help the patient to
obtain positivity that will in turn upsurge their recovery and experience (Feo & Kitson, 2016).
Hence, it is evident that the nurses must adapt these strategies to yield high patient
satisfaction, but in this scenario, Mary had not adapted any of the above activities and would
spend her maximum time in the nurse’s station, which was majorly affecting the treatment of
the patient under her authority.
Majority of the patient’s under her authority were un-cared and un-treated and she
was also not abiding to the NMBA standards, which stated that she must provide a safe and
appropriate nursing practice that will help her to develop a therapeutic relationship with the
patient. Although in this case, Mary was not even attending her patients and providing
appropriate care. Mary was not changing the urine bottles or the bed sheets of the patients
and hence, she was not meeting the NMBA standards of providing evidence-based and
person-centred care to the patient with safe and high quality of care (Edmonds, Cashin &
Heartfield, 2016). In this scenario, Mary had not built any productive or therapeutic link with
the patient, she was not even attending her patients, which was therefore not beneficial for
her patient’s health condition. According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
(2019), standard 2, the registered nurse must engage in developing a professional and
therapeutic relationship with the patients, which will therefore help them to achieve enhanced
patient outcome (Nagle et al., 2017). Thus, it was evident that Mary had not formed any
person-centred or therapeutic relationship with her patients.
In the provided case scenario, Mary was not involved or even interested in developing
any therapeutic or person-centred relationship with the patient. She had a negligence attitude
towards her patient as she was not even emptying the urine bottles which would have resulted

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in any kind of infection for the patients. Hence, Mary was not involved in delivering safe and
appropriate care to the patient that would eventually result in adverse consequences (Dowie,
2017). Hence, to avoid such situation, it is suggested that Mary must change her nursing
practice and adopt the NMBA standards to deliver safe and effective care to the patient. Mary
should attend every patient under her authority and spend some time in developing a
therapeutic relationship with them so that she could easily understand their health concern
and accordingly treat the patients (Birks et al., 2016). Mary should also adapt patient-centred
care by collecting relevant data of the patient and using that data to treat the patient and
reduce any potential health risk associated with their wellbeing.
Hence, utilising the above mentioned strategy, Mary will be successful in delivering
high quality of care to the patient and develop a healthy rapport with the patient that will
eventually assist her to yield enhanced patient outcome (Anderson, Moxham & Broadbent,
2016). This strategies will also assist her to develop in her professional as well as in her
personal life to avoid any adverse consequences and legal issues.
Section- B
It was evident from the case scenario that Mary’s behaviour towards her patient was
not appropriate and it might increase the health risk of the patient and eventually lead to poor
patient health outcome. Mary’s peer members have observed that she was spending her
maximum time in the nurse station and was not even attending her patients or treating them,
which was the major safety concern and might lead to adverse health consequences. Her peer
members also noted that she was not focusing on developing her rapport with the patient and
aim to deliver enhanced care and support. According to Nagle & Vogt, (2018), such negligent
attitude of Mary could result in achieving a negative health impact on the patient and also
hamper the reputation of the organization. Mary could also face some major legal

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consequences due to her misconduct and behaviour, as the life of the patient under her
authority were in huge risk. According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
(2019), mandatory reporting is considered as one of the code of conduct that must be adopted
by any registered nurse. Among the healthcare setting, if any nurse is not fulfilling their
responsibility and are violating the nursing ethics, it is very crucial that the other peer nurses’
report this behaviour to the higher authority (Cashin et al., 2017). Hence, it is evident, that it
was reasonable for Mary’s peers to report her negligence and behaviour to their manager and
further the manager can take some strict action against Mary by abiding to the NMBA
standards and appropriately handle the complete situation.
According to the Registered nurse standards for practice, it is significant to report any
misconduct or negligence to the higher authority that will assist the responsible registered
nurse to change their nursing practice and adopt effective strategy to provide enhanced care
and support to the patient (Halcomb, 2017). The peers of Mary have reported her misconduct
to the higher authority and it will be the responsibility of the managers to follow the NMBA
standards and help Mary in achieving enhanced patient care and health outcome. The
managers can conduct a professional meeting, where they can discuss regarding Mary
performance and her behaviour of handling the patient and also aware Mary that her
misconduct and negligence can result in some serious legal consequence under illegal nursing
practice or violating the nursing code of conduct (Griffith, 2016). The managers can help
Mary in recollecting the seven nursing standards included in the Nursing and Midwifery
Board of Australia (NMBA) code of conduct and also educate her regarding the
implementation of the nursing standards in her routine practice to yield enhanced patient care
and health outcome. Lastly, the managers can help Mary in understanding why she need to
deliver safe and effective care to the patient and ignore any adverse consequences of
cancelling her nursing license and through different interactive session they will help her to

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understand the significance of following the rules and regulation of NMBA standards and
effectively assessing every patient under her authority to achieve enhanced patient outcome
and satisfaction (Gardner et al., 2016).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that Evidence-based and person-centred care is considered as the
most crucial tool that should be adopted by the registered nurse to deliver high quality of care
to the patients. In this scenario, Mary was not abiding to any of the nursing practice and was
completely negligence towards her responsibility as the registered nurse. Hence, this study
had highlighted the benefits of therapeutic and person-centred care and how this will assist to
effectively communicate with the patient and build a friendly rapport so that the patient can
share their comprehensions with her easily and she can yield high patient outcome. Since,
Mary was not following the NMBA standards and her patients were under great risk, her peer
members had reported her negligence and behaviour to the manager. Further, the manager
will follow the NMBA standard and aim to enhance the behaviour, conduct and nursing
practice of Mary for achieving enhanced patient outcome.

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