University Nursing Assignment: Professional Accountability of RN

This assignment explores the professional accountability of a Registered Nurse (RN), emphasizing ethical, legal, and practical aspects of the profession. The student demonstrates an understanding of professional, ethical, and legal requirements, effective communication skills, and the application of continuous improvement in nursing practice. The assignment references NSW Health's CORE values (Collaboration, Openness, Respect, Empowerment) and the research priorities of the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD). The student highlights the importance of patient privacy, therapeutic relationships, and the role of research in improving patient outcomes and evidence-based practice. The assignment also discusses the vision, mission, and values of NNSWLHD, along with the various healthcare services and research initiatives within the district, including projects aimed at enhancing patient care and health outcomes.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Demonstrate an understanding of the professional, ethical and legal requirements of the Registered
Nurse.
Nursing is a noble profession that focusses on the wellbeing and care of the patient. There are
some standards or requirements that are to be maintained by the nurse in order to perform their duty.
Professional, legal and ethical requirements of the registered nurse requires knowledge base,
accountability with respect to the legislation affected by health care and nursing (Griffith and Tengnah
2017). To be a nurse, it is important to have a degree of registered nurse along with the bachelor’s
degree (Baillie and Black 2014). It is extremely essential to follow the legal and ethical process during
the treatment of the patient as it can lead to further legal and ethical issue. During my clinical training, I
was extremely concern about the ethical and legal requirement such as maintaining the privacy of the
patient. I used to educate the patient about the legal issues that can arise due to negligence to avoid
further complication.
Demonstrated high level interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills
Effective communication skills are one of the most important tool used in the care of the patient
and also assist to maintain an effective therapeutic relationship between the patient and nurse.
Communication skill includes the interpersonal, written and verbal communication skill (Kourkouta and
Papathanasiou 2014). In the clinical placement, I was assigned to manage an older patient, suffering
from multiple disorder. I have used several kinds of communication in order to manage the pains and
worries of the patient. Non-Verbal communication skill such as, body language and posture or by
maintaining eye-contact and by controlling the tone of the voice is used, so that the patient can share
their concern comfortably with the nurse. I patiently listen to their concern in order to develop a person
centered care. Before the session, the patient is emotionally stabilized and relaxed by maintaining the
tone of the voice. Interpersonal skill includes written skill that should be used by the registered nurse.

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A demonstrated understanding of the role of the Registered Nurse in applying continuous
improvement and quality and safety.
It is the duty of the registered nurse to involve in different activities and formulate various
strategies in order to deal with the patient and improve the recovery process. It should be a continuous
process so that safety and quality of the healthcare should be improved. In order to do that, the nurse
should form a structure with the help of other healthcare staff. It is done by the registered nurse who has
acquired RN program to BSN degree which help in the improvement of clinical practice and also
improves the health outcomes of the patient and reduces medical errors (Darvish et al. 2014). During
the clinical practice, I used different strategies to improve the quality of the patient such as regular
monitoring, proper treatment by using 5 rights of nursing and other process. I also encouraged patient to
involve in different physical activity which speeds the recovery of the patient in the health care
organization.
A demonstrated understanding of NSW Health’s CORE Values – Collaboration, Openness, Respect,
Empowerment.
NSW health has 4 values defines as CORE values. Collaboration which is referred to as working
collaboratively in a health organization. Another is openness, which helps in gathering confidence and
also greater cooperation. Respect should be given to each and every person of the healthcare
organization for their work, knowledge, achievements and skills. Empowerment helps in improvising
the quality of the health care services which helps in patient care (Health.nsw, 2019). In my clinical
training, I worked in collaboration with my colleague in the care of an individual. I always tried to
improve the patient care services by using different tool such as regular monitoring or maintaining a
therapeutic relation. In addition, maintaining privacy and providing respect is also important during
patient care. After the recovery of the patient, they are encouraged to provide honest feedback so that

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they can be further improved. Along with the patient, health care staff are also encouraged for feedback
for improvisation.
Values of LHD:
The chosen local health district is NNSWLHD (Northern NSW Local Health District).
NNSWLHD works as the leading local health district in the Australia (NSW.gov, 2019). It provides
healthcare services to around 300,000 residents through 112 hospitals and 21 community healthcare
centres. The total population of the NSW is increased by 16.3%. This district provides a wide range of
healthcare facilities which can be accessed by the local population of the district. Healthcare staff
associated to the healthcare sector in the NNSWLDH provides best medical care to the patient
(NNSWLDH.health, 2019). It works on the process of vision and mission. The vision of the northern
NSW local health district is to help in making a health community through the help of healthcare. The
main purpose of the northern NSW local health district is to improve the community health by
improving the health outcomes of the population. It works on the 4 values named as CORE
(collaboration, openness, respect and empowerment). Collaboration means to work with the internal
organization or external organization by considering the impact of the collaboration on the team. Other
value is openness where is receives and offer feedback from the patient and from others, it is ensured
that their feedback is considered also of they disagree with something. Respect is the value, which is
ensured by providing respect to each and every staff of the healthcare organization irrespective of their
background. Last value is empowerment, where NNSWLDH works to create a positive environment in
which people are motivated to work and develop professionally (NNSWLDH.health, 2019).
Research priorities of NNSWLDH:
Northern NSW local health district has many community based health programs. Different
research are initiated by the NNSWLDH. The directorate of the Nursing and midwifery started a

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research projects in collaboration with the Southern Cross University which helps in improving the
nurse and midwifery practice and also helps in the improvement of evidence based practice. Another
research programs which is implemented with the help of nurse focusses on the rural region of the
district. It focusses on the research components such as aboriginal health, chronic illness health
prevention and management, environmental health, mother and children health, mental health, health
workforce. Other research projects that are that are initiated by the health authorities are testing new
strategies and approaches, clinical research and health promotion strategies. One of the research projects
introduced by the registered nurse is to identifying advantage of evidence based practice in the treatment
of patient and their outcomes (Nnswlhd.health, 2019) The research project initiated by the NNSWLDH
aims to identify the noble treatment, different model of card by the registered nurse which helps in the
recovery process of the patient, enhancing the absence based practice in the health care organization,
prompting the application of new therapies and treatment, reducing the use of low-value care model of
nursing and building a quality culture that helps in the treatment of patient. The main purpose or aim of
the project is to improve the health outcomes of the patient (NNSWLDH, 2019). To implement the
research in the healthcare failed, strategic plan has been formulated which aims to monitors the research
projects.

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Reference
Baillie, L. and Black, S., 2014. Professional values in nursing. Routledge.
Darvish, A., Bahramnezhad, F., Keyhanian, S. and Navidhamidi, M., 2014. The role of nursing
informatics on promoting quality of health care and the need for appropriate education. Global journal
of health science, 6(6), p.11.
Griffith, R. and Tengnah, C., 2017. Law and professional issues in nursing. Learning Matters.
Health.nsw (2019). Workplace Culture Framework. [online] Health.nsw.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/workforce/Publications/workplace-culture-framework.pdf [Accessed 22
May 2019].
Kourkouta, L. and Papathanasiou, I.V., 2014. Communication in nursing practice. Materia socio-
medica, 26(1), p.65.
NNSWLDH (2019). NORTHERN NSW LOCAL HEALTH DISTRICT RESEARCH STRATEGIC PLAN.
[online] Nnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au. Available at:
https://nnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/Northern-NSW-LHD-Research-Strategic-
Plan_2019-2024.pdf [Accessed 22 May 2019].
NNSWLDH.health (2019). Our Values Statement - Northern NSW Local Health District. [online]
Northern NSW Local Health District. Available at: https://nnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au/about/northern-
nsw-local-health-district/our-values-statement/ [Accessed 22 May 2019].
Nnswlhd.health (2019). HEALTH CARE SERVICES PLAN. [online] Nnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au.
Available at: https://nnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/NNSW-LHD-HCSP-
HealthServicesVolume1.pdf [Accessed 22 May 2019].
NSW.gov (2019). Northern NSW - Local health districts. [online] Health.nsw.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/lhd/Pages/nnswlhd.aspx [Accessed 22 May 2019].

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