Safety and Legal Responsibility in a Surgical Urology Ward: Report

This report addresses the critical issues of safety and legal responsibility within the context of a surgical urology ward, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of registered nurses. It emphasizes the importance of nurses in providing expert care, ensuring patient safety, and maintaining a conducive environment. The report explores the nurses' duties in clinical care, patient education, and support, highlighting the significance of communication, ethical conduct, and adherence to professional standards. Key responsibilities include preventing illness, promoting health, alleviating suffering, and restoring health, all while respecting patient rights and values. The report also covers the nurses' role in clinical teaching, offering expert advice, and advocating for patient needs, ultimately contributing to a safe and effective healthcare environment for both patients and nursing staff. References from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, the International Council of Nurses, and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia are included to support the analysis.

Running head: ISSUES OF SAFETY/ LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY. 1
Issues of Safety /Legal Responsibility
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

ISSUES OF SAFETY/LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY 2
Roles and Responsibilities of a Registered Nurse in a Surgical Urology Ward
Registered nurses have a significant role to play in the surgical urology ward. They are
obliged to offer specialist and expert nursing care in their management of urology patients. A
clinical nurse specialist mainly focuses on the delivery of care. They also research, evaluate,
develop, as well as implement the nursing practice standards in their specific areas of practice.
Registered nurses must know to look into their responsibility towards the patient for their well-
being and safety (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2019). The
security of the patients, as well as the nurses, lie significantly in the hands of their practices. This
paper focuses on the rights and responsibilities of a registered nurse in surgical urology ward to
keep the nurse and patient emotionally and physically safe.
A registered nurse in the surgical urology specialty is responsible for clinical care
and coordination. An excellent communication skill ascertains that there is a good relationship
between the patients and nurses, thus offering each of them a conducive environment. The nurse
also identifies a patient who has ongoing healthcare requirements, facilitating the required
referrals as is needed.
Nurses have four primary responsibilities; prevent illness, promoter health, alleviate
suffering, and restore health. Nurses are obliged to avoid diseases through education, thus
ensuring the community and patients learn more. For instance, in a surgical ward, patients need
to understand the risks associated with failure to take care of a wound appropriately. The
promotion of health also takes place through education and training. In most cases, patients and
clients might have the wrong information regarding disease or surgery. The nurse has a role in
providing the right information to their clients in the urology surgical ward.

ISSUES OF SAFETY/LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY 3
Alleviation of suffering is also the role of registered nurses in the Urology surgical ward
specialty. Surgery patients go through much trauma and pain as a result of the surgery process.
As a result, they need someone to talk to and establish a good relationship with, and nurses are
the best option. Restoring health to patients after surgery is very important through the provision
of the required care. Nurses can thus get to develop a good relation with patients who in turn,
feel safe in the presence of their nurses.
The registered nurses in the surgical urology ward are also responsible for clinical
teaching and education. The nurses' role in this aspect is providing the patients in the surgical
department with knowledge enhances patient outcome. The patients also increase participation in
their treatment (International Council of Nurses, 2012). The nurse is also responsible for offering
support to other people in managing the patients in the urology surgical ward. The support helps
in building good relations with the other staff, and also ascertains the well-being of the patients,
thus fulfilling their roles in the healthcare practice.
The nurse also acts as an expert in offering expert advice, educating the nursing staff as
well as healthcare professionals. The educating service also extends to the development and
maintenance of links with the appropriate community services.
The primary professional responsibility of a nurse is to offer nursing care to patients. This
way, the nurse is creating an environment where the customs, human rights, spiritual beliefs, and
values of the patient in the surgical ward, community, and their families are respected. It is the
nurse's responsibility to ensure the patients receive sufficient, timely, and accurate information
culturally and appropriately (Levett-Jones, 2018).

ISSUES OF SAFETY/LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY 4
Consequently, nurses have a suitable environment for the patient, with the nurse feeling
comfortable around their workplace. Together with the community, nurses share the
responsibility for the support and initiating action in meeting the social and health needs of the
vulnerable population and the public at large.
It is the responsibility of a registered nurse to demonstrate professional values, such as
responsiveness, trustworthiness, integrity, respect, and compassion. It contributes to a conducive
environment for both the patient and the nurse. Kindness and respect for the surgery patients
make them feel the concern and thus find the environment conducive to live.
Nurses need to participate fully and effectively take part in team meetings. Their input in
the healthcare industry can help come up with solutions to the challenges that arise at various
times (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2016). The maintenance of active and open
communication with the patient care team builds a positive working relationship in the
workplace. Nurses in the surgical ward are likely to undergo stressful times as a result of the
situations in the ward. A positive working relationship helps to give everyone in the hospital a
positive attitude towards work and recovery.
The nurse also has the role to become an advocate to promote the rights and needs of
clients. They also manage to appropriately manage and challenge the practices of the healthcare
practices that can compromise the safety, dignity, and privacy of the client. When the patients
feel safe and that their privacy is respected, they feel comfortable sharing information necessary
for their treatment and surgery. The nurse also feels comfortable in their workplace and thus
deliver their best services. Eventually, both the registered nurse and the patients benefit from the
positive and fruitful practices

ISSUES OF SAFETY/LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY 5
Nursing professionals in the urology surgical ward have roles and responsibilities to stay
safe and also ascertain the health and safety of patients. Patients and their families need
knowledge, and nurses should offer education to the surgery patients to ensure that they have
adequate information. Providing clinical care as well as coordination helps in ensuring that
everything is in place, as patients take their medicine on time, and records are kept well.
Ensuring that there is information privacy is important as patients, in turn, feel safe and respected
around the hospital. They thus open up, and the ward has peace between nurses and their patients
as well as their co-workers.

ISSUES OF SAFETY/LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY 6
References
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care [ACSQHC]. (2019). ACSQHC
Publications. Retrieved from http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/
International Council of Nurses (2012). The ICN code of ethics for nurses. Retrieved from
https://www.icn.ch/sites/default/files/inlinefiles/2012_ICN_Codeofethicsfornurses_
%20eng.pdf
Levett-Jones, T. (2018). Clinical Reasoning: Learning to think like a nurse (2nd Ed). French’s
Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2016). Registered Nurse Standards for Practice.
Retrieved from https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-
Statements/Professional-standards/registered-nurse-standards-for-practice.aspx