Safe Nursing Practices When a person chooses to become a nurse they make a moral commitment to care for all patients. This commitment cannot be taken lightly, as stated in the Code of Ethics for Nurses “The nurse respects the worth, dignity, and rights of all human beings irrespective of the nature of the health problem” (American Nurses Association, 2001, 7). Therefore, three ethical considerations that impact the safe practice of nursing will be explored in further details. These ethical considerations include substance use disorder in the workplace, professional boundaries, and the use of social media. Since Florence Nightingale’s era, nurses have been faced with various stresses. The goal is that nurses will be safe practitioners respecting …show more content…
Nurses are more likely to become dependent on drugs due to long hours, staffing shortages, increases in patient acuities, and demands of physicians and administrators. It is very important to recognize the behavior changes in a nurse with substance abuse, such as, frequent trips to the bathroom, multiple mistakes, confusion, unexplained absences, and diminished alertness, early and get successful treatment to protect the public. Many organizations have Alternative to Discipline Programs to help with treatment. Furthermore, managers and nurses must understand chemical dependency is a medical …show more content…
According to the ASBN, nurses that abuse drugs violations of the Arkansas Nurse Practice Acts include: “(2) guilty of a crime or gross immorality, (3) is unfit or incompetent by reason on negligence, habits, or other causes, (4) is habitually intemperate or is addicted to the use of habit-forming drugs, (5) is mentally incompetent, (6) guilty of unprofessional conduct, (9) has willfully or repeated violated any of the provisions of this chapter.” Additionally, the violations related to social media and crossing boundaries could be guilty of crime, unprofessional conduct, and willfully violated provisions of the Nurse Practice Acts. Nonetheless, any time a nurse causes a patient any harm, the nurse is violating the Arkansas Nurse Practice Acts and can result in disciplinary actions including suspension or revocation of their
When I am older I would love to be a Nurse Practitioner, I enjoy helping people when they are sick and taking care of them. Another reason I want to be a Nurse Practitioner is because my sister is also a Nurse Practitioner.
Substance abuse among health care professionals is an issue that is continually gaining more attention due to the harmful affects it can have individuals as well as the patients. Substance abuse can greatly hinder the ability to provide quality care and if left unchecked could lead to serious implications within the health care facility. There are a significant amount of nurses and health care providers that deal with substance abuse problems. At one point, it was estimated, that 2-3%, of all nurses were addicted to drugs (Trinkoff, & Storr, 1998). To encourage nurses to seek help, the Texas Peer Assistance Program for Nurses was created. This program gives employers, LVNs and RNs the ability to seek help, education, guidance, and support in dealing with substance abuse and mental health illnesses. In this paper, we will examine the ethical perspectives that these programs foster and the ethical responsibilities of the patient, nurse, and coworkers as determined by the Texas Board of Nursing and the Nurse Practice Acts.
The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN’s) goal is to prepare future nurses with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) that are needed to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems within which they work. QSEN focuses on six main competencies; patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics. As we have learned in earlier classes these competencies and their KSAs offer a base to help us and other nurses as we continue our education and become RNs. As we will learn in this class these KSAs go hand in hand with health assessment.
Licensed practical nurses (LPN 's) fill an important role in modern health care practices. Their primary job duty is to provide routine care, observe patients’ health, assist doctors and registered nurses, and communicate instructions to patients regarding medication, home-based care, and preventative lifestyle changes (Hill). A Licensed Practical Nurse has various of roles that they have to manage on a day to day basis, such as being an advocate for their patients, an educator, being a counselor, a consultant, researcher, collaborator, and even a manager depending on what kind of work exactly that you do and where. It is the nursing process and critical thinking that separate the LPN from the unlicensed assistive personnel. Judgments are based
A nurse is required to exercise appropriate clinical judgment and respond safely and quickly in order to effectively care for a patient. Substance abuse among nurses is an issue that compromises the delivery of quality care and professional standards of nursing. Many nurses are not recognized as having a problem until a patient has been endangered (Clark and Farnsworth, 2006). It has been estimated that 10-...
In the past two decades, there has been a push for appropriate staff to client ratios. However, measuring client needs and nursing efforts have been around since 1922 (Lewinski-Corwin, 1922, pp. 603-606). The earliest recorded effort was by the New York Academy of Medicine. Superintendents and nurses from ten training schools documented the time spent providing bedside care. From complied information, the researchers revealed each client required an average of five hours and four minutes of care in a 24-hour period. From these observations, they evaluated staffing issues in New York City. At that time, none of the hospitals were sufficiently staffed (Lewinski-Corwin, 1922, pp. 603-606).
Unprofessional Conduct according to the Arkansas State Board of Nursing is detailed in ASBN Rules and Regulations, Chapter 7, Section XV, #6. The section states the following conduct are considered unprofessional. Failing to assess, evaluate, and intervene, Incorrect documentation, Missappropriation of residents property, Medication and Treatment errors, Performing or attempting to perform procedures that the nurse is untrained to do, Violating confidentiality. Neglect/Abuse or failure to report these incidents, Failing to report violations or attempted violations to the ASBN, Inappropriate delegation of duties, Failing to supervise, Practicing when unfit.
Substance abuse in the field of nursing has become a serious problem. Every day exposure to drugs in addition to other factors have contributed to the issue of substance abuse among nurses and the impact on patient care. Some may still be unaware of the substance abuse problem nurses struggle with, and they don't realize until they see the consequences on overall patient outcomes and work productivity. Learning to recognize the chemically impaired nurse has allowed the health care field to expand its awareness and begin to take action on this issue. “To ensure productivity, safety, and quality of care, most hospitals have instituted drug-free workplace programs...that identify prohibited behaviors and the consequences of violating the policy” (Epstein et al., 2010, p. 515). In hope of change to this issue, further action continues to be a work in progress.
The overall goal for the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) plan is to meet the challenge of educating and preparing future nurses to have the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are essential to frequently progress the quality and safety of the healthcare systems in the continuous improvement of safe practice (QSEN, 2014).Safety reduces the possibility of injury to patients and nurses. It is achieved through system efficiency and individual work performance. Organizations determine which technologies have an effective protocol with efficient practices to support quality and safety care. Guidelines are followed to reduce potential risks of harm to nurses or others. Appropriate policies
Drug administration forms a major part of the clinical nurse’s role. Medicines are prescribed by the doctor and dispensed by the pharmacist but responsibility for correct administration rests with the registered nurse (O'Shea 1999). So as a student nurse this has become my duty and something that I need to practice and become competent in carrying it out. Each registered nurse is accountable for his/her practice. This practice includes preparing, checking and administering medications, updating knowledge of medications, monitoring the effectiveness of treatment, reporting adverse drug reactions and teaching patients about the drugs that they receive (NMC 2008). Accountability also goes for students, if at any point I felt I was not competent enough to dispensing a certain drug it would be my responsibility in speaking up and let the registered nurses know, so that I could shadow them and have the opportunity to learn help me in future practice and administration.
Substance abuse is a mental disorder that has numerous negative effects to everyone involved. When a person has an addiction they turn into someone different, their brain chemistry is changed and brain cells are lost. From a nursing standpoint there are many things we must consider when caring for a person who has an addiction.
Patients Safety is the most crucial about healthcare sector around the world. It is defined as ‘the prevention of patients harm’ (Kohn et al. 2000). Even thou patient safety is shared among organization members, Nurses play a key role, as they are liable for direct and continuous patients care. Nurses should be capable of recognizing the risk of patients and address it to the other multi disciplinary on time.
What is the central component of advanced practice nurses (APNs) direct clinical practice and patient/families?
A physician was accused of professional misconduct for having his office nurse sign her name to his preprinted prescription forms for medications that the physician prescribed for his patients. The physician did not delegate any medical discretion to the nurse; in fact, it was the physician who determined the type of medication, administration, strength, and other particulars of the prescription the patient was to be given. The state board of nursing charged the nurse with professional misconduct for agreeing to sign these prescriptions.
Prevention is better than cure is the right words to address accident issues at workplace. The best way to reduce accidents in the workplace is for the company and employees cooperate to be proactive with prevention. There are many ways to prevent accidents but in implementing these methods, we need to be consistent and communicate our expectations clearly. 1. Issue formal safety policies and procedures in place.