What are the princicples underpinning ‘Duty of Care” and the associated legal requirements? Duty of care requires everything reasonably practicable to be done to protect the health and saftely of others at the workplace. A nurse has a duty of care to prevent harm to a patient he/she is nursing. The amount of care the nurse is required to take to ensure no harm to the patient by his/her actions or omissions depends on a number of factors. Factors may include - -The magnitude of the potential harm -The extent to which it was foreseeable -How much you could objectively be expected to take care to prevent the harm.
Justice addresses the allocation of cots and resources (Brophy 2002). Beneficence allows the nurse to actively prevent harm (Beauchamp and Childress 1994). Any decision to act or not to act in order to save or preserve life is an ethical decision. Care of the vulnerable neonate involves complex ethical decision making (Chally 1992). Nursing ethics is concerned with the application of ethics complicated by human relationships Crawford and Hickson (2002).
Respect not just for the specific decision but also for the patient’s method of decision-making is consistent with the principle of autonomy. (Nursingworld). The nurse must remember to put her ethical values and beliefs aside and respect the wishes of the
Assignment 304 Task A Ai) What is meant by the term “duty of care” A duty of care is where the staff put the service user’s health and wellbeing first. It underlines the code of practice and should be built into your practice on a day to day level. Exercising duty of care is a legal requirement and would be tested in court in the event of negligence or malpractice. Aii) How the duty of care affects the work of a social care worker. Duty of care affects a social care worker by prompting the independence of the service user follow practice and procedures designed to keep you and others safe from violent and abusive behaviour at work.
Underlining this concept are the nursing ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence (Taxis, 2002, p.158). It is not difficult to understand how these principles may cause a dilemma for nurses who attempt to balance the risks and benefits of restraint use. A review of literature has shown that nurses want to protect their patients from harm but also maintain the patient’s rights and dignity (Janelli, 2006). With the inherent risk of violence that is common to all psychiatric settings it is important to understand the nurses perspective and reasoning in the use of restraints. In studies addressing the views of nurses on restraint use, important findings have been brought to light.
It is extremely important nurses can do this in different ways such as verbally and non-verbally and uphold the Principles of Nursing Practice set out by the Royal College of Nursing as the fifth of eight principles is related to effective communication. Interpersonal communication is essential in the delivery of health information. Without it, health professionals would fail to assist and inform those without knowledge, in need of advice and support. Listening is significant when it comes to communication and is a key skill required by nursing staff. It is essential that patients know you care and want to help them.
In this case there was a breach of trust, confidentiality and the Code of Conduct for the Nursing Profession. Conduct and Ethics play an important role in Nursing, they are separate action guidelines from the law itself. Ethics are moral principles governing relationships between patient and nurse. Conduct is a manner in which a person behaves while acting in a professional capacity. Nurses must have an understanding of ethics and conduct in order to remain professional and subsequently make the correct choice for a particular scenario.
It’s clear that we need to protect and keep any and all private information as privileged (Marshall, J., 2004). Privileged information can sometimes come out at the most in unsuspected ways. A nurse is going over a patient’s last visit with them in the room next door to yours; now there are no doors to shut only curtains for privacy when you overhear that the results of their HIV test was positive. Now, would you say that this was a breach of the HIPAA law? The answer would be yes, being that you are aware of your surroundings and how your office is set up, one must know how to be more discrete than to speak so loudly.
The Nursing Code of Ethics covers respect and dignity in relationships with patients and colleagues. The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient. The nurse advocates for privacy and confidentiality of the patient and is responsible for reporting unsafe practice. He or she is expected to be responsible and held accountable for his actions, including delegation of tasks. Nurses must be of a high integrity, have self-respect, be willing to grow professionally and educationally and have a strong moral fiber.
The law gave the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services the responsibility of adopting rules to help patients and other health care consumers keep as much of their personal information private as possible. HIPAA addresses security. Employers are required to take certain steps to assure the privacy and security of the records. Some of the employer's responsibilities include the appointment of a security official who is responsible for compliance with HIPAA, adopting procedures to assure that health information is kept secure and notifying employees of their rights. Provide an example of formal and an example of informal documentation that would normally be maintained in an employee file, indicating how each is likely to protect an employer.