Apply legal and ethical parameters to nursing practice

Instructions

Explain what is meant by the terms, common law, statute law and civil law within the Australian legal system

• Common law:

The basis of common law is from England. Common law can be used to everyone when there is no statute law to cover some issues. It is composed of custom and the decision which announced by Australian courts. Therefore, it is also called case law. •Statute law: Statute law is statutes or legislation passed by State Parliament and Federal Parliament.

• Civil law:

Civil law explains the rights and responsibilities in the relationship with individuals, government and enterprises. Normally, it involves contract issues. In relation to your role as an Enrolled Nurse discuss the following terms: vicarious liability, defendant and plaintiff•Vicarious liability: We may experience unintentional omission to our patients. As the term vicarious liability, if I do the mission within the scope of the duty but make mistake, my employer and I will both have the responsibility for my error action.

• Defendant, Plaintiff:

How do the following acts, legislation and standards impact on Enrolled Nursing practice 2.5 pages -Poisons Act: -Health Practitioner Act: -Mental Health Act-Privacy Act How to protect and maintain privacy for medical documents-Aged Care Act: -Health Records Act-Children and young people legislation-Carers recognition legislation-WHS legislation -Working with vulnerable people Act

According to the Aged Care Act, a.What duty of care does a residential facility have in relation to Mandatory Reporting? To provide aged care residents a safe and secure environment, the residential facility have the responsibility to report suspicions or allegations assaults and the missing residents to local police and the Australian Department of Health (the department) within 24 hours to minimize the harm and give the support to the residents.

What is an Enrolled Nurses responsibility in relation to Mandatory Reporting? Enrolled Nurses are the first person to provide care to residents, so Enrolled Nurses can be the first person to notice the resident has been assaulted or the resident is missing. Therefore, the responsibility of Enrolled Nurses in relation to Mandatory Reporting is to report the situation to local police and the Australian Department of Health (the department) in order to minimize the harm and give the support to the residents.

Discuss seven (7) functions of the Nursing Midwifery Board Australia NMBA.The seven functions of the NMBA are defined as below. In terms of nurses, the NMBA manages the registration all over Australia, including international qualified nurses who wish to register in Australia and Australian nursing students. In order to protect the public having a consistently high-quality healthcare, the NMBA sets the standards to assess nursing students and provides education providers with comprehensive education programs. The NMBA also provides guidelines for nurses to perform their daily professional skills. Moreover, the NMBA administrates legal affairs relating to nurses’ practice. For example, the NMBA has the obligation to protect the public. Once the NMBA receives the complaint, the nurse will obtain the notification from the NMBA and the NMBA will start to investigate and assess the issue. If the issue requires further process, it will refer to panel hearings.

The last, the NMBA and AHPRA staff are authorized to make the decision about nurses’ registration and notification about nurses’ health, performance, student’s health and criminal history.

1. Registering nurses, midwives and students of nursing and midwifery
2. Determining national registration requirements
3. Developing professional codes, standards, guidelines and position statements to guide the practice of nurses and midwives
4. Managing notifications, investigations and panel hearings
5. Overseeing the assessment of internationally qualified nurses and midwives who wish to register in Australia
6. Approving national accreditation standards and accredited programs of study leading to registration and endorsement
7. Delegating to state and territory boards and committees of the NMBA, and AHPRA staff, the power to determine individual applications for registration and notification of a nurse’s or midwife’s health, performance and/or conduct, and a student’s health or criminal history

Outline the Nurses Decision Making Framework and describe its purpose.There are various decision-making tools, but they all have the one same purpose, making sure that the public receive the consistent care quality in healthcare system. The Nurses Decision Making Framework underpins the decision made by the nurses is legal and ethical to meet the expectation with the public. Also, by evaluating the outcomes of the decision can improve the framework and make the framework more flexible to meet the public needs.

• Figure out the core problem and making sure the situation is under the scope of Enrolled Nurses’ practice.
• Seeking help within the facility, follow the facility’s policies and procedures to deal with the situation.
• Finding the facts which are related to the problem.
• Taking the patient’s (or resident’s) health condition, preferences, benefits into account to assess and avoid the risk. Moreover, think about whether the situation needs further assistance from Registered Nurses. Also, consider the legal parameters of the situation to prevent lawsuit.
• Consider ethical problem into the situation. What are the reasons to occur the conflicts and how to resolve it.
• Making the decision which meets legal and ethical standards.
• Document the proceedings of the situation.
• Evaluate the outcomes of the decision.Nursing-and-Midwifery-Board—Codes-and-Guidelines—Nursing-practice-decision-flowchart-2013.PDFNursing-and-Midwifery-Board—Codes-and-Guidelines—National-framework-for-decision-making—September-2007.PDF7.Discuss a hypothetical example of the civil wrong ‘breach of confidentiality’.

Explain what is meant by the term negligence and outline the four principles that must be present for negligence to be proven

• Negligence: Enrolled Nurses have a duty of care to their patients, but under the circumstances that the Enrolled Nurse misconducts the procedure and the patient end up suffering the damage from mistakes made by the Enrolled Nurse. In addition, this damage should be able to be proved caused by the Enrolled Nurse who fails to perform expected Enrolled Nurses’ standards.
• There are 4 principles to build up negligence. Firstly, we have a duty of care to the patient. Secondly, we breach the patient’s right because we fail to practise the standard in Enrolled Nurses’ scope. Thirdly, due to our error action, we undermine the patient’s right and cause the patient suffering. Finally, the outcomes of omission can be anticipated. （ session 1 Legal and Ethical Lecture, Briere, 2018 ）

What is a coronial inquest? Coronial inquest is a series procedure conducted by the State Coroner to examine the cause of unnatural or unusual death, including investigating the surrounding of the death spot and the dead body

Explain the civil claim of ‘wrongful death’The civil claim of wrongful death means a person’s death is caused by another person’s misconduct or negligence, such as medical malpractice. There are some elements of a wrongful death lawsuit: the person is dead due to another person’s negligence, the victim’s family members suffer from the financial problem or lose any forms of support from the deceased person because of the death, and appoint a liable personal to represent for the decedent’s estate.

What is the function of the coroner?According to Magistrates Court of Tasmania, in the procedure of a coronial inquest, the coroner is required to find out the identity of the deceased person, the cause of the death, the location and the time where death occurred. Also, the coroner may make the comments and recommendations to prevent the incident or the death recurring.

What would your responsibilities be as an EN in these circumstances?As an Enrolled Nurse, the responsibilities would be the following:

• Report the situation to RN and manager
• Keep the surrounding area staying the same, including don’t touch anything and don’t move any medical equipments
• Block off the area
• Document the situation
• Give the statement to the police
• Go to the court as a witness（ session 3 Legal and Ethical Lecture, Briere, 2018 ）

Outline the three (3) types of consent and provide an example of each type of consent.

• Implied consent
• Verbal consent
• Consent by proxy (third party consent)

Outline the process and principles associated with identification of patients in the health care setting in relation to referrals or requests for test. (e.g. pathology request forms)

• Get the consent and permission from the patient•Check the identification(right patient, right swap position) (wrist label, sample, and request form are matched)
• Labelled the sample after collection to minimize the risk of mixing up the samples
• Maintain the privacy12.Explain Power of Attorney and how it applies in the health care setting.

Discuss the term bioethics, including and explanation of the four (4) primary principles.

Define Equal Opportunity and discrimination.15.Discuss the civil wrongs of assault and battery, including how they differ.The definition of assault in terms of civil law is someone trying or attempting to threat, hit, or touch another person without consent. However, the definition of battery is someone intentionally doing violence or touching another person without consent. 16.What organisation in Tasmania would you consider contacting to advocate for a client and what is the role of this organisation?

Choose four (4) of the ethical topics from the list below and discuss the potential ethical issues that may be encountered by the Enrolled Nurse. Use the primary ethical principles to guide your discussion.

• Reproductive Technology
• Organ Donation
• Euthanasia / Assisted suicide
• Restraint
• Refusal of / and withdrawal of treatment
• Abuse
• Not for resuscitation orders
• Cultural / religious matters eg; no blood transfusion for certain religions
• Social Media eg; Face Book

Discuss the principles and processes of open disclosure as it relates to the health care setting and explain the role of the Enrolled Nurse in relation to open disclosure.