Concept Of Professional Accountability-Professionalism in Nursing
Re: Topic 4 DQ 2
Professionalism in Nursing
Accountability is a critical element of patients’ safety and nursing practice. Battié and Steelman (2014) define accountability as being answerable to oneself and others for one’s actions. Nurses are accountable to themselves, their patients and families, their colleagues, workplace, and profession. Nurses should, therefore, hold themselves responsible for the advocacy of their patients, lifelong learning, and continuity of care. Depending on nurses’ formal obligation, three major accountability domains form the basis of nursing, and they include legal, deontological codes, and moral principles and values (Rubio-Navarro et al., 2019). Therefore, it is essential for nurses to be accountable in their services for provisional of better nursing care and improve patients’ outcomes.
One of the reasons for accountability in nursing is to enhance continuity of care. Nurses are accountable to patients and after their surgery (Battié and Steelman, 2014). As part of the continuity of care, nurses should be responsible for providing caring services to their patients. For instance, nurses should ensure that their patients receive safe and high-quality care after their surgery. Such care requires the nurse to report the patient’s existing health issues, risks of complications, and immediate care needs.
It is critical to expand the current clinical skill set and implement evidence-based practice findings for the world to meet the growing healthcare needs. The implementation of evidence-based practice findings will help guide nursing interventions (Davis, 2017). As such, clinical competency helps in active participation and maintaining the necessary skills to provide exceptional care for patients. The focused accountable interactions allow nurses to clarify critical points which may impact patients’ safety and outcomes. Acting as a mentor and offering assistance to junior nurses who are learning to perform new tasks to help raise their confidence will ensure the nursing profession grows into one which provides the best services possible. It will also help them embrace accountability in compliance with the nursing standards.
References
Battié, R., & Steelman, V. M. (2014). Accountability in Nursing Practice: Why It Is Important for Patient Safety. AORN Journal, 100(5), 537–541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aorn.2014.08.008
Davis, C. (2017). The importance of professional accountability. Nursing made Incredibly Easy! DOI: 10.1097/01.NME.0000525557.44656.04
Rubio-Navarro, A., Garcia-Capilla, D. J., Torralba-Madrid, M. J., & Rutty, J. (2019). Ethical, legal and professional accountability in emergency nursing practice: an ethnographic observational study. International Emergency Nursing, 46, 100777. DOI: 10.1016/j.ienj.2019.05.003
