Nursing Regulation

Discuss about the Regulation in Nursing for National Simulation Study.

Nursing is a profession that has always been essential for well-being of all human kind. It involves care for patients in hospitals all in an effort to make them recover quickly from illnesses. The nursing practice involves application of medical skills and knowledge that enhance quick recovery of patients as well as their well-being. Nursing regulation is an oversight provided by any government to ensure that the nursing practice is in line and accordance to laws regarding the practice. It involves acts that oversee that the practice is done for the benefit of the patient in any setting. The nursing profession revolves around medical skills and knowledge that might require independent decision making and therefore there is need to regulate it to avoid risks and harm that may get into the patient’s life. The aim of this discussion is to discuss the need and importance of nursing regulation.

Nurses are important people within any society. The life of most patients in hospital settings depends on them in terms of decision making and how they practice. According to Heale, et al 2015, it is the responsibility of any government or state to protect its citizens from any harm and therefore need to create nursing practice act that is developed by any country’s legislature. The purpose of this act is to give insight to nurses on how they are supposed to conduct their work in a way that is acceptable by law. Since it cannot do all that by its own, nurses have a board that oversees them and provides a guideline on how they should operate in order to avoid abuse of their profession. This board of nursing has a lot of responsibility to oversee nursing practice and impact disciplinary actions to nurses who are incompetent and are involved in any kind of malpractice.

The Australian nursing practice act is instituted by the Australian legislature and is involved in protection of those requiring nursing care by offering guidelines to those in the nursing practice to work within safe parameters as well as providing reassurance to patients that their health will be protected from unethical practices. The nursing practice acts revolves around providing jurisdiction and authorization of board of nursing. The board of nursing is mandated the authority power to ensure that the nursing practice is done for the good of the public hence protection of patients for unsafe practices (Silva-Smith, et al 2016). It does so by enforcing the laws as stipulated in the nurses practice act and this includes matters regarding licensure of nurses. The board ensures that licenses to practice are issued only to qualified nurses that have undergone the right system of education and passed. The law describes qualifications for licensure and these are looked onto by the board before issuing them to individuals.

Australian Nursing Practice Act

According to Morgan, 2017, the qualifications to attain the nursing license revolve around the fact that the practitioner should have attained a certain level of competency. The process of issuing licenses determines if the applicant has attained the required scope of knowledge and skills required to indulge in the nursing practice. The qualifications to obtain this licenses include verifying if the person in question has graduated from a recognized nursing institution, successfully completed the required examination process and passed and checking whether the applicant has a criminal background or has ever been involved in malpractice issues before. On issue of the relevant license to an applicant, the board continues to monitor the practice to ensure the one issued does not engage in illegal and unsafe practices. In case the license holder is involved in such practices, he is eligible to disciplinary actions taken by the board and involves retrieval of the license issued to ensure the person does not engage in any nursing practice.

The Nurse Practice Act also stipulates education program standards that are required in order to be eligible to practice as a nurse. The board of nursing therefore only issues licenses of practice to individuals that have undergone a specific required education process. This involves high skilled level of learning in recognized institutions and universities. According to Hayden, et al 2014, the education given by institutions offering a nursing degree course should be above average and allied to current trends and technological advancement. The institutions must have the relevant syllabus that equip students with accurate information and skills. It should also have the required facilities and equipment that enable the students to obtain the required skills relevant to the nursing practice. The educators on the other hand should be well qualified and have obtained a higher level of education in the field. They should also be updated on the latest news, research and resources in nursing education so as to equip their students with current information. The board of nursing therefore sets a standard of education that has to be followed before practice.

There are standards and scope of practice also outlined by the nurse practice act that have to be followed by practitioners in the field of nursing in this regulation process. As stated by Alexander, 2015, the nurse should attend to patients in the most professional manner. He/she must respect the patient’s rights as stipulated in the constitutional act. For example consent of the patient must be obtained first before the attending nurse does any procedure or offers any treatment process to the patient. As supported by Evans, 2015, Ethical rules are therefore to be followed by any nursing practitioner to act within the scope of practice. The practice should also not be informal and should stick to professional behavior when attending to the patient. There should not be any form of bias within the practicing nurse hence they should attend to all patients equally with an effort to help the patient recover. Any research performed by the practitioners according to the act should observe ethical rules and guidelines and the nurse should be aware that the patient’s health comes first. Any research conducted using a patient should therefore be in line with their consent and not pose a risk or endanger the life of the patient at hand( Alexander, et al 2015).

Qualifications for Licensure

The practicing nurse should not allow ill intentions of wanting to gain more money affect his or her decision making in treating the sick by being bias or engaging in activities outside the scope of practice which is subject to disciplinary actions by the board if discovered. They should provide skilled and exemplary nursing services with the goal of conserving human health and aimed at good and quick recovery of a patient (Russell, 2015). They are also required to act in good will of the patient in all circumstances of their practice. They are also required by law to observe strict confidentiality of their patients. Since patients tend to entrust their lives with nurses in medical settings, it is the obligation of all the nurses on the other hand to offer confidentiality and secrecy to matters concerning the patient so as to conserve their rights unless in cases or circumstances where that confidentiality has to be breached as stipulated by the governing laws (Lúanaigh, 2017).

The types of titles in the nursing practice are also stipulated by the nurse practice act in an effort to regulate this profession. There is a diverse class and types of titles issued to nurses depending on their roles in the field and qualifications (Duncan, et al 2015). For example in a particular health setting there might be registered nurse who has completed first degree in nursing, a nursing practitioner, a travel nurse and a nurse manager. These nurses have different roles within the hospital and the qualifications are issued by the relevant board of nursing. Disciplinary activity is an essential arm of the board of nursing in any country so as to offer proper nursing regulation. According to Carney, 2016, although a vast number of nurses act in accordance to rules and regulations that govern their practice in the benefit of the patients being, some are bound to make mistakes and indulge in unsafe and malpractice issues in their line of work. Such practitioners that indulge in malpractice are liable to face disciplinary actions as put in place by the board. As stated by Parry, et al 2017, the cases are presented to the board which decides on how to punish the accused. These disciplinary actions vary from one country to another. In Australia for example, such actions taken include a paying a certain fine, being referred to a rehabilitation facility in cases of drug dependent nurses, suspension from practice or loss of license depending on the severity of the violations conducted.

Education Program Standards

In conclusion, it is the duty of any practicing nurse to exercise their practice for the good of the patients and they should prioritize patients’ lives. The regulation of their practice is therefore essential in any state so as to keep such profession that might endanger the life of a patient in check. These regulations have proven to be useful and have brought about a high level of discipline within the nursing practice boosting the level of patient’s confidence with their health practitioners since they have faith that their rights will be observed. It is the obligation of any government or state to protect their citizens from harm and therefore enacting laws that govern the nursing profession is effective to ensure that patients are protected against unsafe practices in the field that might put their life at risk.

References

Alexander, M., Durham, C.F., Hooper, J.I., Jeffries, P.R., Goldman, N., Kesten, K.S., Spector, N., Tagliareni, E., Radtke, B. and Tillman, C., 2015. NCSBN simulation guidelines for prelicensure nursing programs. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 6(3), pp.39-42.

Hayden, J.K., Smiley, R.A., Alexander, M., Kardong-Edgren, S. and Jeffries, P.R., 2014. Supplement: The NCSBN National Simulation Study: A longitudinal, randomized, controlled study replacing clinical hours with simulation in prelicensure nursing education. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 5(2), pp.C1-S64.

Heale, R. and Rieck Buckley, C., 2015. An international perspective of advanced practice nursing regulation. International nursing review, 62(3), pp.421-429.

Morgan, M. and Parry, R., 2017. NURSING REGULATION. Nurses and Nursing: The Person and the Profession, p.79.

Parry, R. and Morgan, M., 2017. Nursing Regulation: Being a professional. In Nurses and Nursing (pp. 79-94). Routledge.

Silva-Smith, A.L., Traylor, C., Ostovich, D., George, J. and Smith, N., 2016. Regulation of Distance Nursing Education Programs: One University’s Experience. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 7(2), pp.34-38.

Carney, M., 2016. Regulation of advanced nurse practice: its existence and regulatory dimensions from an international perspective. Journal of nursing management, 24(1), pp.105-114.

Lúanaigh, P.Ó. ed., 2017. Nurses and Nursing: The Person and the Profession. Taylor & Francis.

Russell, K.A. and Wade, A.R., 2015. When the court interprets legislative intent: mandatory reporting of child abuse. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 6(1), pp.39-42.

Alexander, M., 2015. NCSBN National Simulation Study. Missouri State Board of Nursing Newsletter, 17(1), p.10.

Duncan, S., Thorne, S. and Rodney, P., 2015. Evolving trends in nurse regulation: What are the policy impacts for nursing’s social mandate?. Nursing inquiry, 22(1), pp.27-38.

Evans, S., 2015. The nurse licensure compact: A historical perspective. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 6(3), pp.11-16.