Posted: January 3rd, 2024

he Duty of Care in the Nursing Practice

After reading Chapters 19 and 20, please read the following scenario and respond to the questions with rationale from the textbook and/or other readings or references. It is worth 7.5% of your grade and it does have to be in Ace homework tutors – APA format with at least 2 scholarly references (within 5 years) in Ace homework tutors – APA format. Your response needs to be 400-500 words in length. Do not write in first, second, or third person (I, me, we, you they, he, she, it, this that, they, their, etc.). No response to another student is needed.

Delegation Scenario

The 7 PM to 7 AM RN who usually works on the Adult Medical/Surgical unit is told to report to the Labor and Delivery unit as it is their turn to float to another unit. The RN has not taken care of a patient in labor since nursing school 5 years ago. The unit supervisor on the L & D unit has assigned this RN to 2 patients in active labor. The floating RN states they are uncomfortable in this situation since it has been 5 years in caring for this type of patient. The unit supervisor says, “Don’t worry – you just need good basic nursing assessment and nursing skills.”

Respond to the question: Should the RN take the assignment?

If your answer is “yes”: State the rationale using support from the textbook or other references. If you have additional questions for the RN or the supervisor, please include those in your response.

If the answer is “no”: State the rationale using support from the textbook or other references. Give an alternative action in your response.

The Duty of Care in the Nursing Practice

The Duty of Care in the Nursing Practice
The duty of care principle governs the nursing practice. Based on the policy, nurses are obligated by law to provide care to the best of their abilities to alleviate suffering and ensure comfort for their patients. The above principle is quite essential, particularly in offering guidance to RNs about their professional obligations. The duties of an RN in a typical day may influenced by a number of factors, including their work location, the size of the staff in the facility, and the patient population (Johnstone, 2022). A nurse may be required to perform various activities within the practice, including taking up some administrative work for those working in a physician’s office. However, any duty delegation to RNs should be done within the legal, ethical and professional confines of the duty of care for nurses. A nurse should not be compelled to perform a task which they feel uncomfortable may violate their call of duty. Therefore, the issue of duty delegation to nurses should be approached with keen consideration of the above parameters.
Nurses have an ethical and professional duty to utilize their skills and abilities to provide the utmost care. Their actions should always be directed towards providing high-quality services and to the best interest of their patients. The patient’s safety and wellbeing should always be a top priority for any registered nurse. If a nurse feels that performing a particular duty may place the patient’s safety at risk, they should request to be relieved from the assignment or seek further guidance from their supervisor (Ernstmeyer & Christman, 2021). Nurses are also obligated to utilize their professional judgment and make the most appropriate decision before performing any sensitive task that involves patient care. An RN should always assess a specific assignment before engaging in it. If they find out that it is beyond their skills training or practice scope, it is important to raise their concerns, seek assistance from a more experienced colleague or request additional training.
Nurses are also legally obligated to follow the set standard of practice. It is very important for nurses to always adhere to the scope and standards of care as stipulated by the employment policies and procedures, the Nurse Practice Act, and the American Nurses Association, among other practice protocols. The latter would help them to avoid getting caught up with negligence or issues of malpractice. Nurses should distance themselves from assignments that they feel might jeopardize their career or ability to deliver the utmost care. However, it may not be justifiable for a nurse to refuse to perform duties delegated to them by just a claim that they are uncomfortable. Their excuse to be relieved from the assignment should have substantiated ethical and legal grounds.
In situations where a nurse feels uncomfortable about performing a certain task, open and effective communication is quite necessary. The nurse should have an open conversation with their supervisor, during which they should air their concerns about why they do not feel fit for the task (Li et al. 2021). Respecting personal boundaries is essential in the nursing profession. When delegating duties, supervisors in the healthcare profession should always take into consideration the nurse’s personal wellbeing and emotional health. If they deem that a particular task would pose emotional distress to their nurse, they should consider another solution. Maintaining open communication between supervisors and their nurse would help in finding the best alternative, such as delegating the duty to another practitioner who feel more comfortable or has more experience to perform the task.

References
Ernstmeyer, K., & Christman, E. (2021). Scope of Practice. In Nursing Fundamentals [Internet]. Chippewa Valley Technical College. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK591808/
Johnstone, M. J. (2022). Bioethics: a nursing perspective. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Li, X., Fang, X., Wang, L., Geng, X., & Chang, H. (2021). Relationship between emotional intelligence and job wellbeing in Chinese Registered Nurses: Mediating effect of communication satisfaction. Nursing open, 8(4), 1778-1787. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.820.

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