NRS 430 Professional Development of Nursing Professionals NRS 430 Professional Development of Nursing Professionals

NRS 430 Professional Development of Nursing Professionals NRS 430 Professional Development of Nursing Professionals

Professional nursing accountability according to ANA code of ethics is “The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety, preserve wholeness of character and integrity, maintain competence, and continue personal and professional growth”. The nurse must be willing to accept professional responsibility when one deviates from the standards of care.

According to Lorretta Krautscheid (2014), professional accountability in nursing as described by professional nursing organizations and agencies of nurse credentialing education, is the essential aspect that supports professional nursing practice. However, even though accountability is the fundamental aspect of professional practice, Kraustscheid (2014) went on to state that upon review of literature regarding professional nursing accountability, there is no consistent language or definition of professional nursing accountability. Professional nursing accountability is an essential nurse behavior that supports nursing actions and standards that resonate with quality and safety in patient care (Kraustscheid, 2014). As nurses, we should be willing to accept responsibility for our actions and be accountable to our peers and to the organizations that we work for. For example, if for any reason, a nurse makes a medication error or treatment error, that nurse should be bold enough to accept responsibility and let those involve in the patient’s care know including the nursing leadership so that action can be taken to prevent reoccurrence of such event. Our work as nurses is quite demanding mentally, emotionally and involves a great deal of time constraints. Charlotte Davis (2017) noted that even though our job involves “increased workloads with high acuity patient assignments, greater nurse-patient ratios, and organizations needs”, we should “avoid workarounds”. She emphasized on utilizing protocols and processes that promote patient safety and positive patient outcomes (Davis, 2017).

Many hospitals now use evidence-based clinical practice while providing care for patients. EBP studies have shown for example that Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) such as Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) can be reduced or eliminated by avoiding unnecessary insertions of indwelling Foley catheters. As professional nurses, our practice should be to uphold and ensure that we do not unnecessarily insert Foleys if we are to promote positive patient outcomes and reduce cost on the organizations that we work for.