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Ethical and Legal Practice Requirement For Registered Nurse in Australia
Ethical and Legal Practice Requirement For Registered Nurse in Australia
legal principles those are quite different from other profession. The nurses hold the
professionals has their own ethical principles to be followed however the registered
nurse including enrolled nurse and midwives have the same legal and ethical
Authorities conference (ANRAC) 1990 the codes of ethics for nurses in Australia was
first adopted by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) in 1993. After
the national registration scheme in 2010, NMBA is responsible for all the registration
related to nursing with the ownership of nursing standards and codes of conduct.
NMBA has selected eight aspects under the standard of nursing. Those includes
quality of nursing care, dignity for self and others, valuing the diversity, access of
quality care for all, informed decision making, safety in care, ethical management of
The ethical issues related to nursing practices are generally known as nursing ethics.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, (NMBA, 2013) focuses on the four
professional practice as the main aspect required for a registered nurse and also
states that registered nurse should be competent in critical thinking and analysis.
Ethics for Nurses in Australia (NMBA 2018).The nurses are responsible for all the
decisions and action taken by them (NMBA, 2018). Beauchamp and Childress
(2013) as cited by (Berman et al., 2014) emphasizes autonomy, non-maleficence,
beneficence and justice as the basic ethical principles for health care workers.
(Berman et al.,2014) defines autonomy as the right of patients to choose the care
and decisions for themselves. Non-maleficence in ethical aspect is the duty of care
provider with no harm for the care receiver. Beneficence means implementation of
the action which focuses in benefit to the individual and is one of the obligatory
more than one patient all the patient should be equally treated in sense of providing
care. Moreover (Berman et al., 2014) specifies the fidelity and veracity as the ethical
principles in nursing. Fidelity refers to faithfulness toward own duty and follow the
being truthful and accept own conduct. The main responsibility of nurse is to provide
a holistic care to the patient irrespective of their age, gender, religion, cultural values
“Nurse must be able to describe the care they give and the clinical decisions they
make” (Buresh & Gordon, 2013) as cited in Levett-Jonnes and Bourgeois, 2015.
Relating to the case of Semantha, she is able to describe Lucinda that the reason of
denying the admission of her husband is following the provision of admission and
availability of bed only for the critically ill patient. Through the effective
communication the nurses should be able to answer and make clear all the queries
In case of RN Gemma as mentioned in case study 1 she has followed the nursing
relationship while guiding the students in planning and providing care to the patient.
The case also evidenced the team work as the student nurse and Gemma helped
each other in busy situation and the student nurse took help from Gemma in
providing bed bath and bed making of the patient who was in bed rest.
In another case of dealing with Lucinda, Gemma should not disclose the detailed
conduct and can be the breach regarding privacy and confidentiality. All the ethical
aspects related to the registered nurse in Australia is same to the other nurses such
as enrolled nurse, nurse practitioner, midwives and also the student nurse.
are accountable of their own for the activities or any act of misconduct and
negligence during the course of their clinical practicals. The legal responsibilities of
student nurses during their practice are same as of the registered nurse. Students
nurse should maintain the same standards as of the registered nurse (McIlwraith &
Madden 2010) as cited in (Berman et al., 2014). Nursing students requires a clear
individual with the criminal history or record can be rejected for registration despite of
Kozier, B., Glenora Lea Erb, G.L., Berman, A., Synder, S., Levett-Jones, T., &
Levett-jones, T., & Bourgeois, S. (2015). The clinical placement: An essential guide
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2018), Codes of Conduct for Nurses,
Statements/professional-standards.aspx