ASSIGNMENT 2

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Explain how the principles of treating consumers with

dignity and respect and encouraging participation
contribute to safe and quality care.
Grace Levens - 215061064

Word Count: 1380

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In the industry of health care professionals our goal is to create the best
possible

outcome

for

the

patient

not

only

medically

but

emotionally/psychologically too. How we treat our patients can leave a long

lasting effect on them. By treating all patients with upmost dignity, respect and
care we are offering them an experience and environment they will feel
comfortable in at all times. The standard of nursing care reflects not only on
the nurse themselves but also on the institution they work for, hence why
patients must always come first and it is ensured that they are as content as
possible at all times. Nurses not only have a legal and ethical obligation in their
role but they also have a safety and quality aspect of their work and there are
many guidelines out there that are to be followed to guarantee all of these
criterion are met correctly and sufficiently. Attributes of a quality nurse include;
exceptional communication & collaboration, implementing evidence based
practice, maintaining professional boundaries and always being ethically &
qualitatively correct. The result of a nurse that displays all of these attributes
leads to greater participation of the patient and ensuring the patient is being
treated with dignity (the state or quality of being worthy of respect or honor)
and respect (due regard for feelings, wishes and rights of others).
Communication is the means by which people influence the behavior of
others, and thus it is critical to the successful outcome of nursing intervention
(Balzer-Riley), and it is a key trait of being a quality health care professional.
Exceptional communication involves the process of messages being passed
between two or more people and is crucial to creating a strong and trusting
relationship with your patient. There are many aspects of communication that
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need to be taken into consideration. Facial expressions, eye contact and body
language are all vital when trying to interact with your patient, it allows them
to see how you feel about the situation being discussed and also your reaction
to how the patient is feeling when they are talking with you. Upholding a good
relationship with your patient through interaction means that you will be able
to encourage them to participate in their own treatment and for them to feel
involved in their own outcome. Although communication is very important,
nurses need to be aware of crossing the line when interacting with patients to
ensure the relationship isnt compromised for either party.
Professional boundaries are there to ensure the appropriate interactions
between nurses and patients. If either of these two parties disturbs this code it
can cause harm and distrust to the other party. It allows for trust and comfort
when interacting with the patient and also ensures that the patient is being
treated with dignity and respect. Nurses cannot allow the therapeutic
relationship with their patient to turn into a personal relationship as it
demonstrates the nurse is not conducting themselves unprofessionally and
abusing the relationship. It is important for nurses to protect themselves by
letting the patient know when they have overstepped their relationship to
make

the

nurse

feel

uncomfortable

and

vice

versa.

This

is

where

communication becomes of high importance. Professional boundaries need to

be upheld to certain standards to make sure that the patient feels that they are
able to form a good working relationship with the health care professional. By
following the guidelines set by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia

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(Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses) ensures that the patient is being
treated politically and ethically correct.
Nurses must abide by a Code of Ethics set by the Australian Nursing and
Midwifery Council. It is a code that is relevant to nurses that work anywhere
within Australian in any type of workplace. The code is set to ensure that to
ensure that patients are receiving the best possible treatment and respect from
the nurses possible. It does this by providing nurses with the basis of how to
conduct themselves with patients to make sure they are being treated morally
correct with good decision making and practice. The code of ethics takes into
consideration the diversity of all consumers and patients in the care of the
nurses so they are able to respect the cultural differences between all patients.
The code of ethics values also ensures that all aspects of the profession are
covered; nurses, consumers, colleagues and communities. Because the
standard of ethics are set Australia wide it ensures that all patients across
Australia are treated with the same respect and dignity no matter where they
go. Collaboration and partnerships between the health care professionals in the
industry ensures that these are codes are enforced Australia wide.
Collaboration introduces the idea of a multidisciplinary team, which
ensures the dynamics of a group. Excellent teamwork is defined by the traits of
good communication and working together/cooperating smoothly. The idea of
collaboration is to ensure the patient is being looked after in the same manner
by all team members and everyone is on the same page in regards to where
the patient is at on a diagnosis, treatment and emotional level. If all standards
that a nurse conducts himself or herself in is all at the same level it ensures
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equilibrium. Collaboration on a larger scale, i.e. between hospitals, means that

all the staff there is also treating their patients with the same dignity and
respect as the rest of the hospitals and health care centres throughout
Australia. By working in team it allows the nurse to feel more comfortable in
the environment they are practicing in which directly affects the way they treat
the patient. Furthermore by collaborating with the patient, it ensures that the
patient will be encouraged to participate in his or her own health and treatment
plan. Collaboration between nursing professionals all around the world is also
backed up by the evidence based research done to ensure nursing
interventions are always in the patients best interest and treatment plans.
Evidence based practice means that the most relevant and best research
possible is being used to back up the current practices being used. Evidence
based practice ensures consistency across all health care professionals and
ensures the highest quality of care for the patients. To ensure the evidence is
valid the health care professional must be aware of their sources and
guarantee that it is a reliable source that has published the practice. Before
implementing a practice the health care professional must be trained to do the
practice so it is implemented properly and safety to respect the patients well
being. Through the use of evidence based practice across the health care
profession and the evolution of science and medicine we can ensure that
nurses are always up to date with what is the best intervention/treatment plan
to optimize the patients care. Evidence based practice must be supported by
sufficient research and ethical trials to prove that it is really the best current
practice for the patient that is possible at that point in time. It is of upmost
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importance that all health care professionals in the same field at the health
care environment understand the new practice being implemented they are
working in to maintain consistency.
You cannot implement one of the strategies mentioned above without the
others. For example you can not implement evidence based practice without
collaborating with other health care professionals and communicating with the
patient to make sure everyone is one the same page in terms of interventions
and treatment plans. Another illustration of a relationship between two
qualities of an excellent health care professional would be professional
boundaries and the code of ethics. They go hand in hand to guarantee there is
only ever a professional relationship between nurse and patient rather than a
personal one. With the interplay of all the strategies, heath care professionals
can ensure that they are treating the patients with dignity and respect and
encouraging

participation.

With

the

implementation

of;

communication,

professional boundaries, ethics guidelines, collaboration and evidence based

practice, it can be ensured that both the relationship between the nurse and
the consumer will be a professional therapeutic connection. Safety and quality
of care is sure to be met if the health care professional follows all of the
guidelines of the attributes above.

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REFERENCES
Australian Commission in Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2015, Patient and
Consumer Centered Care, Australian Commission in Safety and Quality in
Health Care, retrieved 26 April 2015, < http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/ourwork/patient-and-consumer-centred-care/>.
Nursing and Midwifery Board Of Australia, Code Of Ethics For Nurses In
Australia. 1st ed. Melbourne: Nursing and Midwifery Board Of Australia, 2008.
Print.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, A Nurse's Guide To Professional
Boundaries. 1st ed. Melbourne: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2010.
Print.
Fineout-Overholt E, & Stillwell S, 2011, Making the Case for Evidence-Based
Practice and Cultivating Spirit of Inquiry in B Melnyk & E Fineout-Overholt
Evidence- Based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice,
2nd ed. Sydney: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins pp3-24.
Melnyk B, Fineout-Overholt E, Stillwell S & Williamson K, 2009, Evidence-based
practice: step by step: igniting a spirit of inquiry: an essential foundation for
evidence-based practice. American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 109, No. 11 pp. 4952.
BalzerRiley, JW 2012, Responsible, assertive, caring communication in
nursing, Communication in nursing 2012, Elsevier/Mosby, St. Louis, Mo., pp. 215.