Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

nursing - Essay ExampleThese changes coupled with the escalating complexities of the ever evolving health supervise delivery system and the changing socio-political market has supercharge heightened the pressure on nurses to be more responsible and accountable for delivery of quality patient kick (Lenburg, 1999 Savage & Lucy, 20049).As the healthcare environment becomes more demanding with the increase complexity and changing patterns of healthcare delivery, and the instruction and evolution of the nursing pr encounterice in response to the increasing health needs of clients, nurses are confront with the increasing pressures of decision making ( duty in Nursing and Midwifery, 1997). In all these changes, what stands the same is that the nurse must(prenominal) exercise delicacy and judgment in the management and supervision of patient care, in accepting or rejecting responsibilities, seeking consultation and even in assigning responsibilities to others who may carry out nursing care. With this increasing level of responsibility in patient management and care, the demand for nurses to be accountable for their decisions, judgment of discretion becomes more crucial for evaluating and improving quality of care.The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) A-Z Advise sheet on Accountability states that registered nurses have a responsibility to deliver safe and effective care based on real evidence, best practice, and where applicable, validated research. (NMC, 20061). While the NMC code of ethics also states that as a registered nurse, you are personally accountable for your practice. This means that you are answerable for your actions and omissions, regardless of advice or directions from another professional. (NMC 2002) These policies hold grave import for the nursing management of patient care.This paper therefore aims to look at the subject of accountability, in the joyous of the related concepts such as responsibility, autonomy and authority and how it affec ts the nurse delivery, supervision and management of patient care in the adult branch of nursing.For a start, let us take a look at what the term accountability entails. According to Savage & Lucy (2004), although accountability is not a recent concept, it has however evolved over the put out couple of decades from a matter of regular reporting to an explanation of actions and outcomes and, more recently, a justification of the set informing actions and outcomes(pg13). They argue that despite the fact that the use of the term is increasing in frequency in management and policy making circles, the term is becoming more vague as it now appears to tint to an increasing number of phenomena.However, within the nursing context, accountability has been described in different lights, by different authors. For instance, while the American association of Nurses (ANA) described nurse accountability as being Answerable to soul for something one has done. It means providing an explanation o r rationale to oneself, to clients, to peers, to the nursing profession, and to society. In order to be accountable, nurses act under a code of ethical conduct that is grounded in the moral principles of fidelity and respect for the dignity, outlay and self-determination of clients (Accountability in Nursing and Midwifery, 1997). The NMC considers accountability as being fundamentally concerned with weighing up the interests of patients and clients in complex