1) Briefly explain how the following legal and ethical considerations relevant to the nursing profession are applied in nursing practice in your State/Territory.
a) Children in the workplace:
b) International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics for Nurses(Nursing and midwifery Board of Australia):
c) Code of Conduct for Nurses including professional boundaries(Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia):
d) Codes of practice( e.g. workplace health and safety, codes of practice or compliance codes):
e) Continuing professional education opportunities and mandatory CPD requirements for nurses:
f) Direct and indirect discrimination and its implications in nursing practice:
g) Duty of care of an enrolled nurse:
h) Equal employment opportunity:
i) Human rights including access to healthcare:
j) Informed consent:
k) Professional indemnity insurance arrangements for enrolled nurses:
l) Public liability insurance arrangements for enrolled nurses:
m) Life and death issues:
n) Mandatory reporting (provide examples from a nursing context)
o) Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia nursing practice guidelines, standards and fact sheets:
i) Enrolled nurse standards for practice:
ii) Professional practice guidelines
iii) Decision-making framework including the nursing flowchart ( Reference: national framework for the development of decision-making tools for nursing and midwifery practice):
iv) Re-entry to practice:
v) Registration guidelines(NMBA guidelines for registration standards):
vi) Recency of practice fact sheet:
p) Privacy and confidentiality:
q) Disclosure of health information:
r) Policy frameworks for nursing practice(NMBA policies):
s) Social media policy(include in your response the potential implications this has on ethics, professionalism and nursing in the health care environment):
t) Ethical decision-making models(identify and discuss two models):
u) Contemporary ethical concepts and principals in nursing such as
i) Autonomy
ii) Beneficence
iii) Non-maleficence
iv) Justice
v) Rights
vi) Veracity
2) Describe how the following pieces of legislation and regulation impact your nursing practice:
a) Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth):
b) My Health Records Act 2012 (Commonwealth):
c) Aged Care Act 1997 (Commonwealth):
d) Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Commonwealth):
e) Criminal Code Act 1995 (Commonwealth):
f) Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 (Commonwealth):
3) Various pieces of legislation are enacted in each State/Territory underpinning nursing practice. Identify the legislation relevant to your State/Territory relating to the following and describe how these pieces of legislation impact your nursing practice:
a) Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act:
b) Health (drugs and poisons) legislation:
c) Mental health legislation:
d) Carers recognition legislation or official policies:
e) Anti-discrimination legislation:
f) Children and young people legislation:
g) Working with children legislation:
h) Workplace health and safety (WHS) legislation:
4) You noticed that the nurse allocated to take care of patients in the treatment room of your facility is not attending to the call bell requests made by people receiving care. You asked the nurse why the call bells are not answered. The nurse asked you to ignore the call bells as she thought that in most cases the clients didn’t have a proper care need. You entered the treatment room and noticed that a client had fallen. Describe three (3) professional concepts relevant to or breached by the nurse in this scenario.
5) The registered nurse asked a candidate nurse to assist a client with shaving. The candidate nurse is asked to perform the task without anyone supervising her. Applying the concept of vicarious liability, explain who will be held responsible for the actions or omissions of the candidate nurse? Will that be the candidate nurses herself or the registered nurse? Why?
6) You are asked by the registered nurse to provide oral care to a client. When should you obtain consent from the client to proceed with the care? How should consent be obtained?
7) Identify and outline two (2) legal requirements you must apply when writing nursing reports.
8) Imagine a situation where you observe an incidence of abuse or neglect in your workplace. What should you do when you suspect that abuse and/or neglect is occurring with one of your patients?
9) Whom would you seek clarification from for concerns relating to requests for tests and referrals for the clients in the workplace? Identify two (2) personnel who could assist you. How should you clarify these concerns?
10) Define the following terms:
a) Ethics:
b) Bioethics
c) Nursing ethics
11) You must use correct common legal terms associated with nursing practice, and correctly interpret their meaning irrespective of the area in which you are working. Describe the following legal terms and types of law:
a) Civil law
b) Common Law
c) Statute law
d) Precedent
e) Law of torts
f) Negligence:
g) Trespass
h) Assault
i) Battery
j) Legal capacity
k) Intellectual capacity
l) Clinical incapacity
m) False Imprisonment
n) Defamation:
o) Vicarious liability
p) Defendant
q) Plaintiff
r) Harassment:
s) Expert witness
t) Coronial inquests
12) The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards are being applied across a wide variety of health care services in all States/Territories in Australia. Describe the application of these standards.
13) Briefly explain the role of Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.
14) Different ethical theories exist and theories can be applied to different situations to inform our thinking and support decision making. Describe the following theoretical concepts related to ethical conduct and give an example:
a) Consequentialism:
b) Deontological (duty-based) ethics:
15) . Various clinical situations will leave you in an ethical dilemma. Discuss the ethical issues you might come across in relation to the following situations:
a) Abortion:
b) Tissue transplantation and organ donation:
c) Reproductive technology:
d) Euthanasia and assisted suicide:
e) Restraint:
f) Open disclosure (Research the appropriate framework relating to open disclosure and reflect on the practice of open disclosure):
g) Mandatory reporting:
h) Quality of life:
i) Conscientious objection:
j) Abuse, e.g. elder abuse:
k) Consent:
l) Artificially prolonging life:
m) Refusal and withdrawal of treatment:
n) Stem cell research, e.g. embryonic stem cell research:
o) ‘Not for resuscitation’ orders:
p) Cultural and religious matters:
16) The Australian court hierarchy consists of a variety of courts and tribunals. Describe the court system in Australia (Australian court hierarchy).
17) Identify and describe (2) sources you could refer to in accessing information related to Australian legislation and supporting documentation.
18) For a patient’s consent to be valid a number of criteria will need to be met. Briefly describe two (2) requirements of obtaining a valid consent.
19) Explain the difference between implied consent and expressed consent:
20) Briefly describe the functions of the coroner in relation to a healthcare event.
21) When is it required to give evidence to the coroner and what types of evidence could you provide?
22) The owner of an aged care facility released the photos and videos of a resident who had dementia without prior consent. The resident’s family filed a petition in court against the organization asking for compensation. Could this attract a penalty against the organization? Why?
23) Provide an example of a potential conflict of interest that may impact your nursing practice.