Professional accountability in nursing includes taking responsibility for one’s decisions to maintain high care standards, as well as encourage patient safety. Nurses’ accountability ensures their duties’ effective performance (Krautscheid, 2014). It also encourages prioritizing patients’ needs and enhancing nursing skills. This paper aims to demonstrate nurses’ professional accountability in clinical expertise, nursing processes, and evidence-based practices.
In evidence-based practices, nurses demonstrate professional accountability by adhering to science-based infection control policies, such as administering oxygen to COPD patients. Administering oxygen can increase the risk of Hypercapnia and Acidosis (Ray, 2016). A nurse demonstrates professional accountability by adhering to evidence-based anti-infection policies, such as keeping the workplace clean, wearing PPE’s when appropriate, and proper hand-washing.
Nurses illustrate professional accountability in clinical expertise by administering the correct drugs to patients. Strauss et al. (2018) recognize the need for each practitioner to gain clinical skills to ensure that reasonable and current practice decisions are made. For example, a nurse demonstrates professional accountability in clinical practice by ensuring that an anemia patient is given a proper blood transfusion compatible with his or her blood type. Nurses must know all medications, dosage, behaviors, contraindications, and side effects of the drugs they administer to patients to avoid medication errors.
Nurses should continually improve the quality of their services and maintain a high standard of care by creating an atmosphere in which clinical excellence thrives. They should offer priority to the needs of patients (Christensen & Lægreid, 2015). For example, a nurse caring for an elderly patient with critical illness should obtain the consent of a patient or family member before administering Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to maintain the patient’s values and principles.
Professional accountability is vital in resolving health care concerns and in improving the quality of service. It forms the ethical behavior of nurses and defines their professional duties and responsibilities.
References
Ray, M. A. (2016). Transcultural caring dynamics in nursing and health care. FA Davis. https://www.worldcat.org/title/transcultural-caring-dynamics-in-nursing-and-health-care/oclc/1032287965
Christensen, T., & Lægreid, P. (2015). Performance and accountability—A theoretical discussion and an empirical assessment. Public Organization Review, 15(2), 207-225. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11115-013-0267-2?sa_campaign=email/event/