Nursing professional is termed as an integral part of the healthcare sector. It has been witnessed that nurses are charged with many responsibilities as their ultimate goal is to provide quality care to the patients. One major responsibility of nurses is to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of the client while providing them care. Privacy and confidentiality are basic needs of care and nurses should make sure that they do not commit any activity which can raise an issue related to privacy. The nursing and midwifery board of Australia has provided a national framework within which nurses and midwives should practice (NMBA, 2018). This essay will talk about the ethical and legal responsibility of nurses regarding privacy and confidentiality. It will also talk about the challenges faced by the student nurses in maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of the client. It will also discuss best practices surrounding when confidential information can be disclosed.
The nurse is the one who is termed as the main healthcare worker who deals with the patients and their families. They are the ones who are responsible for providing the car and desired medication to the client. The role of nurses is quite an important one in healthcare and it has been witnessed that their care has a major impact on the health outcome of the client (Blackwood et al., 2019). Ethical And Legal Responsibility Of Nurses Discussion Paper
Patient privacy is an important thing as it helps the patient have enough space for himself. There should be proper privacy given to an individual by the nurses and individual privacy should not be hampered at any cost. Individual details should always be kept private and it should not be made public. Ethical And Legal Responsibility Of Nurses Discussion Paper
Confidentiality is important in healthcare and it can be said that when a nurse is having personal information about the client then the information should be kept confidential (Pitts & Forman, 2020). Nurses should keep the information safe with them and information should not be provided to anyone without client consent.
Social media is regarded as the latest media platform where individuals spend a lot of time. It has been witnessed that nurses also share their experience on social media platforms with other nurses and related healthcare professionals. They share their work to gain more knowledge and for learning purposes. But the privacy of an individual should never be shared on any social media platform.
Summary of seven legal and ethical responsibilities surrounding confidentiality
It has been witnessed that the NMBA framework includes all the responsibilities of the nurses and also presents a probable blueprint through which nurses have to work. Privacy and confidentiality are considered to be one of the major things in healthcare and NMBA has also mentioned the same in their framework. Principle 3.5 in NMBA talks about the confidentiality and privacy of the code of conduct for the nurses while providing care to the patient. Nurses must remember some important points regarding safeguarding privacy and confidentiality.
For example – Nurses should ask the client whether they can share their information with others nurses or not. They should wait for consent from the client before making a move. Respecting the client is crucial as it helps in building a good relationship as well.
For example – It has been witnessed that sometimes nurses try to get the details of the patient which they are not in charge of. This is one of the things which is quite common in healthcare. Such things should be avoided as this can cause a major lapse in the privacy of an individual. Nurses should never look for any client details at a personal level when they are not involved.
It has been witnessed that student nurses find themselves in tough situations while maintaining privacy and confidentiality of the information. One major issue which has been witnessed by the student nurses is when the client’s family members seek information about the client. It is a situation when students need tough to understand the right to information of the client’s family members (Chan & Lai, 2017). It has also been seen that student nurses take consultation from the senior nurses regarding the care approach they should prefer in a particular case. While discussing with the colleagues they share vital information about the client with others. It is more about the situation when they are not much aware of the right policies through which they can share the information of the client (Green, 2017).
It is important to understand the suitable condition where a nurse can talk about confidential information with others. One thing which should be done is to take the consent of the client. Taking client consent is the best possible solution which can be done before sharing the information (Lamont, Stewart & Chiarella, 2019). Client consent allows to share the information with others and then there is no issue raised regarding confidentiality. Through legislation and policies, the information can be shared with others and it should be done according to the set rules which are there. But taking the client’s consent is the best possible way to disclose the information about the client (Birch & Todd, 2020).
Conclusion
Based on the above discussions, it can be summarized that it is important for nurses to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of the client. They should understand that while providing care to the patients they should remember common instances which could lead to privacy breaches of the client. They need to follow NMBA for further guidance. The nurse should not share any health-related information with any other individual. They should not transmit or leak the information without the client’s consent. They need to understand that fact that they should always handle the information in a secretive manner and before sharing information with colleagues or family members of the patient, they should look forward to local policy. Student nurse also finds some issues while maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of the client. It is more like a situation when they are pressurized by the client’s family members. The best possible way to disclose the information of the client is by taking the consent of the client and then disclosing the information.
References
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