The Importance of Nurse Safety

Yearly, mistakes continue to put millions of patients at risk, but nurses are in a point to stop many mistakes and better patient outcomes. Nurses can make a remarkable impact on safety and normal nurse-related patient safety concerns comprise missed care, medication errors, patient handoff, infections, and falls. The nurse safety from workplace-induced illnesses and injuries is crucial to nurses themselves and also to the patients they are serving. In order for providing safe, quality health care midwives and nurses ought to be aware of the legislation, policies, and regulations which are guiding their practice (Policy and Practice, n.d). The part played by nurses to the well-being and health of any community, nation, or society is nearly uncountable. From its establishment, nursing has been a profession which has nurtured public health, relieve pain, and suffering, supported the vulnerable and the weak, and informed the community in achieving an improved quality of life. Nurses work everywhere there is the provision of health care. Care and safety qualified nurses provide have the capacity of saving lives, preventing complications, suffering and promoting well-being. This paper attempts to discuss ways in which one could ensure that their practice is professional and safe at the workplace.

A Function in Accordance With Relevant Legislation    

            So what can a nurse do individually to ensure their practice is professional and safe?

Supporting a Culture of Safety

            The safety cultures are crucial in order for one to correct the problem of frequent mistakes and harm. A culture of safety’s central behaviors and values show a sustained and collective commitment to emphasizing safety over competing objectives. According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, these cultures are supporting trust, open, providing suitable resources for safe staffing, learning from mistakes, and displaying transparency (NMBA, 2017).

Communicating Well

            A nurse should speak up if one observes something unsafe about to take place if one needs help or assistance to move a patient or equipment does not function. Sometimes nurses can forward these issues through mutual governance when meeting with a nurse leader. 

Following Checklists and Performing Basic Care

            Turning patients and providing oral care are fairly simple things that are essential and should not be skipped. For example, studies show that good oral care can lower the chances of catching pneumonia (Muller, 2015, p145). And a patient who is not turned can develop decubitus ulcer (Mayo Clinic, 2018).

Learning from Incidences

            In order to prevent mistakes, one needs to understand what is causing them. As a nurse, one can obtain training in learning how to use root cause analysis which is a method of approaching issues related to the practice.

Getting Involved

            Nurses concerned with safety can move into posts, such as safety officers, or serving on safety management teams. One can be licensed in patient safety and take part in creating safer organizations.

Professional Standards

            Professional standards outline the eligible degree of care in each stage of the nursing practice (NMBA, 2018). They depict an achievable and desired degree of discharge against which a nurse’s genuine discharge can be measured. The foremost aim of trained standards is directing and maintaining safe and clinically proficient nursing profession. Therefore, a nurse should adhere to the professional standards because the standards promote and guide one’s clinical practice. In Australia, professional standards assist nurses in their management teams and healthcare administrations to develop safe recruitment practices, to delegate responsibilities to certified and uncertified workers, to ensure adequate documentation, and even to create policies for advancing technologies such as social media.       

            In conclusion, all nurses and midwives have a duty for providing high quality, safe, and skillful nursing to the community. All nurses and midwives have a professional duty of meeting NMBA standards for practice and to possess a present-day knowledge and skills in order to provide safe nursing care. Developing a culture of success requires to make explicit a collection of values and performance beliefs to which all nurses can take and that impacts practice behaviors.       

Works Cited

Government of western Australia-Department of Health. Policy and Practice, https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/N_R/Nursing-and-Midwifery-resources. Accessed 28 Sep. 2018.

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. Registered nurse standards for practice, 1 Feb. 2017, https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/codes-guidelines-statements/professional-standards/registered-nurse-standards-for-practice.aspx. Accessed 28 Sep. 2018.

Muller, Frauke. “Oral Hygiene Reduces the Mortality from Aspiration Pneumonia in Frail Elders.”  Journal of Dental Research, vol. 94, no. 3, 2015, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4541086/. Accessed 28 Sep. 2018.

Mayo clinic. Bedsores (Pressure ulcers) 9 Mar. 2018, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bed-sores/symptoms-causes/syc-20355893. Accessed 28 Sep. 2018.

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 12 Sep. 2018, https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-standards.aspx. Accessed 28 Sep. 2018.