Professionalism & Accountability: Inspiring Nurses to Act Responsibly

Professional behaviours and accountability are the key focus of Chapter Six. Some of the professional nursing standards that were discussed include: professional responsibility & accountability, knowledge-based practice, competent application of knowledge, a code of ethics, provision of services in the public interest and selfregulation. Strategies to ensure that the practice of nursing be lived as a call to care were included in the discussion of professionalism. The discussion then focusses more definitively on accountability and begins by drawing a connection between accountability, the ethic of care and CNA Code of Ethics key ethical responsibilities. A crucial order of priorities in nursing accountability is clearly articulated and it is asserted that a client’s welfare supersedes all other responsibilities. Explicit tools are suggested for nurses to follow when they encounter an ethical conflict with institutional policy. At the end of the Chapter, two Cases in Point are presented. One involves a client record being intentionally altered. The other features an alarming situation where a nurse is ordered to withhold crucial information from clients who are at risk of harm.

Keywords: Accountability, Affirmative action, Boundary violations, Code of ethics, Communities of practice, Conflict of interest, Ethics committees, Ethic of care, Fiduciary relationship, Fitness to practice, Professional, Professional boundaries, Professional standards, Responsibility, Self-regulation, Synergism, Scope of practice.