Professional Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Professional Issue - Essay Example In nursing, a combination of clinical experience, technical skill and theoretical knowledge is required in providing high standard care (Funnell et al 2009). Hence, an Act of Parliament in 2002 created the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to regulate nurses, and protect the public by ensuring that nurses provide high standard of care to the patients (Kozier et al 2008). NMC code of conduct stipulates that nurses are obligated to act ethically and are accountable for their own actions (NMC 2010). This essay will reflect on the roles and responsibilities of a registered nurse in relation to consent to treatment. For this reflection, I will apply Driscoll’s (2007) reflection model that asks three main questions: What? So what? and Now, what? (Bulman & Schultz 2008). To protect the anonymity of patients and staff, real names shall not be used (NMC 2008). Nurse role in relation to consent What? Luke is an 18 year old male with a diagnosis of major depressive with psychotic sympt oms. He was admitted informally to acute mental health inpatient following an impulsive overdose few months after the death of his father. On a morning shift during my placement, Luke was elated in mood, very anxious and was observed to be experiencing auditory hallucination saying that â€Å"he wants to go and rest with his deceased father". Hence, Nurse A decided to urgently administer his medication after consulting with the duty doctor who prescribed Risperidone 2mg. Luke refused to take the medication stating that his mum has not been informed. However, Nurse A had an informal discussion with Luke where she informed Luke that he would not be allowed to the servery if he does not take his medication. Hence, Luke reluctantly took the medication without formally consenting to it. Hence, Nurse A breached the informed consent requisite to care when she failed to adequately provide information to Luke and his mother and enable them to make an informed decision. So What? Luke was adm itted informally and had previously made an advanced directive to have his mother make the medical decisions for him. Elkin et al (2007) noted that in advance directives, patients communicate their wishes or values about future medical care to help guide decisions that include overwhelming illness, sedating drugs or unconsciousness, when the patient can no longer participate. It is a means of empowering a person with mental illness by increasing autonomy and decreasing coercion in the treatment they receive (Kozeir et al 2008). According to the Department of Health (DoH 2008), patients may want to nominate a person to be notified of, or involved in, decisions related to their treatment and care. The involvement of his mum can have a major benefit for the treatment and care of Luke. DoH (2008) asserts that such involvement can provide reassurance to Luke, who may feel distrustful of practitioners who are relatively unfamiliar and unknown to him, or able to impose compulsory measures on him. However, Nurse A administered the medication without adequately informing the patient and his mother. Thus, nurse A’s actions violate Luke’s right to informed consent. The role of nurses is to gain informed consent based on the provisions on standards of conduct indicated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008). Even if Luke handed the reins of the decision-making authority to his mother, Mental Capacity Act (MCA 2007) stipulates that patients must be informed in which circumstances they can be treated without