Understand the Role of the Nurse

Introduction The purpose of this assignment is to explore the professional responsibilities of the nurse and their role in safeguarding vulnerable patients, all of which are based around a fictitious scenario. The scenario is centred on a patient named Margaret and is going to be used to identify any vulnerability issues Margaret may have. Margaret could be identified as been vulnerable, as she is an 89 year old lady who is suffering from a heart condition. Margaret is currently living with her daughter and has said that her mother’s health has begun to deteriorate.

Margaret is becoming very confused and forgetting to take her medication which has resulted in numerous admissions to hospital. No consent was needed on this occasion as it is a fictitious patient. Based around this fictitious scenario, the aim is to discuss and identify vulnerability and any issues arising from it. Exploring all aspects of vulnerability involving all models and discussing confidentiality, looking at the importance of it and why it should be maintained.

This assignment will also look at the mental capacity act and how the nurse and other healthcare professionals assess the patient for capacity and use the models of assessment. All these are in place to protect the patient’s health and well-being and patient rights. Communication is another important skill for any nurse to have. Good communication skills are essential in providing a high standard of care, which will be explored and discussed in detail.

It will also explore what accountability and responsibility is within the nurse’s role. The nurse being accountable for their actions and adhere to the Nursing and Midwifery Councils (NMC), Code. “The core function of the Nursing and Midwifery Council is to establish standards of education, training, conduct and performance for nurses and midwives to ensure those standards are maintained, thereby safeguarding the health and well-being of the public” (NMC, code, 2009).

It will then identify and explain how the patient’s autonomy might be promoted by the nurse, highlighting the support available and with the nurse building a therapeutic relationship with the patient, relating to scenario whilst maintaining appropriate professional behaviour and interventions. Overall this assignment will explore and discuss many of the NMC guidelines about the above topics.

It will give you an understanding of the nurse’s role involved in delivering the best possible care to the public. Firstly to explore accountability within the nurse’s role The Nursing and Midwifery Council states, “Accountability is often defined as responsibility, but there is a difference between the two. Responsibility is concerned with answering for what you do, whereas accountability is being answerable for the ‘consequences’ of what you do” (NMC, 2009).