OUTLINE THE PROCESS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NURSING STANDARDS OF PRACTICE FOR YOUR STATE NRS 430
OUTLINE THE PROCESS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NURSING STANDARDS OF PRACTICE FOR YOUR STATE NRS 430
Outline the process for the development of nursing standards of practice for your state, including discussion of the entities involved in developing the standards of practice and how the standards of practice influence the nursing process for your areas of specialty.
With our country having been in the midst of a global health crisis with the COVID-19 pandemic for the last two plus years – are you seeing standards of practice changing? Or “bending”? What are your thoughts on this?
- Over the last two years we have seen such a change in policies and procedures then before the pandemic hit and our lives were changed. The biggest and most obvious is continuous masking requirement in clinical settings which was very scary in the beginning because at first our hospital actually spoke out against continuous masking and discouraged it before it was a requirement. one of the biggest changes in standard of practice in my workplace has to be getting rid of the dual RN co-sign requirement before administering subq insulin to diabetic patients. Prior to COVID we had to actually find another RN to sign and verify our insulin dose and sign off in EPIC chart before administering to the pt to prevent medication error but due to the social distancing and global pandemic that hit us that was changed to where we no longer do that anymore.
Nurses have to be careful about what they take pictures of and what they post on social media.
Below is a link to a story about a nurse who posted a picture of an empty but messy trauma room and captioned it with a caption related to what had caused the trauma. It was identifiable with what was being seen in the news. She didn’t overtly mention the patient but it was something that could be identified. The hospital fired her not for a breach of confidentiality but for being insensitive.
What are your thoughts?
· I think we have to be really vigilant and aware of what we post nowadays especially in the social media age where it seems like anything and everything is posted online and information is so readily available. For example there are so many healthcare social media influencers like nurses with a large social media following and they often share pics and posts like the one described in the above article about just the trauma room but even if if does not have any patient identifiers in the post it is still a violation HIPAA is a federal law and is enforced heavily. When I am scrolling on Instagram I will see posts from nurse social media personalities showing day in their life or they will post about certain stuff not pertaining to actual patients but indirectly it can be traced back to a patient so I am always baffled at why or how they keep posting this stuff because it does infringe on patient privacy and confidentiality.
· Sadly, many individuals have turned social media into something else other than the intended purposes. They take every aspect of their life events to social media platforms and many may not know how to separate personal life from professional life when it comes to Social media. The issue here in my opinion, for this nurse is not about breach of confidentiality but about bad public relations for the hospital and possible law suit from the patient’s family. I don’t think the nurse acted in a professional manner by posting the picture of the scene where the event took place. However, a warning or some form of other disciplinary action should have been given to her and not terminated her.
- Its very crucial when we share messages online, especially when it pertains to patients and their families, At times patients want to take photos with us and it becomes difficult to refuse . Its important to remember not to use the media in a negative way. Safe guarding our license is important , following the states rules is equally important as it pertains all what is legal and illegal.
The New York State Board of Nursing is governed by the Board of Regents who in conjunction with the state’s Department of Education and Office of Professions develops rules, standards and regulations. The said body oversees, monitors and maintains all aspects of discipline in effort to ensure public safety and trust. The body is responsible for holding licensees to a level of accountability for practicing within the state upon issuance of said license. The granting of licensure comes with the expectance of licensees to practice safely, competently and with integrity. Licensees are not only to practice within their scope but also within qualified ability. If competence and ability is lacking with respect to a said task or procedure, one must not practice such simply because he/she is licensed to do so. If such is done and leads to harm, the licensee will be held accountable and may face charges of misconduct. In essence, the main of objective of the Board of Regents is public protection and safety. Measures taken to ensure such include assisting with recertification, continuing education, responding to and investigating complaints of misconduct and keeping licensees up to date with policies and procedures in regard to respective licensure.
Active licensure includes valid registration which is to be renewed every three years with the New York State Board of Education so that board may actively monitor licensees in hopes that professionalism is being upheld within a said profession/ field according to New York States standards. The board must also be informed of any name or address changes in order to effectively and efficiently do such.
I work in the field of nursing which involves the developmentally disabled which is governed by the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. This particular office has its own set of standards, policies and procedures that licensees must be aware of and abide by or otherwise be held accountable. These set of standards are guided and enforced by yearly auditing and quality assurance mechanisms. Should regulations not be followed, this organization has its own Justice Center that will make determinations on charges brought forth.
