Assignment Task
Description Written Essay
Aim
The aim of this assessment is for students to choose and describe one ethical and/or legal principle to explain how nurses can apply the chosen principle in practice using the practice frameworks.
Outline
From the course material in Modules one and two you have learned how to identify the key standards and principles that underpin safe, high quality healthcare delivery and the key professional legal and ethical frameworks that underpin nursing practice. These include the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Australian Government, 2018), the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (NSQHS) (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2021), the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA), the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered Nurse Standards for Practice (2016) and Code of Conduct for Nurses (2018) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Code of Ethics for Nurses (2021). From here you have used LearnX modules and recommended textbook readings (Atkins, de Lacey, Ripperge, & Ripperger, 2020) to apply the principles of these professional bodies and frameworks to professional practice. Some of the principles that have been explored in Module 2 include consent, duty of care, negligence, privacy, and confidentiality.
Introduction
This essay should begin with an introduction which explains the background or context of the chosen legal or ethical principle. This is followed by an outline or overview that briefly describes what will be discussed in the essay (this doesn’t have to be a detailed list). The introduction will finish with a statement of the main points you will make to demonstrate your choice of the appropriate framework(s) to guide how nurses respond to the ethical / legal principle in practice.
Body
Include Part A and Part B in the body of the essay. The body is where you develop the argument that supports your statement in response to the topic. Each paragraph should make a point that is linked to the outline and statement in your introduction and supported by referenced evidence and your own critical analysis. You should include links between the ideas, sentences, and paragraphs in the body to create a cohesive argument.
Part
A: Choose ONE (1) of the ethical or legal principles discussed in module 2 from the list below. Students then use relevant evidence (the textbook is an excellent place to start) to describe the chosen principle, remembering that some of these concepts are defined by evidence which was written longer than 5 years ago
- Consent
- Duty of care
- Negligence
- Privacy
- Confidentialit
B: Review the frameworks explored in Module 1 (listed below) to identify how the chosen principle can be applied to practice. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of how different elements of the frameworks work together to guide nurses in applying the chosen principle in their practice. To do this, students should first review the framework documents to identify which relates to their chosen principle. Based on the information found, students should then research more widely to identify other forms of evidence that guides the application of the chosen principle in practice. Here is an opportunity to identify relevant recent research to combine with seminal work. Finally, students should use the evidence found to formulate two to three paragraphs that provide guidance on implementing the chosen principle in practice.
- Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, and/or other relevant laws
- The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards,
- The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA),
- The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) standards for practice and code of conduct
- The International Council of Nurses (ICN) code of ethics for nurses
Conclusion
Typically, your conclusion should restate your statement, summarise the most important points of your argument and end with a comment or resolution.
