Legislation

The area that in some ways governs our ethics and morals.  It may be ‘right’ to do something a certain way, however the legislation does not think so, so we must ensure that we follow the legal letter of the law in some instances.

This is the basis for my current thinking with our profession.  While we are acutely aware (and as we discussed in the ‘scope of practice’ discussion) of our moral, ethical  and humanitarian responsibilities to assist – we do not know all of the answers, but there is always another colleague to discuss things with or consult.

When it comes to the legal world – which piece of legislation applies to this scenario? how is it applied? are there loopholes that will be identified if we do ‘x’, how do I find it quickly?

I am pleased to note that with our practice as nurses, unless we are clearly negligent or remiss of our ‘standard of practice’, our employer will always ‘take the hit’ for the nursing profession – when there is an incident, the root cause analysis looks at the ‘systems’ before the people.  It looks to what part of the system, be it process, protocol, procedure, training, skills maintenance and alike the ‘system’ has failed on.  If the system had no fault, only then may it come down to the individual and their response in the situation.

During my undergrad, I thoroughly enjoyed the “Nursing and the law”, we were taught by Meg Wallace (who was also the author of our textbook), and looking at the intricacies of when certain aspects apply to situations… when was it restraint, versus seclusion, versus isolation etc.  However in practice, many of these decisions need to be made very quickly and understanding our legal obligation to keep our patients and their families safe can be tricky.

a quick search on the NSW Legislation website for ‘nurse’ there are 44 results
a quick search on the ACT Legislation website for ‘nurse’ there are 124 results

Why such a vast difference?  expansion of our role.  As we grow as a profession (in point for the ACT is the Nurse Practitioner), the roles and responsibilities require the regulation under acts. A number of new legislation in the ACT pertain to Nurse Practitioner regulation.

But with 124 pieces of legislation, where to we start? what is the topics we are investigating?  why is the word ‘nurse’ in the Road Transport regulation??

We need to be aware of our obligations toward all legislation that impacts our roles.  While we can’t be intimately aware of every act, regulation and article, we must at least be aware they exist…

For instance, the Road Transport (Offences) Regulation 2005 has penalty points FOR NURSES and health professionals for not taking blood samples for a number of reasons on a patient who has been involved in a road traffic accident. Excerpt attached.  Awareness that these timeframes exist can maintain our staff safety and in almost every case, the legislation can form the basis of our policies, protocols and SOPs in our workplaces.

Just to start the thinking…

Road Transport (Offences) Regulation 2005.png