Professional accountability in the field of nursing refers to the nurse’s ability to personally answer to others and even to oneself. It has been considered as one of the essential concepts and components not only of professional nursing practice but also of patient safety. When dealing with professional accountability, nurses are considered to be responsible and accountable not only to the patients but also to their families, relatives, other professionals, and the workplace. Thus, the Code of Ethics of the American Nurses Association named patient encouragement, long-lasting education, and continuity of care as some of the accountabilities of nurses (Battie & Steelman, 2014). On the other hand, ethical accountability refers to the nurse’s ability to know and acknowledge the right thing to do. Moreover, the preparation, implementation, and evaluation of such ethical concerns are also included in the concept of ethical accountability (Holt & Convey, 2012). Some of the definitions of accountability include common concepts such as obligation, willingness, intent, ownership, and even commitment. Obligation refers to taking responsibility for the consequences of decisions while willingness is defined as one’s will to work on something without any hesitancy (Rachel, 2012).
On the other hand, lack of accountability in a workplace leads to poor performance because professionals are not doing what they promised to do. As a result, professionals make excuses which gives a relatively awkward atmosphere in the workplace. (Rachel, 2012)
Researchers have identified three important elements when talking about accountability namely: clarity, commitment and consequences. Clarity mainly refers to the clearness and specificity of both goals and expectations. In addition, nurses should also be able to explain the reasons behind all of the goals and expectations to encourage participation of other professionals. Commitment deals with the nurse’s ability not only to listen but also to understand and agree to be able to achieve the goals that have been set. Lastly, consequences involve doing recap documents and notes of meeting to ensure that all of the professionals involved are working towards one goal (Rachel, 2012).
The concepts of professional responsibility and accountability are involved in the maintenance of the different nursing practice standards along with the professional conduct of nurses. In terms of clinical practice, nurses are responsible for their own actions and conduct. Moreover, nurses mostly function based on their personal assessment and competence level (College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia, 2016).
When dealing with screening processes, some of the important components include who, what, and how. The concept of who pertains to the accountability loci which deals with the main parties that can be held accountable for certain decisions. Thus, it is important for nurses to be specific and clear about the parties involved in a particular process. On the other hand, what refers to the different domains of accountability which involves different activities, practices, or issues that concerns the accountability of various parties. One of the important issues involves ethical concerns which focuses on the legal and ethical conduct of nurses. During screening processes, it is important for nurses to thoroughly discuss the procedure involved for the study proper. Moreover, it is also crucial for nurses to properly inform patients and relatives of the various benefits and risks to make sure that the patients are not coerced in any way and that all of their rights have not been violated. Nurses are also accountable of ensuring that the interviews and information obtained from the patients during the screening process are factual since bias and false claims can greatly affect the patient and the screening process as well. Lastly, it is important for nurses to not only consider the rights of the patients but also to protect these rights regardless of sex, age, religion, and even nationality. Nurses should be also to assist during screening processes without any form of bias (Emanuel & Emanuel, 1996).
References
Battie, R. and Steelman, V.M. (2014). Accountability in Nursing Practice: Why it is Important for Patient Safety. AORN Journal 100(5): 537-541.
Emanuel, E.J. and Emanuel, L.L. (1996). What is Accountability in Health Care?. American College of Physicians 124: 229-239.
Holt, J. and Convey, H. (2012). Ethical practice in nursing care. Nursing Standard 27(13):51-56.
Rachel, M.M. (2012). Accountability A concept worth revisiting. American Nurse Today 7(3).
