gingernut -
Further to your remarks I contacted the Nursing and Midwifery Council to ask the question ‘ If I was on board an aircraft and someone was taken ill, what would my role be regarding ‘Duty of Care?’
Their reply is as follows
‘There may be issues around whose soil one is on at the time but as this would be deemed to be an emergency the following should assist you.
Clause 8.5 NMC Code of professional conduct (April 2002)
8 As a registered nurse or midwife, you must act to identify and minimise the risk to patients and clients
8.5 In an emergency, in or outside the work setting, you have a professional duty to provide care. The care provided would be judged against what could reasonably be expected from someone with your knowledge, skills and abilities when placed in those particular circumstances.
Many registrants have expressed concern regarding this clause and consider that it is something new. This is not the case, the UKCC Code of professional conduct (June 1992) made the implicit statement, within the overarching tenets of the code, that:
Each registered nurse, midwife and health visitor shall act, at all times, in such a manner as to:
safeguard and promote the interests of individual patients and clients;
serve the interests of society;
justify public trust and confidence and
uphold and enhance the good standing and reputation of the professions.
The updated version, in response to many requests for clarity on the matter from registrants has made the statement explicit. What this means for you is that in a situation where a registrant perhaps comes upon an accident in the street at any time, the registrant does not have a legal duty to stop and care for the injured person. But if she/he does, she/he then takes on a legal duty to care for the person properly. In these circumstances, it is reasonable to expect her/him to care for the person to the best of her/his skill and knowledge.
Although the registrant has no legal duty to stop and give care in this example, they do have a professional duty.
The Code of Professional Conduct places a professional duty upon her/him at all times.
However, in this situation it could be reasonable to expect the nurse to do no more than comfort and support the injured person and ensure that relevantly qualified and competent professionals are called to deal properly with the situation in hand.
It is most unlikely that any registrant
who can justify that they have acted in the best interest of the patient and client and within the limitations of their skills and knowledge, even if that meant that no action was taken, would be called to answer for their actions by the NMC.
Registrants are accountable not only for their actions but equally importantly for their omissions.
Whatever the registrant chose to do she/he would have to be able to justify why they took, or indeed didn't take, should they be called to answer for them.
Registrants must also be aware that personal acts undertaken outside of the workplace and off duty time can have an impact upon that registrant's ability to practice. For example all criminal convictions are reported directly by the courts to the NMC Professional Conduct Div. A decision is made from there as to whether this would have the potential for removal from the Register in that an act undertaken by a registrant is not in line with public protection and does not uphold the good standing and reputation of the professions.’’
So, as you can see, we, as nurses DO HAVE a professional responsibility at
all times….and doctors don’t??
It’s a sad state of affairs if a doctor will sit there and do nothing when someone needs medical assistance because they fear litigation – I wonder what advice the MDU actually gives their members in this matter……..
Our professional bodies are (unofficially) advising us to keep quiet in the event of an incident mid flight,
I'm not talking about indemnity here - I'm talking about acting in a responsible professional manner.
The reason I joined the profession is because I care about others, as I’m sure you did – so can I ask you - Is it really ok to do nothing thereby NOT acting in the interest of the patient and NOT 'upholding the good standing and reputation' of one's profession?