Provision 4: “The nurse is responsible and accountable for individual nursing practice and determines the appropriate delegation of tasks consistent with the nurse’s obligation to provide optimum patient care.”
Imagine you are the head nurse in a senior living facility. You have 36 residents; normally there are two nurses with four nursing assistants. It is night shift, and the other nurse was in an accident on the way to work. Hence, it is you, 36 residents, and four CNAs. One of the CNAs is due to graduate from nursing school in one month. 30 of the 36 patients have 9 PM medicine due.
Provision 5: “The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to preserve integrity and safety, to maintain competence, and to continue personal and professional growth.”
Imagine you are nurse who is six months pregnant (guys, stretch that imagination). You arrive to the hospital and check your patient assignment. One patient in your assignment is receiving high-dose chemotherapy medication, which, in this case, is contraindicated for pregnant women to administer. You ask the charge nurse to change the assignment, and he refuses based on the acuity of the patient. He notes that other nurses on staff tonight are too new to care for such a sick patient.
Provision 6: “The nurse participates in establishing, maintaining, and improving health care environments and conditions of employment conducive to the provision of quality health care and consistent with the values of the profession through individual and collective action.”
Provision 7: “The nurse participates in the advancement of the profession through contributions to practice, education, administration, and knowledge development.”
Provision 8: “The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public in promoting community, national and international efforts to meet health needs.”
Provision 9: “The profession of nursing value, for maintaining the integrity of the profession and its practice, and for shaping social policy.”