Nurses face several challenges as they deliver services to meet the changing needs of clients. Accountability is a key feature that every nurse must uphold in the professional practice and as a legal requirement. When nurses are accountable, they make sound, answerable decisions that satisfy patients' needs. Accountability also promotes competent interventions, quality services to clients, and the outcomes of care become satisfactory. It is the hallmark of professionalism in nursing, and it ensures professionals abide by the bioethics that protects patients' needs (Davis, 2017). Accountability protects ethical principles such as autonomy, veracity, beneficence, maleficence, and respect for human dignity. Strict adherence to the code of ethics promotes accountability and protects patient rights by incompetent healthcare workers.
Maintaining confidentiality is one of the ways through which a nurse can demonstrate accountability. Privacy and confidentiality prevent unauthorized access to the patient's most sensitive information. It requires the health workers to share the patient's health data with other individuals after obtaining consent or approval from the client (Chasterton et al., 2021). A nurse can also demonstrate accountability by providing competent and quality nursing care to patients. Documentation makes caregivers more answerable to their actions. It gives the nurses a greater sense of accountability by showing the actions taken to improve health and the outcomes of such interventions.
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A nurse must also ensure the client's safety by providing safe, quality care in an environment that minimizes injuries or infectious disease transmission. Quality care makes nurses proud of their actions since they acquire a greater sense of ownership to their job responsibility (Greaney & O'Mathúna, 2017). Advocacy for patient's needs indicates that the nurse has the desired answerability levels. Through client education, the nurse can offer their clients autonomy to make informed decisions concerning their care. Accountability in the nursing practice encourages patients to seek healthcare services and assume active roles in their health.
References
Chesterton, L., Tetley, J., Cox, N., & Jack, K. (2021). A hermeneutical study of professional accountability in nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing , 30 (1-2), 188-199. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jocn.15539
Davis, C. (2017). The importance of professional accountability. https://journals.lww.com/nursingmadeincrediblyeasy/Fulltext/2017/11000/The_importance_of_professional_accountability.1.aspx
Greaney, A. M., & O’Mathúna, D. P. (2017). Patient autonomy in nursing and healthcare contexts. In Key concepts and issues in nursing ethics (pp. 83-99). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-49250-6_7
