Professional Accountability in Nursing

WEEK 4DQ

Outline the concept of professional accountability as it pertains to nursing. Provide examples of how a nurse demonstrates professional accountability in clinical expertise, the nursing process, and evidence-based practice.

With nursing, comes a vast deal of autonomy. Registered nurses are able to act and perform solely without supervision of another personnel. With this great deal of autonomy, comes a great deal of responsibility. Professional accountability is “defined as taking responsibility for one’s nursing judgments, actions, and omissions as they relate to life-long learning, maintaining competency, and upholding both quality patient care outcomes and standards of the profession while being answerable”(Krautscheid, 2014).In other words, the nurse must take ownership and must be held responsible for all care provided to patient. It is the nurse’s duty and responsibility to keep herself updated with new teachings and practices, along with change in rules and regulations.