Nurse Association (ANA) Code Of Ethical Obligations For Nurses

Nurses have an ethical obligation to defend and protect patient rights, to promote safety, and provide compassionate care. Nurses are faced with many ethical issues in the healthcare setting and dealing with these challenges can be challenging. Nurses are obligated to report actual and potential healthcare violations despite the fear of retaliation or losing their own job. “The American Nurse Association (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses and the International Council for Nurses mandates that the nurse take appropriate action to safeguard the patient when care is endangered by a coworker or any other person”(Westrick, 2014, p. 123). The Texas Board of Nursing (TBON) rule 217.11(1)(B) states a nurse should ensure a safe environment for the patient

RN at San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC). S.L. and I had a formal discussion about our facility’s policy and procedure concerning the invoking of safe harbor.

Facility policy and procedure on Safe Harbor

The TBON implemented the Safe Harbor provision for nurses to have a formal procedure to refuse an assignment that he or she feels is unsafe and jeopardizes his or her license and compromises patient safety (Texas Board of Nursing, 2013). The nurse’s duty is always to protect the patient. S.L. stated that “many nurses often invoke safe harbor to refuse an assignment to protect their license or for personal gain. The purpose of Safe harbor is often misinterpreted by some nurses who believe safe harbor is to protect the nurse when in actuality safe harbor’s true intention is to protect the patient” (S. L, personal communication, June 28, 2017). SAMMC’s facility policy on safe harbor states nurses must adhere to the TBON’s laws and procedures when practicing within their facility organization. If a nurse truly believes, that an assignment could violate the TBON’s laws and procedures in his or her practice and could compromise patient safety, the nurse

“The Safe Harbor Nursing Peer Review committee reviews the assignment and nursing actions to determine whether or not the nurse violates the TBON laws and procedures of safe practice. If the nurse’s action is found justifiable the Safe Harbor Peer Review committee offers protection to the nurse from retaliation from the supervisor, head nurse, or charge nurse he or she filed a claim against. The committee offers protection from the TBON for engaging in the assignment or act while waiting for the nursing peer review committee to deliberate. The committee has 14 days to a make determination whether the claim is true or false what course of action to take (Zolnierek, 2012). “During the safe harbor peer review process the nurse can refuse the assignment if it is considered criminal act, unprofessional conduct, or is beyond the nurse’s ability to provide safe nursing care” (S. L, personal communication, June 28, 2017). “TBON’s practice act has specific provisions to protect nurses who raise concerns about patient safety and it is illegal to retaliate against a nurse who reports a licensed healthcare practitioner,