The Impact Of Florence Nightingale's Influence On Nursing

Florence Nightingale(1860)has shaped Nursing and this history shapes contemporary nursing today. This assignment shows how social media is a contemporary influence on nursing. This discussion will include the purpose and impact of the Health Practitioners Assurance Act 2003 (HPCA) and the Nursing Council of New Zealand Code of Conduct(2012) and how they have been implemented to underpin contemporary nursing practice today.

(Crisp,Taylor,Douglas & Rebeiro 2013) have pointed out that the Crimean War (1854-1856) which highlighted the need of care to be provided to the injured soldiers of Great Britain and the role of nurses in it highlighted by Florence Nightingale was one of the most important events in the Nursing history. For her, nursing

It ensures that the health and safety of the public are protected and at the same time the Health Practitioners are competent and capable of practicing their profession. To attain its main aim the Act acts as a regular monitoring body for all health professionals. The Act also provides professional boundary outside of which the Health Practitioners cannot practice.

The Ministry of Health is the Government Department that administers the Health Practitioners Assurance Act 2003 in New Zealand. It includes managing the consultation process and to appoint the member of the authorities by the Minister. The primary responsibility and accountability of its implementation fall with relevant regular authorities. There is also a check and balance to ensure that the regulatory authorities are held responsible for implementation of the Act through the Minister to the parliament. It ensures that there is a mechanism to resolve disputes and at the same time the Health Practitioners perform only restricted activities. As a result of all these, the health consumers are kept safe from serious harm. The safety of the public is guaranteed and at the same time competent and responsible health practitioners are in the field of practice. There is also a healthy competition among the health practitioners as any untoward and unsafe activity is being reported by the fellow Health Practitioners

Its main ideology is to protect the health and safety of the health consumers. Nursing Council 2012 guides all health practitioners to treat every health consumer with respect, dignity and maintain their privacy and confidentiality. It is essential for nurses to adopt health consumers’ culture, ethical and moral values without imposing their own. A balanced power relationship is necessary to meet the best needs of health consumers. While undertaking the nursing process, they have the privilege to access the health consumers’ personal information. It is the responsibility of nurses to keep it confidential or disclose only the relevant information when required by law or if the person is at risk or a child is involved. It incorporates the fact that the nurses should not be taking advantage of the vulnerable health consumers such as children, older, frail and mentally ill people. It is the duty of nurses to encourage the health consumers to advocate for themselves when they are not happy about the care being delivered. It is also the duty of the nurses to create awareness about the professional relationship of health consumers with health practitioners. It guides nurses, not to get over-involved in therapeutic relationship, control emotions and reduce negligence. In case of a nurse dealing with his/her family members or relatives, the care needs to be transferred to another nurse