NUR3299 Transition To Professional Practice A

1. Concerning the critical medical conditions occurring against the backdrop of a zombie outbreak in Queensland, the Registered Nurse plays a key role in the provision of optimum health and treatment services, along with the upholding of the required ethical and legislative principles pertaining to the maintenance of nursing codes of professional practice (Birks et al. 2016). Hence, during the critical situation of the zombie outbreak, the registered nurse will be required to certain principles outlined by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia – a professional based clinical organization, aiming to establish professional health care standards (Nagle et al. 2017). Hence, based on the above, the registered nurse will be required to implement adequate decision-making strategies, outlined in the National Decision Making Framework (Tiffen, Corbridge & Slimmer 2014). In the light of treatment following the zombie epidemic in Queensland, the registered nurses are required to follow certain legislative principles as outlined by the Queensland Department of Health and the Government of Queensland. One of the key legislative acts to be followed is the Health Rights Commission Act 1991 and Health Quality and Complaints Act 2006, in which the registered nurse must educated the family of the concerned patient, concerning the pathophysiology of the zombie infection as well as involve them in the care process. The registered nurse also has to follow the Nursing Act and Nursing regulation 2005, where she is obliged to provide adequate and optimum quality health and treatment services for the concerned patients suffering from zombie infections. According to the Health Services Legislation 1991 and 2002, the nurse must also undertake services involving various other multidisciplinary departments at the organizational level, in order to provide a holistic care treatment for the patients suffering from zombie infection (Young et al., 2015).

2. As evident from the epidemic, the causative factor in this situation is a zombie infection, in which case, the causative viral strain is known as ‘Solanum’ or Z virus. The process of disease transmission is conducted by the occurrences of bites, or through contact of bodily fluids present in the previously inflicted individual and also consumption of eatables and water, containing contamination of the Solanum virus. As evident from the case study outline in Queensland 2019, the individuals who are inflicted with the virus, may exhibit extreme tendencies of violence and aggression, followed by the urge to consume human flesh. Additional symptoms may involve a conductance of distorted mobility and possibilities of flesh rotting (Alemi et al. 2015). Considering the aggressive tendencies exhibited by the patient, there is a need for patient isolation and the resultant maintenance of safety and performance of certain ethical considerations by the concerned registered nurse. Due to the sense of sudden outbreaks and lack of information pertaining to the disease, there remains high prevalence of mismanagement of the same. This leads to the key ethical consideration of terminating the life of the patients, due to the high rate of transmission and the increasingly aggressive nature of the patient. Hence, the concerned registered should consider this ethical consideration, before deciding on ending the life of a patient (Smith 2015). However, considering the key requirements of duty of care and patient safety, the registered nurse may engage in isolation of the patient under strict surveillance. In response to the same, the registered nurse is also required to ethical consider the needs of the patient and the concerned family. Hence, she may adopt a family centered approach, where she may cooperatively communicate with the respected clinician as well as the concerned patient family, regarding the need to isolate and maintain stringent policies with the concerned patient for the purpose of overall safety (Michael et al. 2014).

References

Alemi, AA, Bierbaum, M, Myers, CR & Sethna, JP, 2015. You can run, you can hide: The epidemiology and statistical mechanics of zombies. Physical Review E, vol. 92, no. 5, pp.52801-52810.

Birks, M, Davis, J, Smithson, J & Cant, R, 2016. Registered nurse scope of practice in Australia: an integrative review of the literature. Contemporary nurse, vol. 52, no. 5, pp.522-543.

Michael, N, O’Callaghan, C, Baird, A, Hiscock, N & Clayton, J, 2014. Cancer caregivers advocate a patient-and family-centered approach to advance care planning. Journal of pain and symptom management, vol. 47, no. 6, pp.1064-1077.

Nagle, C, Heartfield, M., McDonald, S, Morrow, J, Kruger, G, Bryce, J, Birks, M, Cramer, R., Stelfox, S. & Hartney, N, 2017. A necessary practice parameter: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Midwife standards for practice. Women and Birth, vol. 30, no. 1, pp.10-11.

Tiffen, J, Corbridge, SJ & Slimmer, L, 2014. Enhancing clinical decision making: development of a contiguous definition and conceptual framework. Journal of professional nursing, vol. 30, no. 5, pp.399-405.

Young, G, Hulcombe, J, Hurwood, A. & Nancarrow, S, 2015. The Queensland Health Ministerial Taskforce on health practitioners’ expanded scope of practice: consultation findings. Australian Health Review, vol. 39, no. 3, pp.249-254.