The document outlines the importance of professional conduct in nursing, defining it as the expected behaviors, responsibilities, and accountabilities of nurses. It emphasizes nursing etiquette, including respectful interactions with patients, the public, and colleagues, while highlighting the significance of accountability and responsibility in their actions. Nurses are expected to uphold standards that ensure quality care and professionalism within the healthcare environment.

1. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
AUGUST. 2012

2. Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson, the learner
should be able to:
• Define professional conduct
• Describe nursing etiquette
• Describe responsibility and accountability
in nursing

3. Professional conduct
• A profession is defined as an occupation
that requires special knowledge and often
long intensive academic preparation
• Professional conduct refers to the
expected behaviour relating to the
profession

4. Professional behaviours of
nurses
Nurses behave as professionals by:
• Assessing, planning, implementing and
evaluating when providing nursing care
• Communicating and disseminating
theories, knowledge and research findings
to the nursing community

5. Cont..
• Nursing has a tradition of services.
However, the services are guided by
certain rules, policies or code of ethics or
professional etiquette

6. Nursing Etiquette
• Nursing etiquette is defined as
conventional rules of courtesy used in
nursing profession.
• The etiquette guides nurses to be polite,
considerate and respectful
• It deals with standards of behaviour of the
nurse towards: colleagues, profession,
public

7. Cont…
• The courteous behaviour is reassuring and
it helps to establish good interpersonal
relationship
• Nursing etiquette is a natural extension of
polite behaviour by the nurse who is well-
mannered and respects the dignity of
individuals

8. (a) The behaviour of the nurse
towards the patient
The nurse should:
• Always consider the patient first
• Try to win patients confidence by being
cheerful and friendly without being too
familiar
• Never discuss one patient with another
• Never discuss the hospital with patients or
guardians

9. Cont..
• Learn the names of patients and call them
by their names, address them by their
titles e.g. Mr, Mrs, Miss etc
• Treat patients with respect, ensure
patients privacy (audio or visual)
• Be friendly and make new patients feel
welcome when they are being admitted
• Respect the patients’cultural/religious
beliefs

10. (b) The behaviour of the nurse
towards the public
The nurse should:
• Be friendly, kind and respectful but not too
familiar
• Give information about the patient only
with the permission of the patient and the
nurse in-charge
• Get permission from the nurse in-charge
before allowing visitors at times other than
visiting hours

11. Cont..
• Be familiar with policies of the health
institution and ensure that they are
available
• Treat the public in way that he/she would
like to be treated if any of his/her own
family were ill
• Give sympathetic courtesy at all times as
they are often very distressed and nervous
about their relatives and friends

12. (c ) The behaviour of the nurse
towards the colleagues
• Be polite to all members of the health
team
• Address all members of nursing and
medical staff courteously and by their
proper titles
• Ask for assistance from the nurse in-
charge if not certain about treatment

13. Cont..
• Be honest and report any mistake made
• Refrain from discussing fellow members of
health team in public
• Call all members by their surnames and
not by their first names when on duty
• Open doors and stand aside for
seniors/visitors

14. Cont..
• Notify the nurse in-charge when ever a
senior member of staff enters the ward,
assist him/her when examining a patient

15. Accountability
• Accountability means answerable to one
self & others for one’s own actions
• It means being able to give an account of
one’s action and explain or justify why
one did what she/he did ( Wash 2000)
• The nurse is accountable to the patient,
employer, profession and seniors

16. Responsibility
• Refers to the liability associated with the
performance of duties of a particular role
• Thus a nurse is able to explain the
rationale behind every action and
recognizes the standards to which he/she
is held

17. Cont…
• Nurses should be accountable and
responsible for their actions when
providing nursing care to patients/clients