This program offers nurses and other aged care health workers an opportunity to update their knowledge on some key legal issues and concerns. These include: duty of care and vicarious liabilit; restraint and safety issues; elder abuse; informed consent and documentation and legal aspects relating to "Not For Resuscitation" orders.
You will be in an interactive environment where you will be able to network with your colleagues as well as ask the lecturer many questions. Not to be missed.
Need for Program
Nurses and other professionals who work with the elderly face particular challenges. These include: working with cognitively impaired older people who may be unable to give consent to treatments; role confusion when managing less qualified staff; using restraint to prevent a person from leaving a residential facility etc. There is a need to ensure nurses and other professional health care providers have access to forums where they can debate and gain clarity about the law and professional accountabilities in relation to this context of practice.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this program is to offer a forum where legal issues relating to aged care can be debated and discussed. A further aim is to look at a range of professional issues that relate to the regulation and discipline of the nursing profession about which all nurses need to be aware.
At the conclusion of this program you will be able to:
Describe the purpose of the ‘Aged Care Act 1997’ and the implications this has for the provision of aged care.
Explain what is meant by unprofessional conduct and impairment.
Describe three components of ‘duty of care’ that relate to your context of practice.
Day 1
Day 2
Educators
This particular topic has been updated on 16th February 2012 to meet the needs of current law. Please refer to the website version for most accurate content and time sessions.
8:30am - Registration and Refreshment
9:00am - Overview of Legal Issues when Caring for the Elderly
This is a general session that will discuss the ever-present shadow of the law and it’s application when those in your care are elderly, frail and/or vulnerable.
It will include:
A discussion of the legal consideration "Duty of Care"
Omitting to provide care - e.g. when a person with diabetes mellitus is not properly reviewed and monitored
Review of the use of restraint
10:30am - Morning Tea & Coffee
11:00am - A Look at the Aged Care Act 1997*
The Aged Care Act was amended in October 2011. It applies to all States and Territories in Australia. This introductory session looks at the importance and the relevance of this Act to all professionals involved in the provision of aged care. This session is not intended to be a thorough interpretation of this Act but an opportunity for you to review the aim and purpose of the document and to familiarise yourself with it’s content and relevance to your work.
You will have an opportunity to ask questions throughout this session.
Who is covered under the Act?
Review of the correct way to deal with complaints.
What is the function of the Aged Care Commissioner?
*Commonwealth Aged Care Amendment Act 2011
12:45pm - Lunch Break
1:45pm - Accountability for the Care That is Provided
This session will give you an opportunity to review and debate accountability for care.
Who can become an ‘approved provider’ of aged care?
What are the obligations and responsibilities of ‘approved providers’?
What are the ‘Quality of Care Principles’?
What is meant by the ‘Records Principles’ and how do they relate to nursing care?
2:30pm - Responsibilities Relating to Protection of Personal Information
All people have a right to expect that information about them is held in confidence by health care providers. In this session you will discuss your responsibilities in relation to where the boundary lies between information that can be made freely available and that which cannot. You will also learn about the consequences of breaching this professional expectation. This session includes:
Under what circumstance can financial information relating to a older person be discussed with a relative?
An exploration of how confidentiality can be eroded, e.g. through inappropriate access to records or tea room gossip.
What to do if a request is made for access to confidential charts/ reports/ progress notes.
Comments on the function of the Freedom of Information Act.
What about computerised records and privacy issues?
3:00pm - Afternoon Tea & Coffee
3:30pm - Group Discussion of Topics of Concern
In this session, you will have an opportunity to seek clarity on issues relating to law and nursing practice about which you are unsure. This session is intended to open the floor to rigorous debate and discussion.
What are militant microorganisms?
Which are the major antibiotic resistant organisms?
How can they be reduced or extinguished?
4:15pm - Close of Day One of Seminar
9.00am - Understanding Regulatory Requirements - CPD and Beyond
This session will clarify what nurses need to do to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements for continuing professional development (CPD).
If you read a journal article about nursing, can you count this towards your continuing professional development (CPD) hours?
If you manage a project in your workplace does this count as CPD?
What happens if you do not record, on an ongoing basis, your CPD?
Is it acceptable for you to undertake the CPD requirements all at one time each year, or once a year?
10.30am - Morning Tea and Coffee
11.00am - Conduct, Health and Performance – When Things Go Wrong
Occasionally, nurses may act in a manner that is unprofessional and considered high risk to clients and colleagues. Such behaviour needs to be swiftly dealt with by management, if risk is to be averted and patient safety maintained.
How does the National Law define unprofessional conduct and impairment?
What is the NMBA guideline for mandatory notification?
What are the limits to advertising for nurses?
12.00pm - When a Nurse Would Be Considered Unprofessional in Their Conduct
This session will build on the first session of day one by looking at unprofessional conduct from a regulatory point of view rather than a strictly legal one.
Who is responsible for reporting?
How is the decision made?
Ensuring a compassionate and supportive framework is used to rehabilitate rather than castigate a nurse.
1.00pm - Lunch Break and Browse the Book Display
2.00pm - Complaints, Investigations and Tribunal Hearings
This interesting session will discuss what happens when a complaint about a nurse is made. It looks at the investigative process and what happens in a tribunal hearing.
What are the powers of investigators under the National Law?
A discussion of the support mechanisms available to nurses who are in breach of professional conduct?
3.00pm - Afternoon Tea and Coffee
3.30pm Professional Boundaries – A Detailed Appraisal
When professional boundaries are breached, all sorts of unexpected consequences may occur. In this final session we will look in more detail at the guide for professional boundaries provided by the NMBA. Why is maintaining a professional relationship/boundary with the public so important and what are the consequences of breaching this boundary?
4.15pm - Close of Program and Evaluations
Linda Starr RN LLB LLM
Associate Professor and former Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery at
Flinders University. After attaining a Bachelor of Law Degree, Linda was admitted to the Supreme Court of South Australia as a Solicitor in 1996. Her area of research for her Master of Law dissertation was “The Adult’s Right to Refuse Life Saving Treatment: Not Necessarily So”. When national registration for health practitioners was introduced in July 2010, Linda was appointed Chair of the Sth. Aust Board of the Australian Board of Nursing and Midwifery.
Presenting in: QLD, NSW, VIC, SA,
Allison Willis
Allison is a senior nursing and midwifery policy advisor with some 25 years experience. Until most recently Allison was the Principal Advisor, Professional Practice and Strategic Initiatives with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of South Australia, a position she held for nearly nine years. Prior to that she worked as a Senior Health Care Consultant in the community/ disability sector. Allison has held a ministerial appointment as a member on the Pharmacy Board of South Australia and a Board member and Chairperson on the Shine SA Board. Allison has an extensive background in regulation, governance and professional practice.
In her time at the nmbSA Allison was directly responsible for developing the Standards for Nurse Practitioner Authorisation; Standards for Documentation for Nurses and Midwives; Standards for the Delegation of Care to Unregulated HealthCare Workers and the Scope of Practice Decision Making Framework in South Australia.
Allison is a vibrant and powerful presenter who is consistently highly evaluated by those who attend her educational programs.
