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Module 2 - The Role of the General Practice Nurse

Accountability is integral to professional practice. Nurses and midwives make judgements in a wide variety of circumstances, using professional knowledge and skills to make a decision.  They hold a position of responsibility and other people rely on them. They are professionally accountable to the NMC, as well as having a contractual accountability to their employer and are accountable in the law for their actions.

 

If a GPN is asked to deliver care they consider unsafe or harmful to someone in their care, they should carefully consider their actions and raise their concerns to the appropriate person. Nurses and midwives must act in the best interest of the person in their care at all times.

The NMC code: Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics for Nurses and Midwives (2008) contains a definition of accountability, summarised below:

Accountability