Professional Audit

As an RN in Montreal Quebec, I am a member of the professional nursing association, Ordre des Infirmieres et Infirmiers du Quebec (OIIQ) and a member of our professional union, Federation Interprofessionelle de la Santé du Quebec (FIQ). The FIQ is an association that supports and protects nurses. It files grievances against unsafe working conditions, core staff cutbacks, increasing nurse to patient ratios and fights against abuses in the system, such as forced overtime (Federation Interprofessionelle de la Santé du Quebec (FIQ), 2019).

The OIIQ is the regulatory body that nurses are accountable to. It provides nurses with liability, but its mandate is to protect the public and its mission is to have its members provide competent and ethical care.

To retain our licenses, we must maintain our nursing competencies, continue a minimum number of hours of yearly nursing education and follow the nursing code of ethics. The code is not just a guideline, but we are obligated as professionals to abide by its regulations or be sanctioned, including monetary sanctions or the suspension or permanent revoking of our license to practice (Ordre des Infirmieres et Infirmiers du Quebec (OIIQ), 2015). Following the code of ethics for nurses not only entails our legal and ethical obligations towards the patients and public we serve, but also to the profession itself. Especially in social media, we must be vigilant not to tarnish the reputation of the nursing profession (Ordre des Infirmieres et Infirmiers du Quebec (OIIQ), 2015). As we recently saw in the news, a nurse from Saskatchewan was fined $26,000 for criticizing her grandfather’s care on social media. She appealed but lost and the verdict stood (“Sask. nurse fined $26K”, 2018).

As an RN working in a hospital setting, I interact with many other healthcare professionals on a daily basis. We work as an interdisciplinary team, and this team includes nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, nutritionists, psychologists, psychiatrists, spiritual counselors, music therapists and massage therapists. We gather weekly for discharge rounds and discuss the patients conditions and confer daily on how best to care for each patient’s individual needs. I have had a number of duties over the years, including direct patient care and teaching, nurse educator, student nurse preceptor, as well as involvement in various committees; such as, quality assurance and improvement and updating nursing policies and procedures. Cooperation and collaboration with other healthcare professionals is essential to quality care and as a nurse, abiding by my professional code of ethics is a must.

Elizabeth

References

Federation Interprofessionelle de la Santé du Quebec (FIQ). (2019). A strong voice in healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.fiqsante.qc.ca/en/

Ordre des Infirmieres et Infirmiers du Quebec (OIIQ). (2015). Code of ethics of nurses. Retrieved from https://www.oiiq.org/documents/20147/237836/8450_doc.pdf

Sask. nurse fined $26K for critical online post has appeal dismissed. (2018, April 11) CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/carolyn-strom-decision-facebook-nurse-fine-1.4614285