Responsibility of a nurse during exercise of her profession

With the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union there has arisen a necessity of some changes in the Czech legislation. One of them is also a reform of competencies of health care professionals in paramedical professions. Creation of favourable all-society conditions for independent activities of nurses represents an effective trend of continuous improving of provided care quality. However, it is necessary to be aware of the fact that the independence is also connected with responsibility. Provision of nursing care requires knowledge of generally binding regulations and legislation, which reduce the number of critical incidents and errors. The theoretical part of the Bachelor´s degree thesis was dedicated to a detailed analysis of Decree No. 424/2004 Coll., and then it dealt with the responsibility of nurses within the legal, ethical and moral standards. The Bachelor´s degree thesis aims at the mapping out of the areas of activities of general nurses with the most frequent incidence of malpractice, and at the determining of the methods of forming the procedures that prevent the nurses from making the errors. Two hypotheses have been stipulated. One hypothesis presumes that the most frequent incidence of errors is connected with administration of medication. The other hypothesis presumes that general nurses are not familiarized with the exact wording of the Decree No. 424/2004 Coll. to the corresponding extent. In order that the objectives of the Bachelor´s degree thesis could be attained and the hypotheses verified, the inquiry method by means of a questionnaire was used. The sample was formed by nurses from the whole Czech Republic, who were finishing their specialization education in the National Centre of Nursing and Other Health Professions in Brno. According to the results of the study most of the errors occur during administration of medication. Although procedures have been formed that prevent the nurses from making the errors, it is clear that they do not quite fulfil their function. The results of the research have proved both the above-mentioned hypotheses. Among the suggested measures aiming at better preparation of general nurses for their professional careers there belongs, without doubt, the improvement of legal awareness within the framework of qualification education, especially concerning the acceptance of responsibility and consequences arising from the behaviour. It is also necessary to call upon the head workers to analyze (regularly and in detail) the past critical incidents, to determine the malpractice risks and to implement measures for minimizing adverse events occurrence