We often get emails from our head of nursing and director of student engagement, Thomas Currid. The latest email centred around what good patient care was and what it looked like.

This email resonated with me about what good nursing practice is. So, I read all the links that were sent, and I did my own reflection, and this is the answer that I have found to his question: PATIENTS (professional, accountability, team, inclusivity, engagement, norms, therapeutic care, patient safety).

The number of people who require health and social care has risen tremendously recently. This has been brought about by the development of different diseases, viruses (Covid-19), demographic trends, commodities and people living longer.

As nurses, we are privileged to be at the centre of healthcare provision to patients in different healthcare settings such as hospitals, outpatient community settings and clinics.

Nurses have direct interaction with patients and their families, therefore, nurses should be able to deliver high-quality care and communicate effectively with patients and their relatives. They are supposed to deliver high-quality care by employing best practices in nursing.

The Royal College of Nursing, in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, developed The Principles of Nursing Practice to guide patients, their families, nurses and colleagues on what they are expected to do in nursing practice.

The guiding principles include treating everyone with dignity and respect, taking responsibility for the care they provide, ensuring safety for everyone, putting patients at the centre of healthcare, effective communication, multidisciplinary teamwork, and leading the other team members by example.

"Regardless of the pressure we may feel, we must always be mindful when caring for patents that they deserve the very best"

Accountability, which can be defined as an obligation to accept responsibility for one's actions, lies central to nursing practice because it involves dealing with patients’ lives. This privileged position provides nurses the opportunity to demonstrate noble qualities and advanced moral principles.

This privileged position is far more than just stating the reason for our actions, but rather being honest and upfront, taking it as a personal responsibility to develop the nursing profession and being accountable to the patient, their families and caregivers. We must at all times ensure we provide care on sound moral and ethical values and principles.

There are ethical norms and codes of conduct that nurses are expected to follow for them to be able to support their actions in the delivery of healthcare to patients and ensure high-quality care is provided to them.

Practising accountability in our daily activities in our places of work as nurses will improve patient health and increase their life span.

Regardless of the pressure we may feel, we must always be mindful when caring for patents that they deserve the very best and that pressures must not distract from high-quality care. It is a given that patients deserve dignity and respect at all times.

Patient respect is key in the provision of nursing care. All patients should be treated with dignity and empathy regardless of their social, religious, or cultural background. Patients, their families, and caregivers have individualised needs and requirements that must be met. Giving fundamental care entails understanding those needs and using the most appropriate methods to meet each individual needs. Nurses should also consider the different cultural, religious, and social situations and practices, which may often defer from their own rules. Celebrating diversity is key to nursing practice and provides many learning opportunities and has the potential to make caring stimulating, pleasurable and interesting.

Safety for the patients and healthcare workers is paramount, and nurses should be at the forefront in ensuring safety measures are followed. This includes safe staffing numbers, continuing professional development for nurses to enable them to continuously learn and meet the evolving healthcare needs of patients and of course, safeguarding the profession from poor patient care.

But I focus not only on protecting the patient from harm and injury while in our care, but other areas I notice are missed a lot when we talk about safety.

Safe practice is about ensuring safety for all that work in, or are allied to healthcare. Protection covers different aspects, including proper drug administration and storage, proper waste disposal, and the use of well-maintained equipment in care delivery.

Though nurses may be administering medication to the right patients, right dosage, right route at the right time, when it comes to other practices, they can be less careful. Most of the time, waste is disposed of in the wrong bins in the hospital; the nurse should ensure that debris such as used gloves and needles are disposed of safely to avoid injuries or transmission of infection. Nurses have a duty that anyone who may be involved in the disposal and transportation of waste are doing so free of hazards and risk.

The patient and the family should be the centre of healthcare. Nurses and other health professionals must educate the patient about their health condition and the available therapies and help them decide on the appropriate medical intervention. The nurses and nursing staff should have good communication skills to deliver information appropriately and deal with questions from the patient.

"Nurses should set a good example for other team members by offering patients high-quality and safe healthcare"

Good communication also helps them break the bad news to the patient in a way they can understand and handle. Advancement in knowledge and skills is mandatory in healthcare following advancements in technology. Nurses must undergo further training and experience to advance their knowledge and skills and use I to meet each patient's needs.

A multidisciplinary team in healthcare improves the quality and efficiency of care. Nurses should work with other professionals, such as doctors, pharmacists, nutritionists, and therapists, to deliver comprehensive, safe, effective, and high-quality care. Nurses should be able to effectively communicate with the other team members in sharing information about the health status of the patients, appropriate intervention, and their progress.

Nurses should set a good example for other team members by offering patients high-quality and safe healthcare. Setting a good example will influence other healthcare workers to provide care that responds to patient needs.

These are approaches that I will follow on my journey to becoming a newly qualified mental health nurse.

Soneika Atkinson is a first-year mental health nurse student at the University of Essex and 2022-23 Nursing Times student editor

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