The Scope of Practice

Scope of Practice

Kayla Miguel-Anderson

American Intercontinental University

Abstract

This paper is about being a receptionist and the wonders of other health care professional scope of practice. The general definition of scope of practice, and the more detailed scope of practice of a Registered Nurse (RN). The types of ways Registered nurses can deal with medical records and limitations.

Scope of Practice

Patients have certain rights concerning their personal and private information relevant to their medical care. Some of these rights include maintaining privacy, having autonomy, be given information, and giving or withholding authorization of disclosures. So it is good as a receptionist to know boundaries and to know exactly who will be adding documentation to a patient's medical records. Knowing the scope of practice of each health care professional that might be handling records will be very handy.

The general meaning of scope of practice is defined as all the accepted services provided by a particular profession. It provides the parameters within which a profession provides services. (Scope of Practice, 2004). The health professional that I might encounter in the emergency room mostly would be a nurse. There are many different types of nursing but to figure if a task or an activity is with your scope of practice it is best to use these three steps.

The first step is "Defining the issue." Clarification of what the specific activity details are, and to get any additional information that is needed. Also you need to as professional see if you are able to handle the task, are the skills you have enough to perform. Once the acceptance of the assignment is shown, from then on you are responsible for getting it done and to the best of your abilities. The next step is "Reviewing laws, rules, and standards."

Just because there is common practice if a certain facility it does not entail that it is legal in terms of performance of activities or appropriate. There are many examples that fall into this. Such as in a doctors office where nurses of different levels perform small tasks that may not be done in other health care facilities because it is common practice in their office but not others. It may not be in legal terms but they know the boundaries and do not risk fallacy of any sort.

"Making the decision," is the last step. While deciding to take on the task you have to also think about if you are going to accept consequences of your actions. Some people in life may say, "Don't do the crime if you