Accountability issues in an English emergency department: A nursing perspective

Introduction: Nurses confront doubts about their accountability and how it affects their clinical practice daily in the complex environment of an emergency department. Therefore, nurses’ experiences can provide vital information about the decisions and dilemmas in clinical practice that affect both healthcare professionals and patients alike. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of nursing staff in an English emergency department in relation to their ethical, legal and professional accountability. Methods: Ethnographic content analysis was used to analyse 34 semi-structured interviews from registered nurses working in an emergency department. Results: There were five categories found during the coding process: nursing care, staff interactions, legal and professional accountability, decision-making process and ethics and values. Conclusion: Several issues related to nursing accountability were found, including the effects of nursing shortages and the reasoning behind multidiscipinary team conflicts. Different approaches of individual and institutional accountability, the evolution of Benner’s nursing model and nursing value progression was also identified as key issues. All these phenomena affect nursing accountability in different ways, so their comprehension is paramount to understand and influence them to benefit both patients and nurses.