NMC The NMC Code: Professionalism 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to the NMC Code, what must you do if you believe a colleague's conduct, performance, or health is putting patients at risk?
- Handle it privately without involving management
- Raise your concern immediately through the appropriate channels (Correct answer)
- Wait until you have witnessed three separate incidents
- Document the incidents but take no further action
Correct answer: Raise your concern immediately through the appropriate channels
The Code requires nurses and midwives to raise concerns immediately when patient safety may be compromised by a colleague's conduct, performance, or health.
Question 2: Under the NMC Code's duty of candour, what must you do when a patient may have been harmed by care?
- Notify the patient only if the harm was severe
- Document the incident but await a formal investigation
- Be open and honest with the patient, offering an apology when appropriate (Correct answer)
- Discuss only with senior colleagues before informing the patient
Correct answer: Be open and honest with the patient, offering an apology when appropriate
The duty of candour requires nurses to be open and honest with patients when something goes wrong, including apologising when appropriate.
Question 3: A patient refuses a treatment you believe is essential. According to the NMC Code, what is the correct response?
- Administer the treatment in the patient's best interests
- Respect their decision and document it, while exploring alternatives (Correct answer)
- Seek a court order to override their refusal
- Discharge the patient for non-compliance
Correct answer: Respect their decision and document it, while exploring alternatives
The Code requires practitioners to respect the autonomous decisions of patients with capacity, even when they refuse treatment, and to document those decisions.
Question 4: How does the NMC Code address the use of social media by registered nurses and midwives?
- Social media use is entirely personal and outside the Code's scope
- You must never use social media in any professional context
- You must maintain professional standards and patient confidentiality on social media (Correct answer)
- You should only post publicly about clinical matters with employer approval
Correct answer: You must maintain professional standards and patient confidentiality on social media
The Code makes clear that professional standards, including confidentiality, apply to social media and online activity just as they do in face-to-face practice.
Question 5: A registrant asks you to countersign a revalidation declaration you are not confident is accurate. What should you do?
- Sign it to support your colleague's career
- Refuse to countersign if you have genuine doubts about its accuracy (Correct answer)
- Sign it provisionally and note your concerns separately
- Report the registrant to the NMC before speaking to them
Correct answer: Refuse to countersign if you have genuine doubts about its accuracy
Countersigning an inaccurate declaration would breach the Code's requirement for honesty and integrity; you must decline if you have genuine doubts.
Question 6: Under the NMC Code, which action best demonstrates 'working in partnership' with patients?
- Making clinical decisions on behalf of the patient to save time
- Involving patients in all decisions about their care and respecting their views (Correct answer)
- Sharing decisions only when patients specifically request involvement
- Limiting patient involvement to prevent information overload
Correct answer: Involving patients in all decisions about their care and respecting their views
The Code's principle of working in partnership means actively involving patients in decisions about their care and respecting their perspectives.
Question 7: The NMC Code states you must 'always practise in line with the best available evidence.' What does this primarily require?
- Following only the clinical policies set by your employer
- Basing care decisions on up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines and research (Correct answer)
- Applying techniques learned during initial training without updating knowledge
- Using personal clinical experience as the sole basis for decisions
Correct answer: Basing care decisions on up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines and research
Practising in line with evidence requires nurses to keep their knowledge current and apply evidence-based guidelines rather than relying solely on experience or employer policy.
NMC The NMC Code: Professionalism 2
According to the NMC Code, what must you do if you believe a colleague's conduct, performance, or health is putting patients at risk?