Rule breaking: Some positive and negative implications for professional standards and clinical practice

Rules regulate much of human activity, and permeate the professional lives of nurses, informing our scope of practice and professional and ethical behaviors. In the complex world of health care provision, where demands on staff can be high, and critical voices representing the best interests of health care consumers can be lacking, the testing and breaking of rules by nurses is not uncommon (Collins, 2012). In this column, we explore rule breaking and the implications it can have for employees, organizations and employers and, ultimately, health care consumers. Understanding how and why people bend or break rules may assist nurses to realize better workplace communication and interpersonal relationships and to better negotiate and help evolve the complexities of health care provision.