Code Of Ethics : Nursing Values And Ethical Responsibilities

The nursing profession has not always been a moral and ethical profession; however Florence Nightingale achieved nursing standards and brought professionalism to nursing. Many organizations have a code of ethics to guide professional standards, policy and practice; nursing is one of those organizations. Nursing is a large, worldwide profession whose role and standard of care varies by location. This journal will examine the similarities and differences between three nursing organizations code of ethics: Canadian Nurses Associated (CAN), the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the American Nursing Association (ANA). This journal will also review the Iowa Board of Nursing disciplinary practices and penalties.

Confidentiality can relate to any form of communication that is capable of sharing applicable information about a patient (SRNA, 2011, p. 26). A registered nurse in Saskatchewan is responsible to advocate for any professional, legal or ethical commitments within the health care community (SRNA, 2011, p. 26). As mentioned in the introduction, the registered nurse from Utah, Alex Wubbels, perfected the act of confidentiality and privacy based on the SRNA’s guidelines. Within Appendix C of the SRNA’s expectations regarding privacy and confidentiality, one of main points is, “Only staff directly involved in a specific client’s care have legitimate access to the records.” (SRNA, 2011, p. 26). Alex Wubbels demonstrated the proper ethical and legal actions when faced with the complicating situation that was at hand. Regardless of being threatened by another legal source, Wubbles performed complete confidentiality and consent of the patient. As privacy and confidentiality is a large component of nursing, Wubbels handled this situation

Confidentiality is critical for nursing professional to understand and undertake. If a nurse did not keep a

There are nine provisions included in the ANA code of ethics. The provisions can be broken into three categories. The first category is the nurse’s ethical responsibilities to her patient which is provisions one through three. Second is the nurse’s obligation to herself, provisions four through six. The third ethical requirement for nurses is related to their relationship to the nursing profession, community, nation, and world overall. This focus is summarized in provisions seven through nine [ (American Nurses Association, 2013) ].

These values must be applied in all aspects that are the responsibility of the nurse in their professional practice: maintaining health, restore health, prevent disease, and alleviate suffering. Nurse must serve primarily to those who need their professional services and maintain professional practice irreproachable conduct, which bestow prestige to the profession, without forgetting that it has legal responsibility for actions, decisions and criteria applied in nursing care, direct or support, since nursing is an independent profession that contributes to other related professions to provide necessary health

My philosophy of nursing is to be an advocate for patients and care and treat each patient holistically and always provide a safe environment while providing patient care. As nurses, we must remember that patients are not and should never be addressed by their room number or medical conditions. Each patient is required and deserves individualized attention and care. As nurses, we should implement individualize clinical judgment to help meet the needs of the patient according to their condition. As nurses, we should enable patients by urging them to end up plainly dynamic accomplices in their own care and take part in shared objective setting amongst ourselves and the patient. Medical professionals are entitled to keep up patient secrecy with the exception of when we have an obligation to report as ordered by law. We should teach patients and their families on illnesses, medicines, and sound practices with a specific end goal to enhance their results.

The Code of Ethics for Nurses was created to be a guide for nurses to perform their duties in a way that is abiding with the ethical responsibilities of the nursing profession and quality in nursing care. The Code of Ethics has excellent guidelines for how nurses should behave, however; these parameters are not specific. They do not identify what is right and wrong, leaving nurses having to ultimately make that decision. Ethics in nursing involves individual interpretation based on personal morals and values. Nursing professionals have the ethical accountability to be altruistic, meaning a nurse who cares for patients without self-interest. This results in a nurse functioning as a patient advocate, making decisions that are in the best

Nurses are subject to a plethora of legal, ethical, and professional duties which can be very challenging on a day to day basis. Some of these duties include respecting a patient 's confidentiality and autonomy, and to recognize the duty of care that is owed to all patients. As nurses our duties are always professional; however there are legal implications if these duties are breached. We also must consider when it is okay as nurses to breach these duties and therefore ethical issues arise. As nurses one of our main priorities is to advocate for our patients, without our own personal feelings on the matter taking over.

Within the ANA’s position statement are recommendations that can aid the nurse in abiding by this statement and avoiding a breach. In respect to patient privacy and confidentiality, these recommendations include the patients right to advocacy and trust, the right to information, privacy and confidentiality in all aspects of care. Patients also have the right to access their own personal

Giving an individual the right to divulge only what they feel is necessary and appropriate for their situation gives them a sense of safety in what is known and able to be disclosed to others. All medical personal know that privacy of patients is their main priority in caring for each individual person; in so doing they know that any and all discussions of patients should be done in areas where no one is privy to over hearing or ease dropping on the conversation. In the issue of privacy of care nurses more so than any other person in the medical field have to make sure that they work diligently to keep all patients privacy intact, because nurses are the ones who have the most direct and intimate contact with the patients. “Patient confidentiality is a sacred trust. Nurses are important in ensuring that organizations create an environment to safeguard patients’ rights to confidentiality. As stated in the ANA Code of Ethics,” (ANA, 2001). Medical privacy is really important. When maintaining the privacy of medical information it saves a lot of lives because without the assurance of privacy people would avoid life-enhancing and life-saving treatments. If people feel that their information is not being protected then they will avoid getting treatment done. Privacy isn’t only a means to the

Honesty- The nurse must be honest with the patients so that she can gain her trust. Being honest creates an atmosphere for good rapport with the patients.

It is said that the number one aspect in patient care is patient safety. Patient safety has numerous components. It begins at the bedside, starting with raising the side rails, making sure the call light is in reach, making sure there is adequate lighting in the room, etc. Although those safety measures are very important, health care professionals tend to forget another aspect of patient safety, patient confidentiality. Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights in our society today. Protection of those rights is a nurses’ ethical and legal obligation. Although it has to been done, it has become increasingly challenging. Confidentiality as it relates to health care dates back to the Hippocratic Oath: “And whatsoever I shall see or hear in

Being a nurse in today’s society is fun and challenging. Not only are we to care for our patients, but by law, we are to protect the patients by respecting their privacy and keeping information confidential. Privacy entails the patients’ right to control their information, and to pick what may or may not be disclosed to others with consent. Although privacy and confidentiality are sometimes interchanged, confidentially is different. With confidentiality, we are bound by ethics not to reveal any information of our patients unless we are sharing it with another organization that is necessary. For example, if a patient has to have a surgery, then the primary doctor will have to share some pertinent information to the surgeon (Burkhardt & Nathaniel,

To define what is the code of ethics for Nurses, we should understand that a code of ethics is a written set of principles and rules intended to serve as a guideline for determining appropriate ethical behavior for those individuals under its authority. Firstly, “The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.” It is very important to nursing as nurses should always conduct themselves professionally and practice with respecting the rights of all persons which is not affected by race, cleanliness, illness, etc. By eliminating such influences from any personal bias or feelings the nurse has, they can prevent it from negatively affecting the care they receive. Secondly, “The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, or community.”

Nurses have many responsibilities to their: patients, families, and co-workers. Nurses are to protect their patients