In order to be considered a professional nurse, one must encompass a particular set of values. As a nurse, one of the many goals is to provide quality care for the client throughout the course of treatment. The quality care has varied throughout nursing history and is always being evaluated. According to the 2012 HealthLeaders’s survey, “72% of nurses rank patient satisfaction and experience as one of their top three priorities.” (http://www.healthleadersmedia.com). If the care is not client-centered, patient experience and satisfaction ratings will be lower. The nurse is with patient more than any other medical personnel that is involved and should be receptive to the patient’s needs and cares, all while keeping the patient safe. “Incorporating QSEN competencies in care can also improve the quality and safety of care.” (Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN): The Key is Systems Thinking) In order for there to be both safety and quality care, the nurse should be aware if her working environment shares the same work ethic. “Integrity, altruism, and autonomy are also essential nursing values.” (Pearson pp 2564). Doing the right thing in a situation is a reflection of the nurse’s character and judgment. Displaying altruism is having concern for people and giving of yourself to help them. Protecting the autonomy of the patient ensures that they are informed of their options and are included in their healthcare-related decisions. Incorporating and practicing values like
Every nurse should have professional values in order to guide their practice in delivering the best possible care. Providing care to service users should be their first concern and it should be of a high
I am pleased to state that I have been a registered nurse for forty years. At this moment, I continue working in nursing while pursuing my Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. My intended month of completion is October 2012. My experience in nursing education has motivated me to continue my education and pursue a Masters degree in a nursing related field commencing in 2013. Thus, in terms of my career planning, my education is a crucial part to my professional development. Extending and deepening one's education, especially within the career field of one's choice, can only bring upon additional professional opportunities as well as opportunities for personal growth. My career planning includes building upon my decades of experience in obstetrics, my particular area of specialty, expertise, and passion, with the assistance and addition of higher education. I believe in terms of career planning, my strengths include foresight, preparation, internal motivation, and focus.
“Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.” Nursing is more than just doing assessments and giving medications; it is going beyond that to know what is right or wrong, what can and cannot be done, and what is considered harming the patients rather than doing them good. In nursing, there is a fine line between what is considered to be negligence and beneficence. According to Marquis (2017), “Ethics is the systemic study of what a person’s conduct and actions should be with regard to self, others human beings, and the environment (pg. 83), on the other hand, it does not necessarily mean that their
The values I had put forth include altruism, human integrity, honesty and generosity as well as helpfulness. Every nurse needs to have these four essential values to do their best for the patients. While a selfless concern for others well-being has been an oath that is taken by every nursing practitioner, I have, so far in my work towards the patients, have been altruistic and selfless. There are times when a difficult patient or an emergency (when you have a personal plan outside
The art of human caring is one of the most essential parts of the nursing profession. Caring is not something that you learn to do, but something that is within you. In nursing, it is important to know what kind of nurse you want to be as well as the care you intend to provide to your patients. The patient is the center of nursing, and it is your responsibility to make sure they are receiving the best care that they can receive. One of the most important things is to be able to set aside personal beliefs and morals in order to provide patient centered care. The way that you approach and care for a patient is either going to make or break the effect of the care you will be implementing to the patient.
Professional values are the foundation for practice; they guide interactions with client, colleagues, other professionals, and the public, by providing the framework for commitment to the Welfare of others. They are also belief or ideas to which an individual is committed and which are reflected in patterns of behavior. Institute of medicine (2000). In this article, I will define Altruism, Autonomy, Human Dignity, Integrity, and Social Justice. I will also identify how these values are demonstrated in our every day lives by other nurses and myself. According to Dougherty (1992) “Altruism is a concern
The American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics provides many professional traits that can be incorporated to an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals such as compassion and respect, advocacy, accountability for nursing practice and participation in advancement of the nursing career (Cherry, 2011). Compassion is a very important aspect of the nursing profession. It would be very difficult to be a nurse without being compassionate. Nurses demonstrate compassion and respect daily in their work by actively listening to patients’ and family members’ problems and concerns and by empathy when appropriate. Advocacy is a nursing trait constantly used by the entire interdisciplinary team. Nurses advocate for patients’ right of autonomy for decision making in regards to their care, treatments and procedures. Also, nurses are in the best position to serve as a bridge between the patient and the interdisciplinary team. Accountability is so essential in the nursing profession. Nurses are accountable for their own nursing practices and for our patients.
A nurse is given an opportunity to help patients, either if its by helping them through a very serious sickness or just helping a patient get to the bathroom on time, or a time when happiness is overfilling the room and a child is being born. Registered nurses provide a wide variety of patient care services (Mitchell, p.12). A Nurse must always know where to begin and where to stop, as any other career in the health field there is always something that cannot be done by everyone but only the certified person, a nurse must always remain inside her scope of practice to prevent any misunderstandings. A nurse must also follow a code of ethics , the code of ethics of the American Association of Medical Assistants states that a nurse should at all times render service with full respect and dignity of humanity, respect confidential information obtained by a patients file, uphold the honor and high principles the profession and accept its discipline, and last but not least always want to improve her services to better serve the health and well being of the community. (Mitchell, p.65).
Integrity is crucial to the nursing profession because it creates trust with others. This sense of trust facilitates open communication with patients and colleagues (Ridge, 2015). For proper communication to occur between a nurse and patient, honesty and sincerity are required. Good communication improves the quality of care provided to patients. Integrity driven nurses, possess a strong sense of themselves and act in ways of doing what is right consistently. Consequently, healthcare focuses on holistic care, meaning all aspects of a patient’s life must be considered, and the only way this
I learned that as a nurse it is my duty to always consider my own well being, along with my patient’s. I must keep a high moral character both in the workplace and in my personal life. I must continue to educate myself and keep myself up to date with all the latest nursing practices and research. I must subject myself to peer review and evaluation. I must never let my personal feelings about a patient’s lifestyle affect my care for them. When met with a tough choice that places me in an ethical crisis I must keep a good head on my shoulders and always have my patient’s best interests in mind. If I feel that a situation at work is in direct conflict with my personal values or my oath to be an ethical nurse I must go through the proper channels to work through the problem.
The ANA Code of Ethics provides nine provisions to guide the ethical responsibilities of the nursing profession. Within those provisions certain professional traits stand out that define the qualities of a great nurse. The four professional traits from the ANA Code of Ethics that I would bring to an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals would be respect, compassion, commitment, and accountability. Respect is a major professional trait embodied mostly in the first provision of the Code of Ethics. The nurse should show respect for every individual whom the nurse interacts with including patients, families, and colleagues, for human needs and values, for human dignity, for patient decisions (American Nurses Association, 2001). I treat others as I would like to be treated myself, always with respect. Compassion runs side by side with respect and a nurse should always treat everyone with respect and compassion. One aspect of compassion mentioned in Provision 3.6 of the Code of Ethics guides the nurse in extending compassion to colleagues who are in recovery from illness or when illness interferes with job performance (American Nurses Association, 2001). This might be the case when a nurse encounters a co-worker whose practice may be impaired while on the job. The nurse should show
Professional values guide the decisions and actions we make in our careers. As nurses we are responsible for caring for patients during birth, death, illness and healing. If we are not aware of the decisions and actions to take it would be impossible to provide our patients with exceptional care. The values that are the foundation of the nursing profession are altruism, autonomy, human dignity, and social justice. In this paper I will define each value and describe their impact on nurses and nursing students.
Being respectful and considerate to your patient is necessary for providing excellent patient care. It is also important to be respectful and considerate to your colleagues; arriving on time, being a team player, doing above the minimum as often as you can are all excellent ways to show this. It is essential to ensure that the workplace is an “environment in which all colleagues enjoy equal respect and where they can advance to their full potential.” (Professionalism initiative, 2012) If everyone treated their colleagues with respect, it would make the workplace very hospitable and help provide better patient care, which is the main purpose of nursing. An environment without respect can become hostile and impair the growth of your colleagues and yourself which can lead to giving substandard care to your patients and their families.
Breathing is an activity of living that is essential in order for other activities of living to be achieved with ease. Individuals are not usually aware that they are breathing, and it should be effortless. When breathing becomes difficult, an assessment must be undertaken by a nurse in order to make a nursing diagnoses. Once the assessment is completed, interventions are put in place in order for the health issue to be corrected, and an evaluation is done to examine whether or not the interventions were successful. If unsuccessful, the assessment process is repeated. This essay will discuss the information that should be gathered during an assessment, and the possible interventions that may be put in place to correct the issue.
I noticed you chose evaluation as the one core function applicable to nursing practice. I agree with you. Evaluation in nursing practice is employed when a plan of care needs to be assessed. Short and long terms goals are assessed for completion. It is to determine whether a new more effective treatment be implemented in the plan of care. Likewise, evaluation in epidemiology is to determine the effectiveness of a measure taken. Evaluation in the nursing process takes place to make sure the planning and implementation steps where effective. A new course of action is warranted if otherwise.