Professional Code Of Conduct : An Ethical Approach

In order to apply the virtue ethics to the ethical dilemma of patient freedom versus nurse control, the nurse’s should use their own “goodness” such as “ Loyalty, courage, and honesty and caring” (Racher, 2007, p. 69). Moreover, Racher (2007), explained that some virtues in the “ Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses (Canadian Nurse Association, 2002) such as dignity, confidentiality, fairness, and accountability could be also be defined as virtues” that are important in professional nursing (p. 69).

The code of ethics is an important part of the nursing foundation where nurses are directed to practice with compassion and respect for human dignity, responsibility, accountability, confidentiality and patient safety (ANA, 2012). Nurses are expected to follow this professional morals and values but also to practice their own personal standards as well. Values are one’s fundamental beliefs acquired from childhood through family and society. Morals are values that

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

Healthcare professionals have an ethical obligation to respect patient’s wishes. Consequently, many legal and ethical dilemmas arise in healthcare in response to clinical decisions related to the needs, beliefs, and preferences of patients and families. Other dilemmas result over concerns about the integrity, competence, or actions of other healthcare professionals. Preserving human dignity, relieving suffering, equality, integrity, and accountability are essential nursing values (Kangasniemi, Pakkanen, & Korhonen, 2015). Nurse leaders have an

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).

Respect is vital to any relationship because it provides a base for fair and unbiased treatment of one another. Without respect for the worth of each individual and his expertise it would be difficult to act as a team. Just as critical to the function of a team is integrity. Integrity ensures that the nurse is acting honestly and holds herself to both moral and professional standards. Responsibility is essential in all nursing practice, but is particularly necessary when integrating care with other disciplines and professionals. As the functions of a healthcare team become more individually specific, the ability rely on each person to perform her part is crucial. Finally, compassion is the framework for all nursing action. While it is widely accepted that compassion for patients is part of nursing, compassion for fellow professionals is necessary too. In conjunction with respect, compassion allows the team to function by accepting each individual’s specific perspective and acknowledging the importance of their skills.

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

For the purpose of this discussion I chose to focus on the importance of ethics as an essential core competency for nurse practitioners (NP). In essence, nursing ethics is a set of shared values or principles that govern the way NP interact with patients, their families, and other health care professionals. Ethic competencies comprise delivering high standards of care, advocating for patient’s rights, and being an unbiased compassionate

Medical ethics and legal issues have been a key topic in medical field for many years now. It is important for medical professionals to understand the importance of the way we care for patients, it is therefore important to be knowledgeable and aware of the medical ethics and legal issues that govern good patient care. Health care professionals must make decisions based on ethical and legal issues to performance their regular duties. However, Medical ethics is not only about avoiding harm to patients. It is rather a norms, values and principles (Ethical theories 2015). Therefore norms, values and principles are intended to govern medical ethical conduct. Ethics is defined as “a standard of behaviour and a concept of right and wrong beyond what the legal consideration is in any given situation”. In another words medical ethics is a discipline that used to handle moral problems coming out the care of patients. Law is another important discipline that often comes together with medical ethics. Law defined as a “rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority”. Government imply law to keep the society running smoothly and to control behaviour that could threaten public safety. Medical professionals have to often prioritise these terms before making any clinical decision. The following findings will constructively emphasise on medical ethics, its

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.

Ethics is an essential aspect of health care practice and those working in the nursing profession are often subject to frequent ethical dilemmas. It is essential for all nurses to be aware of the importance of ethics in health care and to practice within the ethico-legal parameters that govern the profession. However, while this is relatively easy in theory, ethics is not a black and white subject and often one’s culture, upbringing, attitudes and beliefs can influence what one views as ethical and this can therefore influence practice. This report will discuss the importance of ethics in nursing practice. The definition of ethics will firstly be presented followed

Ethics and Morals play an important role in the nursing profession; nurses are confronted with choices to make every day, and some of them more challenging than others. Ethics are affirmations between what it can be right or erroneous. For our society ethics is presented as a complex system of principles and beliefs. This system serves as an approach with the purpose of ensuring the protection of each individual within the society. On the other hand, morals are basic standards between what is right or wrong; each individual learns to identify these standards during the early stages of human development (Catalano, 2009). A person with morals is usually somebody who recognizes how to respond to the needs of another individual by giving care and keeping a level of responsibility while giving this care (Catalano, 2009).

The Code of Ethics furnishes a definitive model of conduct. The standard of conduct is entrenched in associations, affiliations, confidentiality, and commitment with health care professionals. The Code of Ethics for healthcare quality professionals is dedicated to routine enhancement and preserving integrity by identifying individual accountability and ethical obligation to patients, medical providers, employees, health care organizations, and the community (Oddo, 2011). Ethics are not voluntary in the health care field. They are a vital and central part of medicine. Ethical codes form and assemble moral atmosphere and allotting the ethical accountability and

Codes of ethics contain a coherent set of normative principles underlying a nurse’s purpose and associated values (Vanlaere and Gastmans, 2007). Two perspectives of ethics are the ethics of justice and the ethics of care (Botes, 2000). The ethics of justice constitutes an ethical perspective in terms of which ethical decisions are made on the basis of universal principles and rules, and in an impartial and verifiable manner with a view to ensuring the fair and equitable treatment of all people (Botes, 2000). The ethics of care, on the other hand, constitutes an ethical approach in terms of which involvement, harmonious relations and the needs of others play an important part in ethical decision making in each ethical situation (Botes, 2000).

“To be accountable, nurses follow a code of ethical conduct that includes moral principles such as fidelity, loyalty, veracity, beneficence, and respect for the dignity, worth, and self-determination of patients, as well as adhering to the scope and standards of nursing practice” (ANA, 2015, p. 15). Nursing profession is entirely about taking care of patients, and families with integrity, and dignity. This writer is a believer of God, following the teachings of God and truthfully practicing it with life in daily activities. As a nurse, this writer believes in honesty trust, respect, compassion, love, commitment, empowerment, and cooperation. While