Nursing : The Core Value Of Integrity In Nursing

As the nursing profession progresses throughout the years, its nature becomes more complex in meeting the professional standards and codes of ethics that are required by all nurses. The American Nurses Association has a specific code of ethics that each nurse should follow and adopt as their own beliefs. The public and the patients should be the priority when providing care in the healthcare setting. The knowledge and education that nurses’ gain is valuable and allows them to encourage health, avoid illness, restore health, and aid in coping for those who are all ill. (LeMone, pp.192) Given that the code of ethics is put into place, there are many registered nurses who violate these codes in various situations. The following will discuss

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

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).

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.

Integrity is a vital quality as a nurse related to the fact that patients literally entrust their lives to their healthcare team. According to Proverbs 10:9 "whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out." God is pleased with a person of integrity. I Chronicles 29:17a states "I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity." Nurses have the ethical obligation to maintain competence and proficiency, and as Christians, they also are morally bound to develop the virtues of honesty and integrity.

As healthcare providers, maintaining a patient’s confidentiality, human dignity and privacy is expected at all times. Nurses are faced with maintaining patient confidentiality on a daily basis. The Coded of Ethics for Nurses is the framework of nonnegotiable ethical standards and obligations that all nurses are to uphold. Nurses are to be accountable for their actions and are expected to advocate and strive to protect the rights, health and safety of patients (American Nurses Association, 2011).

Sometimes, our daily lives do not always allow us to operate in a in which our integrity is not compromised. For example, in daily nursing practice,

Healthcare executives have ethical and professional obligation to their employees which increases their levels of integrity. These consist of creating a work environment that upholds and mirrors ethical conduct. As a future healthcare administrator/executive, I will use nine simple ways to demonstrate integrity in the workplace. They are building trusting and respectful relationships, communicating openly and honestly, following company policies, demonstrating responsible behavior, working diligently, admitting and learning from mistakes, leading by example, standing up for my beliefs, and having my own identity. A great way to build integrity is to build trusting and respectful relationships. Trust and respect are the ingredients of a healthy, positive workplace culture. Polite communication, respecting your colleague’s thoughts and ideas and continuously working on relationships demonstrates that you

Furthermore, integrity is very important in the nursing profession because it represents moral principles, honesty and sincerity. Nurses demonstrate integrity every day; most importantly, integrity is illustrated in every action in a nurse’s role. Hence, integrity is accepting responsibilities for one’s actions and helping rather than harming. The best example for integrity in the nursing filed is not leaving undone duties from one shift to another, this is best described as helping one another instead of making it difficult for each other. Another important aspect of caring is human dignity, which is described as the right to be treated with honor and respect. People should not be judged or classified; accordingly, no matter how a person’s appearance is illustrated, every human being has the right to be treated with dignity by demonstrating honor and respect. Culture has a great impact in today’s society, different cultures have unequal believes; thus, nurse’s need to respect those believes and provide quality care for those patients accordingly. For instance, in some cultures people do not believe in certain medications; as a result, the

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

A professional nurse is one who puts the needs and importance of patient care above all others. While striving for professionalism, nurses need compassion, patience, empathy, strong moral and ethics, accountability and the commitment to always act in the best interest of their patients. Nurses are held accountable for providing quality, safe, and effective nursing care (Hood, 2014). A professional nurse has the responsibility to continually improve and implement nursing standards while maintaining integrity by involving themselves in various tasks. Regular involvement in reading professional literature and sharing of evidence- based research with other healthcare personal helps increase knowledge and skills. This nursing ability can be used to encourage the actions of others in the healthcare team resulting in improved patient care. Nurses should encourage each other to become involved in hospital committees, provide an environment to encourage the discussions of ethical dilemmas, promote professional growth of nurses to voice their concerns and share viewpoints to address issues. “A professional nurse should expect to commit to a life of continuous learning growth and development”. (Hood, 2014, pp. 29). Nurses choose this profession to help others. As professional nurses we must maintain our ethics, values, characteristics, and commitment to drive our profession forward (CCN, 2015). Nurses must be autonomous, accountable, and be able to delegate to unlicensed assistive personnel. Being autonomous as a nurse means having control over their practice (Hood, 2014). It allows a nurse to take risks while being held accountable for ones’ actions (Hood, 2014).

In conclusion, I believe it is the duty of every nurse to protect and preserve the integrity of the nursing profession. Not only by educational requirements, but by having an unimpaired moral compass to guide oneself through difficult challenges that one will face in nursing. Doctors, and patients expect nurses to perform at the highest level of integrity and professionalism. In essence a nurse extraordinaire is the embodiment of professionalism and ethics.

Here, the question is asking about honesty and being authentic, regardless of whoever is watching you. Nurse incorporates integrity in everything they do. It is being honest and telling the truth to build the best possible outcomes. So, it is important that nurse carry that integrity characteristic. If you don’t build that trust with a patient, then patient shut down nursing intervention.

As far back as Florence Nightingale, professionalism and ethics have been the cornerstone of nursing practice. “Ethical values and practices are the foundation upon which moral actions in professional practice are based” ( LaSala & Bjarnason, 2010). Core professional nursing values (CPNV) are taught and instructed upon in nursing programs. This paper will explore and define the CPNV of altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, and social justice. Although these values are all individual characteristics, I will show that they are all intertwined in the path of care that an ethical practicing nurse walks every day with her patients, without even thinking about it.