Nursing Ethics

Nursing Ethics

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According to (Olson & Stokes, 2016), a nurse is expected to perform his or her responsibilities with compassion while respecting the patient’s nobility, worth and personal attributes without judgement or discrimination. Thus being a nurse means that I should be able to make sure that all individuals have access to healthcare and that my nursing services should be provided to them without bias. Thus a patient’s societal status, ethnicity, background or religion shouldn’t be a concern for me. I am also required to give respect to the patient and his decisions irregardless of whether I support his or her views.

From the American Nurses Association ethics code of conduct, as shared by (Epstein & Turner, 2015), a nurse is expected to show that he or she is committed to serving the patient. In this case the patient can be an individual, family, population or group. Thus as a nurse, I am required to represent the patient by actively addressing his or her interests and making sure that they have been heard and acted upon. In cases where the interests of the patient are causing or contributing to a conflict, it is my responsibility to try and resolve it. However, if the conflict persists, my commitment should still be with representing the patient’s interests. I am also required not to have a conflict of interest when representing the interests of the patient.

According to (Epstein & Turner, 2015), another code of ethics from American Nurses Association is that a nurse is required to work in collaboration with the other health professionals and the community to promote and safeguard health diplomacy and human rights. This means that being a nurse I am required to make sure that the other health professionals provide health care to patients without bias. It is also my responsibility to engage with the community too and make sure that the human rights of the patients are being exercised. I am also required to join or come up with collaborative partnerships that will be a platform to address some of the leading health care contexts like poverty and hunger and come up with effective policies and solutions.

Another American Nurses Association code of conduct shared by (Olson & Stokes, 2016) expects a nurse to be able to display nursing values while maintaining integrity and integrating social justice principles in health care. Thus being a nurse requires me to have a professional association or organization. This association or organization is meant to represent my nursing values to the public as well as coming up with policies, practices and programs in health care that support nursing values. The professional association or organization should also be able to come up with systems that address any injustices that are being practiced in health care as well as promoting social justice and health.

According to (Olson & Stokes, 2016), the American Nurses Association code of ethics gives nurses the authority to make decisions and act consistently when providing the best or most favorable care. Apart from a nurse being held accountable and responsible for his or her nursing practice, they are often considered as the best when making such decisions because the have interacted well with the patient. Thus as a nurse I am required to make sound judgements for patients that are ethical, lawful and professional. In cases where I am required to delegate my duties, I should be able to assess him or her and make sure that they are competent for the job.

Another code of ethics from the American Nurse Association is that a nurse should be able to initiate, maintain and improve his or her working environment morally, making sure that the working conditions for the employees lead to quality health care. Thus being a nurse I am required to have virtues that govern my morality and make sure that I am able to treat patients well by giving them the deserving health care and providing a suitable workplace for my fellow professionals in health care. As shared by (Olson & Stokes, 2016), the virtues that foster respect, transparency, equality, kindness, nobility and good communication at the workplace. Thus through establishing such virtues, the working environment will be conducive for providing quality health care to all patients.

References

B Epstein, M Turner. (2015), The nursing code of ethics: it’s value, its history

LL Olson, F Stokes. (2016), The ANA code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements: resource for nursing regulation