Nine Tenets Of The Code Of Ethics In Nursing

Nine Tenets Essay Ethics is a vital part of nursing. Nursing has a well-known history of involvement for the well-being of the sick, injured, helpless, and for social justice. These involvement are represented in the provision of nursing care for individuals and for the entire community. Nursing involves the deterrence of illness, the relief of suffering, and the protection, promotion, and restoration of health in the care of individuals, families, groups, and communities (Code of Ethics for Nurses, n. d.). Nurses are not only expected to follow morals and principles of nursing but to incorporate them as part of what it means to be a nurse. The Code of Ethics for Nurses was established by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and provides

In Provision 1, the nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person (Butts, 2016). Nurses must show compassion and respect towards patients. Patients have worth and dignity. Nurses must treat their patients equally and not based on what they have or who they are. For example, in the emergency department (ED), I have encountered with numerous young patients who tested positive for HIV. Instead of judging my patients and tell them what to do, I provide teaching by giving them brochures about the disease and how to prevent the spread of the disease and answer any questions patients may

The provision clearly states for nurses to advocate for their patients. Nurses must ensure that patient’s rights, health, and safety must always come first. Nurses must not ignore colleagues whose job performance may be adversely affected by mental or physical illness, fatigue, substance abuse, or personal circumstances (Butts, 2016). Nurses must report those whose job performance creates unsafe and unethical behavior. For example, we have a surgeon in our surgical unit who is in his late 60s. For the past two months, he had three incidents where he accidentally nicks the ureter due to shaky hands and old age. On the first incident, the primary nurse of the urology service informed us of the incident and we reported it to the Chief of Surgery. Due to lack of surgeons to cover the service at the time, the Chief of Surgery consulted the surgeon. On the second incident, we reported it to the Chief of Surgery and surgeon was suspended for a month. On the third incident that we reported, we have not seen the surgeon or heard about him since. We reported the incident not to get the surgeon reprimanded but to stop the incident from happening over and over