Nursing: The Code Of Ethics Of Nursing

Nursing is a profession that requires one to be compassionate and caring. Nurses who work in the outpatient department need to be able to care for patients of all age groups and be familiar with most diseases and health conditions. Working in an outpatient department, where the demand to prepare a patient for surgery in a speedy manner is high, requires the nurse to establish a trusting relationship with her patient in a short amount of time. Nurses who work in the outpatient department enjoy the fast turnover of patients. Many worked the surgical or medical floor for years and no longer enjoy having the same patient assignment for a full twelve-hour shift or caring for the same patient day after day. Outpatient nursing is a great way

Taking care of the psychological needs of the person are just as important if not more important. The Code of Ethics is one of the first things covered in nursing school. The Code of Ethics discusses that the responsibility of a nurse is to be compassionate and respectful to her patient, to put the patients’ needs ahead of anyone else’s needs, and to advocate for her patient. It is the duty of a nurse to keep her patient safe, to provide the patient with the best care, and to be honest with her patient. CODE OF ETHICS At times, nurses are put in a position in which they know more about the patients diagnoses or potential outlook of the diagnoses than the patient does. Patients look to the nurse to gain answers that the physician has not yet provided. Women diagnosed with breast cancer want to know everything that will be involved with undergoing treatment for cancer. Nurses get to read the doctors history and physical and if the doctor believes that the patient has cancer she will have access to that information. Nurses have enough knowledge to know that certain types of cancer are not curable and are aware of the effects radiation and chemotherapy can have on a person. It is a difficult task to remain positive and encouraging to a patient when the nurse knows that the patient is facing a diagnosis of cancer. Oftentimes when the nurse takes report of a patient returning after surgery, the nurse is informed that the doctor has a strong suspicion that what he removed during surgery will end up diagnosed as cancer. Occasionally, until a definite diagnosis can be made, the doctor will not mention anything to the patient or family. Patients and their families will regularly ask the nurse what the doctor discovered during surgery. Nurses then find themselves in a position of having to lie to the patient or withhold information from the patient. Until the