The Ethical Role Of Plagiarism In Nursing

Copy and Paste! Those are the two easiest functions to help you complete a paper within less than 10 seconds and turn it in without giving the proper credit. As easy as it may be, it is surely an unethical behavior. Such action is known as plagiarism. According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010), plagiarism is “the practice of claiming credit for the words, ideas, and concepts of others” (p. 170). Plagiarism is an important issue to address for educational programs as well as the professional field of nursing. Therefore, understanding plagiarism will help individuals be aware of this unethical behavior and sprout individuals to engage in research by gaining knowledge of a particular study or a patient

Bill Marsh (2007) explained, “If one plagiarizes one violates a major rule pertaining to the use and incorporation of textual sources. Plagiarists commit acts of petty larceny, trying to steal or pass off the words or ideas of another as if they were their own” (p. 31). Furthermore, individuals who take full credit and fail to respect someone else’s work will hinder the honesty and reputation of educational programs as well as their future professions. Educational programs should care about plagiarism because these programs set the foundation of the particular study the students need for their future profession, which would entail the integration of moral behavior. Academic honesty is essential for the educational programs to ensure that what is learned and used for research is properly given proper credit to the individual’s work or ideas. The educational programs teach individuals professionalism, which includes honesty and being ethical. Therefore, education programs should care about this unethical behavior before it trickles into their future

In the words of Deborah Kenny (2006), “ the increasing concern is the links of this practice to professionalism or indeed in this case unprofessionalism. Both pre-and post-registration nursing students who plagiarize risk bringing reputation of the profession into disrepute” (p. 1). The transition from pre-nursing student to post-nursing student who commits this form of unprofessionalism will then go into the job risking it all for others. Nurses are to care for patients, be honest and gain the nurse-patient trust. Moreover, the pre-nursing student that plagiarized is most probable of plagiarizing as a post-nursing student leading to dishonesty in his or her profession. Kenny (2006) noted that “plagiarism is clearly a serious issue for students who are undertaking training to enter a profession where integrity, honestly and trustworthiness are paramount to the nurse patient relationship. It is thus essential that nurse educators contribute to building a culture of integrity and professionalism demonstrable throughout the academic community from the commencement of training” (p. 5). By being aware of plagiarism, it will lead nurses to actually obtain the knowledge they need to know for patient care and not steal the credit from someone’s work. For instance, if a nursing student plagiarized on a research topic about diabetes mellitus by copying and pasting information