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Ethical Principles Governing Health Care Providers:

The actions of health care providers in the delivery of care services to patients or clients are governed by certain ethical principles. These ethical principles also provide the basis for good relationships between health care providers and patients. The first ethical principle is autonomy, which emphasizes on protecting a patient’s right to make care decisions and choices independently (Nelson, 2007, p.30). In essence, every individual receiving care services should be given the opportunity to make decisions regarding his/her health care. This implies that health care providers must ensure that patients make informed decisions through providing them with necessary information regarding their care. For instance, a nurse should provide the patient with documentation of his/her diagnosis, probable treatment options, and the best care practice and leave the patient to make independent decision.

The second ethical principle is confidentiality through which health care providers cannot disclose a patient’s health care information that is obtained in a professional way without the consent of the specific patient. This is primarily because patients are likely to lose trust in the health care providers if sensitive information is not protected. However, this secrecy may be ethically broken, especially when there is a potential of harm to someone else. For instance, if the patient tests positive for HIV/AIDS and wants to hide such information from his/her spouse, the care provider may directly or indirectly disclose the diagnosis to the spouse warning him/her of potential harm. Third, the actions of health care providers are dictated by the ethical principle of nonmalfeasance,...

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...castic retorts, vandalism of personal belongings, stalking, death threats, pushing in the classroom, and throwing items. For students, incivility occurs in the form of belittling remarks, taunting, and other devaluing and disrespectful behavior. Nursing students also state that they find it uncivil if instructors are not prepared for class, cancel classes without prior notice, and being unavailable after class.

Since incivility in nursing education contributes to psychological and physiological distress, there is need to develop and adopt appropriate measures to deal with it. Some of the factors that show the need for dealing with this vice include the fact that nursing is a tough business, places hard demands, and how behaviors signify values. Incivility can be dealt with through commitment to creating cultures of civility and going beyond collective cynicism.