To me, integrity describes being true to your word, and acting in a way that is true to who you are as a person, no matter who is or is not looking. Integrity involves showing up for people in the way you promised you would, completing tasks you set out to complete on time and to the best of your ability. Integrity means acting with truth in your work and acting in a way that is truthful to you personal values and ethics. This is a quality I value in myself and will strive to behave in a way that reflects this.

Acting with integrity in nursing means giving the correct medication and interventions to your patients, when you said you would. It means taking responsibility for the promises you make to yourself and your patients, delivering on them with great care. In nursing, this also means maintaining a strong relationship with your patient, giving great consideration to their circumstance and privacy. Integrity outlines the CNO’s 5th guideline to the Code of Conduct, ensuring patients are receiving competent care that is equitable (CNO, 2023). Nursing care, to me, should be free of bias, and to a high standard for all patients. Nurses should ask themselves; Am I being true to my values and treating this patient to the best of my ability?

Honesty is the ability to act with truth and integrity with one’s daily ongoings. To act with purpose and truth in all aspects of life, personal, spiritual, and working interactions. Acting with honesty involves acting with truth in one’s self-dialogue and interactions with others. When acting in an honest manner, a person will be truthful to their own values and beliefs, be truthful in the work they put forth, be truthful in making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and making a valiant effort to improve.

I believe nurses need to act with honesty in their work, to be honest to themselves and everyone around them. They must be honest with themselves, in their evaluation of their knowledge and skills, to know when something is within their scope. They must be honest with their patients, being upfront about the level of care they are able to deliver and to put an honest effort into following-through with that promise. They must be honest with their colleagues and mentors, asking for help when they need, to ensure patients get the best possible care. Nurses should be honest when they make mistakes, and put truthful efforts into improving.

A strong work-ethic, to me, means having a strong attention to detail, an unrelenting perseverance, and a willingness to put the maximum effort to which you are capable into every endeavour. Having this work-ethic involves striking a balance between giving something your all, and ensuring you maintain a high quality of work completed. This also involves taking on only how much you can reasonably do, to ensure you are able to give your 100% to everything you said you would. In my eyes, this also applies to working with integrity.

I believe nurses need to have a strong work-ethic to be able to deliver the best possible care to their patients. Nurses should view each patient and working task as valuable to their practice and learning. Nurses should take great care to ensure they are able to give 100% into their work when they are responsible for the care of patients, as patient safety is paramount. To ensure they are able to put maximal effort into their work, nurses should engage in regular self-reflection, and take care of themselves in order to show up wholly for their patients. Nurses should persevere in the face of difficulty and strive to find solutions that are patient-centered. Nurses should maintain a high quality of care, and work hard to maintain that quality, advocating for patients and themselves when that quality is not met.

Adaptability is the ability to change and grow according to the difficulties and challenges in one’s life. Adaptability dictates the ability to quickly change in order to meet the demands of the environment and circumstances in which a person might find themselves. This is rooted in the ability to tailor one’s responses to the demands of the circumstances to be successful. This ability relies on using difficult circumstances as tools for growth, both personal and professional. A key aspect of adaptability comes from self-reflection and honesty, using reflection techniques to honestly evaluate an experience and how it can apply to growth and future experiences.

Nurses respond to health circumstances that are ongoing and ever-changing. The social, scientific and healthcare environments are constantly evolving and continue to learn and grow. Nurses must be adaptable to these changes, learning and growing alongside them. Nurses will see patients of all different cultures, lived experiences and health backgrounds, and must be able to adapt their care model to these changing needs. To effectively adapt to these changing circumstances, I believe nurses must use consistent self-reflection and evaluation of best practices to critically determine the best care model for each patient. Nurses must adapt to each patient and working landscape, to deliver the highest possible quality care.