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Chapter 3 Personal Values.
Cultures are a belief system that defines how people in a certain organization or country should behave or conduct themselves daily. In nursing, values provide ethical and quality services in providing care. The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) Code of Conduct and Professional Standards serves as the personal scope of practice framework that, upon adherence, results in the highest personal and professional accountability, integrity, and competence in practice.
Nursing professionals maintain ethical and sensitive concerns through compassion as one of its fundamental principles. Pehlivan and Güner (2020) stress that care is giving the patient an understanding of what’s best and needs, which enables nurses to supply the necessary services compassionately. Despite its difficulty in defining it clearly, one can confidently assert that compassionate care touches on the most critical and core aspects of patient care and professional nursing practice. In the real world, empathy was crucial, particularly during a clinical situation where an emotionally unstable patient required consolation; thus, compassion is important in developing trust in the healing process.
Nurses should have integrity in making proper decisions and always indicate the right thing. Guerrero-Dib et al.(2020) state that integrity learnt within the classroom is more important than professional ethical behaviour, thus reinforcing professionalism or accountability. I exercised integrity while practising clinical when I pointed out an error made to maintain patients’ integrity. This action showed professionalism, ethical practice, and personal responsibility towards the system. This incorporated integrity in nursing policies and practice brings about the basic standards and values of ethical nursing practice and accountability (Guerrero-Dib et al., 2020).
Accountability is the ability to provide safety, ethics, and standards of care in nursing. In clinical practice, it acts as a safeguard for the quality of practice builds credibility, and improves the welfare of patients. One day in the clinical rotation, I identified a difference in the dosage of the medications and taped my supervisor on the same. It stopped the possible adverse result and, more importantly, proved that I was ready and willing to protect the patient. Besides increasing confidence in other colleagues in the different health departments, accountability is a strategy that fosters constant quality improvement since it reminds the professionals they are answerable for every nursing action they undertake.
Patient relationships require one to respect them and their autonomy as they are the customers of healthcare providers. For instance, respect in practice means listening to the other parties, respecting their cultural norms, and not disclosing any information that is being shared. In any clinical encounter, I ensure that the patient’s choice is embraced and the care plan is shared. By doing this, trust was created, avoiding communication barriers and enhancing the results. Respect makes the patient feel appreciated, which leads to a good rapport with the patient. Nurses promote patient satisfaction and establish an environment in which healing and patients’ capacity to empower themselves occur.
Fig 2: Nursing ethics and values.