My Nursing Ethic

Essay

My decision to undertake a career in nursing practice got influenced majorly by my personal, cultural and values. My drive and enthusiasm to improve lives of people in the community greatly contributed to the decision of pursuing nursing. The ability to make a positive contribution to a person’s life as well as make a difference when they are undergoing a difficult moment motivates me to work with the needy in the community. When I was growing up, my family, as well as the community raised me on cultural and spiritual values that focused on aiding the needy people in the society. My parents are staunch religious people and follow the teachings of the Bible, hence brought up by those teachings. Helping others in the community when in need without necessary expecting any reward greatly got emphasized in the teachings. My parent’s contributions in the community and actions to help needy people despite them having professions that did not relate to interacting with the community and the needy motivate me to make bigger contributions. The community health officers and nurses who work diligently with the elderly in the community have inspired me into pursuing the nursing practice. Whether working in a team or an individual, I will serve the people faithfully.

The personal, cultural and spiritual values have played a crucial role in my decision to pursue nursing practice and also to work competently. Despite the numerous challenges associated with the practice such as hardships, the values motivate me to keep on serving the people. These values have also nurtured my positive attitude towards nursing practice. In my practice, my appreciation for both small and big achievements motivates me to perform better.

Ethics in nursing practice refers to identifying the actions or the conduct of nursing professionals as right or wrong and whether the motives and results of their conduct or actions are good or bad (Hill & Howlett, 2013). The actions and conduct of nursing practice get examined through formal processes. Morals in nursing practice are the views dealing with right or wrong conduct, attitude, and character. Moral development in the profession entails learning the ability to tell the difference between wrong and right as well as learning what ought to get done and what ought not to get done. Values in nursing practice refer to the ideals, beliefs, modes of conduct, qualities, customs or objectives that highly get preferred by individuals, groups and societies, and influence people’s choices on a daily basis. Values also influence the specific judgments that a person makes and reflect on what they believe is good or bad. Values also influence the thinking and behavior of an individual, and often get learned at an early age and continue to get developed throughout a person's life (Chism, 2015).

My personal values, philosophy, and worldview greatly conform to the ethics, morals and values of nursing practice. However, my personal values that majorly get rooted in religious teachings may conflict with the ethics, morals and values of nursing practice. Religious teachings emphasize on doing well to all people and not to commit murder, and that healing comes from God. Nursing ethics, on the other hand, require nursing professionals to undertake all actions according to set laws. An ethical dilemma may arise between religious beliefs and nursing ethics, in a circumstance where a pregnancy threatens the life of a pregnant woman, as nursing ethics requires the life of the pregnant woman must get saved and given priority in the circumstance. Religious teachings state that life begins immediately after conception hence attempting to save the mother’s life by an act of taking another is wrong. However, the act gets accepted in the nursing ethics as a life of the pregnant woman gets spared.

Moral and ethical dilemmas in nursing practice present challenging and difficult situations for professions in this area. They, however, cannot get avoided and should get handled wisely so as to result in benefit to the involved persons. I strongly believe that my personal values will greatly contribute in undertaking my roles as a nursing professional. The conduct and behavior of all nursing professionals must at all times conform to nursing ethics and have motives that benefit the clients. Ethics and morals are significant in the field to regulate the field and ensure that personal rights of persons do not get violated. My personal opinions influence my conduct and actions while in the nursing practice. My decisions in all roles in the practice will get guided by various nursing ethics that include autonomy, benevolence, respect, and non-maleficence. My personal opinions also affect my conduct and actions since if I firmly believe that an action is right, I will be more compassionate and motivated to perform the role as compared to when my opinions do not agree with the conduct or action. My personal views also affect the manner in which I interact with patients and work colleagues in the practice, although my passion for serving and helping the needy in the community will influence my practice much more.

References

Chism, L. A. (2015): The doctor of nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Hill, S. S., & Howlett, H. S. (2013): Success in practical/vocational nursing: From student to leader. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in nursing writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for already written essay.