Ethics In The Nursing Profession

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Consistently, Americans have rated nursing as the most respectable profession and having the highest ethical standards (Riffkin, 2014). This says a lot for nurses, and the medical profession in general, as medical doctors were second and, pharmacists was third. In January 2015, the American Nurses Association released their updated Code of Ethics (ANA, 2015a). A professional code of ethics puts into words the guidelines of a profession, the standards of honesty and the ethical rules of a profession (Guido, 2014). The provisions of the code of ethics remained except for updates in wording and terminology and new circumstances and roles of nurses. The main concerns of the provisions address include: "nurse-to-patient, nurse-to-nurse, nurse-to-self, …show more content…
Provision 6, tells us that "The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains, and improves the ethical environment of the work setting and conditions of employment that are conducive to safe, quality health care"(Lachman, Swanson, & Winland-Brown, 2015, p. 364). By breaking this tenet, you created the ethical dilemma of no longer creating a moral work environment for yourself or others. It is a nurse 's ethical and moral obligation to make sure that your workplace environment supports both patients and other …show more content…
Without "Zero Tolerance," nothing else matters, and nothing else can move forward. After setting up the policy, everything else can branch off from that. Establishing a safe environment for your employees, and offering educational workshops on bullying with ways to prevent it, and encourage nurses to take part in the programs. To urge nurses to report incidents of violence and bullying, and provide a process by which nurses can seek help when they are feeling threatened; these are just the beginning steps to put a stop to workplace bullying (ANA, 2015b). Empowering nurses by giving them a voice will have the added benefit to open up communication avenues and nurses may be more likely to speak up (Lockhart, 2016). Enforcing the policy and setting a standard that meets the Code of Ethics for Nurses Provision 6.2, will create a workplace of mutual peer support and a culture of safety (Lachman et al., 2015). To this end, the ANA has provided recourses and educational material and tip cards that can be purchased with available continuing education (CE) credits (ANA,

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