Introduction
The majority of nurses and other healthcare professionals recognize the significance of moral and ethical principles for effective medical practice performance. The role of the healthcare professional includes being the person with moral standards which affect the quality of his actions and relationships with patients. The importance of the personal ethic framework applied for medical practice, and personal life is colossal. The essential number of patients, who face the necessity of medical care, are not knowledgeable about what is required from nurses and healthcare professionals from the perspective of ethics (Grace. 2018). Numerous healthcare workers are not confident whether they are adequately informed to address emerging ethical issues of their practice. For this reason, a medical professional should study ethical principles and practices of nursing and analyze the correspondence of personal moral principles with medical standards.
Main body
Childhood experiences shape one’s ethical standards to a great extent. In retrospect, my current ethical standards have been shaped since a comparatively young age. During childhood, I have been taught the principles of empathy, personal responsibility, and collaboration. As I grew older, my understanding of the described ethical standards became more nuanced and sophisticated, further transforming into professional skills that allow me to address patients’ needs directly. As an adult, I have been affected by the role models that historical figures and people working with me represented. Thus, I learned to share experiences and engage in a continuous loop of lifelong learning.
Ethical influences shape people’s attitudes and values, both in their personal and professional lives. Thus, I have been quite lucky to have perfect role models in both domains. The impact of family members has defined my impartiality and objective approach to conflicts, whereas professional influences have defined my ability to manage dilemmas, such as informed consent and patients’ rights to privacy. Intersecting and allowing me to approach complex issues from an objective standpoint, the described ethical influences have allowed me to follow the essential standards for ethical decision-making in nursing, namely, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and autonomy.
General medical ethics demands compassion and honesty towards patients and the protection of patients’ confidential information. According to Grace (2018), ethical principles generally refer to “rules, standards, or guidelines for action that are derived from theoretical propositions about what is good for humans” (p. 16). There are six key ethical principles of nursing: principles of veracity, fidelity, justice, autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence (Grace, 2018). Veracity is a principle of honesty as a respect to a patient; an advanced practice nurse should be truthful with patients and their families (Grace, 2018). The principle of fidelity is connected to the idea of trust between a patient and a nurse; it requires loyalty, human decency, protection of the patient’s interests, and keeping promises.
Conclusion
The principle of justice makes fairness in supplies and care distribution a priority; an advanced practice nurse should treat all patients equally (Butts & Rich, 2019). Nursing activity conducted by justice includes fair distribution of the resources (for instance, equally professional staff for all patients). The principle of justice affects the organization of patients’ treatment orders (patients with severe pain should be seen in the first instance) as well. The principle of autonomy requires providing a patient with all appropriate information concerning all aspects of his or her medical care for the patient’s individual decision-making. The principle of beneficence is defined by compassion and emotional support. Specifically, it posits that nursing professionals should have a desire to provide care and positive emotions to patients. The principle of nonmaleficence can be considered as a fundamental principle of nursing ethics (Butts & Rich, 2019). Healthcare practitioners should avoid intentional and unintended infliction of harm and consider all potential risks during the pursuit of their nursing activity.
Personal Professional Development Plan
Ethical practice refers to “the use of disciplinary knowledge, skills, experience, and personal characteristics to conceptualize what is needed either at the level of the individual or of society” (Grace, 2018, p. 5). Performing nursing activities, I should be led by the following questions: “What is my responsibility toward my patients? What additional treatment do they need? Do they receive enough of my care? How can I ensure that their needs are fulfilled? Do they trust me?” In nursing practice, personal moral and ethical standards play an essential role, whereas positive and negative aspects of character significantly influence the quality of work. My goal is to evaluate my ethical values and develop a professional plan for the successful performance of nursing activity.
The personal professional plan requires the responsible performance of nursing activities. My cheerfulness and sociability are highly beneficial for my work as my positive mood affects the emotional state of patients and helps them to recover. My thoughtfulness and attention to small details help to address patients, their needs, and secrets with regard and respect. Nevertheless, I should suppress my emotional intensity and affectability as a nursing practice requires countenance, patience, and consistency for beneficial decision-making and to avoid risks of unintended harm.
References
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2019). Nursing ethics. Across the curriculum and into practice. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Grace, P. J. (Ed.). (2018). Nursing ethics and professional responsibility in advanced practice. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.