What personal, cultural, and spiritual values contribute to your worldview and philosophy of nursing? How do these values shape or influence your nursing practice?
Ethics and values form the basis of nursing. Nurses provide nursing care by preventing illness, reducing suffering and promoting restoration of health in individuals, families, societies and communities. Nursing involves technical skills and abilities, duty and service to others with compassion and efficient decision-making. Nursing care ensures in meeting the needs of patients and their families during the care to relieve from the consequences of sufferings. Nurses have to be vigilant enough to assess and assure to avoid unwanted treatments leading to patient …show more content…
Moral values and ethics guide me to treat a patient with compassion and dignity. It guides me to perform my duties towards the patient as well as to myself, maintain self respect, integrity, safety, competence and growth (The American Nurses Association, 2010). It enables to develop positive thoughts about myself bringing wholeness to the character. There may be dilemmas where we feel powerless to act in ethically correct manner but ethical guidance and moral values would enable to take the correct path and maintain integrity (Paynton, 2009). There are certain situations where other values override the nurses’ duty towards patient. But in such situations the ethical knowledge and critical thinking enables to identify the right and the wrong and take proper action. Ethical dilemmas are solved at one’s own discretion as every person has their own moral values, opinions and beliefs. Often situation arises where one patient requires more time and care than others. In such cases patients’ well being has to be given importance than to mere commitment (Dierckx de Casterle, Izumi, Godfrey & Denhaerynck, 2008). Here I prioritize on the duty based on the personal, professional and moral ethics, stick on with confidence to the situation to alleviate moral distress. Ethical reflections help me to learn from my mistakes and reinforce the good and overcome the ethical dilemmas. The ethic of