Mission Statement for Nursing
Introduction
Healthcare is one of the most important aspects in human beings. For progress, people need to take into consideration the roles played by nursing and good health in their lives (Cantrell, 2011). Nursing practices require commitment, sacrifice, dedication and resilience whereby, some of these virtues are hard to maintain especially when dealing with different types of people each day. This paper addresses important aspects of nursing which enable practitioners to relate well with the patients, families and even friends who accompany the patients.
In nursing, regulatory bodies have the responsibility to ensure that all medical practitioners follow the right ethical procedures when dealing with patients or any other aspect of their practice. Important aspects such as privacy, information and uncertainty in illnesses are important factors for patients who require prudence and confidentiality when necessary as supported by Beauchamp and Childress (1994) and Perry (2001). In an event where virtues are broken or patients feel that they are not receiving the service they deserve from the practitioners, the regulatory body takes initiative to deal with the specific doctor or nurse in question. It is also the board’s duty to ensure that every person operating within their jurisdiction has met the right qualifications and the minimum requirements to operate. The board would be irresponsible if a nurse or a doctor was operating without the right qualification, a factor which can endanger the patients’ lives.
On the other hand, professional nursing organizations are obligated to ensuring that the welfare of nurses is well taken care of and in the process acting as an umbrella body for the practitioners. In addition, medical practitioners get the opportunity to meet others practitioners from different places enabling interaction in the line off duty. This in addition enables the necessary connections at both local and advanced level which probably leads to promotions or even getting new job opportunities. Some organizations offer memberships to clubs and also insurance covers for practitioners such as medical or transport as supported by Perry (2001) in the American Medical Association Guide.
This implies that the regulatory bodies ensure that nursing practices are consistent with the set standards and procedures, while the organizations concentrate on the welfare of the nurses and how the practice can be maintained as well as being improved. Both organizations are meant to streamline the nursing career for both practitioners and patients. Nursing code of ethics was developed as a guide for the nursing practitioners to follow while in their professional engagement. According to American Nurses Association (ANA), the second provision states that ‘nurses promote, advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety, and rights of their patient’ as quoted in Cantrell (2011). This quotation means that it is not only in the patients’ health that nurses are obligated to, in addition to it being “rights” of the patients which in this case are legally provided for. This helps the nurses as well as the patients in events where some rights of the patients may be violated in the medical care process. The other provision that directly influences my nursing practice is the one that stating that ‘nurses have the initial obligation of attending to patients, who may be a group, community, family or even individual patients (Beauchamp & Childress, 1994). This takes care of the cases where the community, individual or another third party is having vested interest in the health care of a patient who a doctor is dealing with.
Apart from the two mentioned provisions, there are other two codes of ethics which may be applied in an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals as stated in the fifth provision that, ‘nurses owe the same duties to their own self as to others, which includes the responsibility to preserve integrity and safety in maintaining competence and ensuring continued personal and professional growth at their working career’ (Cantrell, 2011). This encourages self-sacrifice and integrity while dealing with other people’s affairs especially patients. In case some of those provisions are violated, the nurse is liable to take full responsibility for his/her actions according to the law.
In addition, the fourth provision in the American Medical Association guide by Perry (2001) indicated that, ‘a nurse has full accountability and responsibility for the patient care, and therefore determines the most appropriate nursing practice, which is applicable for deliverance of individual responsibilities and obligations in quality patient health care’, thus leading to integrity and self-sacrifice as mentioned above. It is only in this case that delegation is critical especially regarding the appropriateness of the person whom the duty is delegated (Cantrell, 2011).
Casey’s model of nursing is one of the models that have shaped my nursing career and influenced it to a great extent. It entails pediatric care and cooperation with the families. The fact that the parents, especially the immediate family parents of a child are the best people, who can take care of the child’s health and this makes the main basis of this theory. Children tend to respond well to treatment when in company of the parents or immediate family member and therefore, when care is given by parents with the help of nurses, the child’s health is bound to be more positively responding for the better of everyone. The other model is the Adaptation model of nursing which entails helping the body to cope with the prevailing circumstances. This is because by nature, the body is made to adjust itself to changing biological, physical as well as psychological changes and therefore forming the basis of the Adaptation model.
One of the most notable nursing figures in history is Clara Barton, one of the nurses operating during the civil war. Clara played an integral role in the health of President Lincoln’s health and was an instrumental player in the formation of the American Red Cross. The selflessness which she displayed during that time led to her being nicknamed “the angel of battlefield”. During the formation of the American Red cross, the nurse was playing an important role of helping the International Red cross at the Franco-Prussian war. Her real name was Clarrisa Harlowe Barton but she preferred the name Clara Barton more. It is very important for the whole nursing fraternity and even any humanitarian organization in the United States to realize that the nurse made the American Red cross which is much respected today for its humanitarian activities. Therefore, nurses should apply principles of beneficence and respect for autonomy, following the recognitions suggested in the American Medical Association guide by Perry (2001).
Beneficence – Nursing as a career involves making a choice to deal with people with problems and breaking one’s schedule to deal with the health problems of individuals. In order to achieve such, a Nurse needs to have qualities of kindness and Charity especially when patients do not have the necessary financial background or are extremely uncooperative. In some cases, nurses engage in beneficence acts to prevent harm, promote good or even remove a problem which already exists (Beauchamp & Childress, 1994). In child healthcare for example, care is necessary considering that children are not cooperative and that parents may not exactly understand the child’s needs. For instance, while working in Miami, Florida, the nurses in our sector decided to visit pediatric wards and give free services to all the children who were admitted with their parents there for one week. This included some extra services to those who got released during the course of the week.
Respect for autonomy – In applying this principle in nursing, it is usually tricky because autonomy and ethics seem to collide at some point. On several occasions, a nurse is bound to come across a situation where the patient rejects the genuine medical procedure. When the patient declines cooperation, it is not only morally wrong for the nurse to continue doing what the patient is objecting, but also illegal to doing so as supported by Beauchamp and Childress (1994). On the other hand, questions may arise where patients are directly going against the medical advice which they are given. At that point it is logical for the nurse to intervene and save the situation. One of the challenging situations which involved autonomy was a request by a minor patient for information to be withheld from her parents regarding her health. It is difficult for a physician to keep information regarding chronic illnesses such as cancer from the parents of a minor citizen. Living in the current world, the aspects of autonomy which patients and doctors need are hard to achieve and therefore, concessions must be made.
Conclusion
Nursing is an interesting profession but it comes with its complexities out of the simple fact that, nursing deals with people’s health directly which is subject to change at any time. For other professions such as engineering, facts are spelt out and there is uniformity in activities which one deals with everyday. In nursing on the other hand, personality changes with respect to the number of patients and therefore, patience and other moral virtues are applied on a daily basis. Moreover, practitioners encounter challenging situations every time and tough decisions have to be made with respect to the prevailing conditions (Beauchamp & Childress, 1994) and (Perry, 2001).
References
Beauchamp, T. L. & Childress, J.F. (1994). Principles of biomedical ethics (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press
Cantrell, M. A. (2011). Pediatric nursing. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Perry, A. (2001). The American Medical Association guide to home care giving. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
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