My Personal Ethics

One of the greatest challenges in healthcare that I have come to realize is the way to integrate personal beliefs and values into professional practice (Silva and Ludwick, 2001). The strong connection between the nurse and the patient is a great opportunity of manifesting the fears, goals, mutual feelings, faith and recognized strengths. The nurse must always be aware and at the same time sensitive to the conflicts of the patient, individual drama and experience. The moral and spiritual support of the nurse is a very powerful instrument that promotes the welfare of the patient. It contributes a lot in helping the patient to deal with the difficult life better.  The understanding of the patient’s needs will present a very important connection to start up the spiritual giving of care. To me, the absolute acknowledgement of the patients’ illness is in their nuances: physiological, spiritual and physical will make it possible for nurses to enhance hope, love, meaning together with other spiritual qualities to the patient. Philosophy is described as the study of the values essential to conduct thought and the exact nature of the universe (Chitty and Black, 2007).

As a nurse, I am obligated to search for meaning in my area of profession. I have opted to be a nurse because I believe in caring for the ill people. Taking care of the sick brings a lot of joy into my life. I like to show the sick that I do care concerning them and I want to assist them to be healthy, in the end. According to me, it is my conviction that taking care of a sick person makes a great difference in the life of that person. These personal values have helped me to fit very well in the nursing profession because that is what a nurse is expected to do.

A nurse is expected to work in different cultural contexts. Culture is very important to different people from different backgrounds. However, the role of the nurse conflicts with the patient’s cultural background; but as a nurse, I am in a privileged position to influence the behavior of the patient. The daily care and the relationship formed on the mutual trust provide a common working point beyond cultural affiliations. The nurse and the patient develop a very important connection that permits both sides the exchange of thoughts and insights (Lipson and Dibble, 2005). It is so important to be very cautious concerning what this approach means and make out what is suitable for disclosure and when. Understanding the patient’s cultural background will be useful for me to enhance the health practice by making sure that I do not do anything wrong to my patient.

I believe in demonstrating empathy for my patients. Being sympathetic to the patients is a way through which the nurse may connect with them. Some patients merely need to realize that somebody understands and identifies with their pain and suffering and I always make an effort of making sure that they see my concern for them. Getting involved with the patient is my passion because I care so much. I am deeply convinced that the main objective of a nursing practice is the education of the patient. The teaching of the patient without taking into consideration the condition that needs medical attention counts a lot in determining the achievement in the recovery process (Silva and Ludwick, 2001). As a nurse, I teach my patients how to be in charge of their health. Therefore, I believe that the main focus should be in providing the patient with enough support and quality care.

My spiritual values and moral tradition have taught me how to care for others and this actually acts as one of my drives in nursing. I really love showing compassion to others and nursing provides the opportunity for me to do so. This calls for me to offer my services selflessly and without any form of judgment no matter the religion, creed, gender or race of the patient. To effectively live out my personal ethics and philosophy on a daily basis, I must always remember that my patients rely on me for good care, consideration and kindness. I take myself as their advocate. I also incorporate the members of the family with the patient’s permission in helping out. My personal ethics have particularly helped me a lot in dealing with diverse cases. I am forced sometimes to work based on the evidence I get from a particular patient. I will always share my decision-making together with my colleagues to attain the most appropriate care plan for the patient. I believe in being a team player by showing support for my fellow nurses. I will always be accountable and responsible for my personal health. Finally, I believe that it is very important for me to be strong from inside in order to release the healing power to accomplish the fundamental nursing care mission.