The Importance of the Nursing Code of Ethics

There is a general acceptance that ethics education is difficult both to assess and teach. Especially in today's health care environment where patient autonomy is valued over traditional paternalistic approaches coupled with the accelerating advances in technology, serious questions arise whether ethics education has a new role to play to promote high quality healthcare.

Ethical dilemmas are common occurrence in all areas of nursing practice. According to the International Council of Nurses (ICN), Nurses render health services to the individual, the family, and the community and coordinate their services with those of related groups (ICN, 2005, p?). With that being said, nurses will have many occasions when they encounter situations that are far more complex than just simply caring for patients. This emphasizes nursing primary ethical obligations to the care of the patients and also how ethics education is an essential component that can prepares nurses for their everyday practice.

As a matter of fact, majority of students who have an understanding of moral responsibility and delegation in the written test, often uncertain or fail to enact the principles they have learned when they have to face the reality of professional practices (Wintrup, 2015). Additionally, such fears of speaking out or reporting colleagues are found to exist among health care professionals, negatively influenced care and treatment for patients (Wintrup, 2015).

Another key point often overlooked is that students have diverse perspectives about the meaning of respect for human dignity. The diverse academic backgrounds and clinical experiences of students also play a crucial role in how they would learn the concept of respect for human dignity (Wintrup, 2015). Given these points, it is important for both practitioners and students to be more aware of the role of values and recognize the influences of their own, as well as the values of those they are working to help in order to deliver a safer, compassionate and caring services (Wintrup, 2015).

Solving ethical issues requires critical thinking skills rather than just learning to match correct responses. Respect for human dignity deserves to be fully understood within the context of nursing practice as it is an integral concept for the six ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, veracity, and justice (BOOK). Nurses should use the Nurse's Code of Ethics as resources to help them make decisions regarding the practice setting and in their delivery of patient care.

In conclusion, ethics education has a role to play in supporting nurses to be fully involved as moral agents, to promote higher quality of health care services. In order to gain a deeper understanding of dignity within practice, nurses must show a desire to learn about dignity, conduct research and exploring dignity within oneself. It is hoped for that nurses who come to better understand themselves and learn how to make decisions in line with their own beliefs, are able to put patients before themselves by being honest and open regardless of the consequences for themselves.

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