Using the reading and the questionnaire, write a paper of 750-1,000 words in which you describe your professional moral compass. As you write your paper, include the following:
- What personal, cultural, and spiritual values contribute to your worldview and philosophy of nursing?
- How do these values shape or influence your nursing practice?
- Define values, morals, and ethics in the context of your obligation to nursing practice.
- Explain how your personal values, philosophy, and worldview may conflict with your obligation to practice, creating an ethical dilemma.
- Reflect and share your own personal thoughts regarding the morals and ethical dilemmas you may face in the health care field. How do your personal views affect your behavior and your decision making? Do not be concerned with the use of ethical terminology for this paper.
Read also Legal and Health care Issues, Ethical and Moral Issues For Health Care Organizations
My Professional Moral Compass
A professional moral compass is, arguably, one of the most fundamental aspects of a rounded nursing professional and often facilitates ethical decision-making. Today, a professional moral compass typically consists of a set of elaborate personal, spiritual, and cultural values influencing the actions of healthcare professionals during the decision-making process. It, therefore, guides nurses and helps them navigate a complex workplace environment characterized by ethical dilemmas and a specified set of standard operating procedures. According to Thomas et al. (2018), the presence of a professional moral compass among healthcare providers ensures that they adhere to a specific set of principles that, eventually, guide their behavior within the workplace environment while also influencing the decision-making process. Discourse on the importance of aligning personal values with ethical principles and standards, thus, provides a standard process for ensuring that the actions of healthcare professionals are ethical and safe while also promoting patients’ overall well-being.
Read also Virtue Ethics Vs Utilitarianism Ethics Vs Deontological Ethics
Personal, Cultural, and Spiritual Values Influencing my Worldview and Philosophy
From the onset, personal, cultural, and spiritual values are central to the nursing profession and often contribute greatly to individuals’ worldviews and philosophy within the profession. Personal values are often associated with an individual’s principles and belief system harnessed to guide standard behavior within the framework of the decision-making process. My values include compassion, empathy, and accountability. Each of the aforementioned personal values has been instrumental in shaping my worldview and philosophy within the nursing profession. For instance, compassion and empathy have fostered a sense of caring, understanding, and concern for my patients and their families with the sole aim of ensuring they receive the highest quality of care during routine hospital visits.
Read also Personal Nursing Philosophy Paper
On the other hand, cultural values encompass practices, belief systems, and customs unique to a particular group. Cultural values in nursing are encouraged since they serve as a necessary precondition for competence when interacting with patients from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds (Rushton, 2017). They ensure that nurses understand, value, and respect cultural diversity within a clinical environment to ensure the care provided is culturally sensitive and appropriate. Similarly, spiritual values are also tied to an individual’s beliefs and perspectives on the purpose of life today. It often includes beliefs about the presence of a higher power exercising divine wishes at will. Spiritual values in nursing may prompt a nurse to consider their job as a “calling”, thus approaching their work with purpose and a sense of dedication.
Read also Personal Definitions of Nursing Meta-Paradigm Concepts
Influence of Values, Morals, and Ethics in Nursing Practice
Values, ethics, and morals are three important concepts at the core of the nursing profession. An in-depth understanding of each of these concepts, therefore, provides a reliable framework for comprehending the obligations of parties in the nursing profession and their responsibilities towards their patients and society at large. On the other hand, morals provide clear and distinct standards of behavior for an individual to function within a particular society. Morals also play a crucial role in nursing as they ensure that nurses understand their obligations towards their patients and ensuring that they provide a safe environment for all. It is also important to note that any violation of set moral standards and codes may result in severe legal and professional consequences such as legal liability and loss of license (Pavlish et al., 2017). Additionally, ethics often include standards and principles adopted to guide the nursing profession. Ethical principles provide a much-needed perspective regarding the importance of patient autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice while operating in a clinical environment. It, therefore, provides an elaborate framework for guiding nurses in ensuring they always make ethical decisions in accordance with the highest standards of professional conduct. Legal and ethical obligations, therefore, ensure that nurses always remember their legal and ethical obligations to guarantee that they always maintain professional standards of practice.
Read also Personal Theoretical Framework for Advanced Practice Nursing
Impact of Personal Values, Philosophy, and Worldview on Obligation
Healthcare professionals operate within the framework of integrity and are normally expected to uphold the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct. Personal values, philosophies, and world views, therefore, influence their actions and should always be considered during the decision-making process. This is because they can directly influence healthcare professionals and their capacity to make fair and unbiased assessments of a particular scenario, therefore increasing the overall likelihood of an ethical dilemma. Personal values guide an individual’s behavior throughout the decision-making process and are often the product of culture, religion, of life experience.
Read also Worldview and Nursing Process Personal Statement
On the other hand, an individual’s philosophy encompasses their underlying belief system regarding values and the actual nature of reality. A nurse’s philosophy may guide their path within this particular career, especially when they develop a robust belief regarding their actual purpose in healthcare. An individual’s worldview is their attitude and perspective towards various relevant issues in society and the actual meaning of human existence today. A nurse’s worldview influences their attitudes toward patients and can also be implemented as a standard guideline for self-determination and autonomy within the workplace environment.
Personal Thoughts and Reflections on Morals and Ethical Dilemmas in the Clinical Environment
Healthcare professionals should always be conscious of the importance of ethical principles and the overall likelihood of encountering ethical dilemmas within a standard clinical environment. I am aware of this particular reality and constantly strive to ensure that my actions are guided by beneficence, autonomy, justice, and maleficence. Ethical dilemmas are an inescapable reality for healthcare workers and often challenge their set of personal values and beliefs (Ulrich et al., 2019). I acknowledge this reality which is why I intend to remain cognizant of any emerging threats to my professional obligations and how to counter them appropriately. For instance, I may encounter a patient who refuses to take a particular life-saving treatment for either cultural or religious reasons. This would be a critical ethical dilemma for me since my personal view is that healthcare providers are primarily tasked with ensuring they always preserve life. Moreover, I foresee a future ethical dilemma scenario on matters surrounding privacy and confidentiality within a clinical. Healthcare providers have an important duty to always ensure that they protect patient data. However, some emergency scenarios may require the sharing of patients’ private information for their safety or to prevent harm.
Conclusion
A professional moral compass is a vital tool for nurses in navigating the complex ethical dilemmas that may arise in nursing practice. Personal, cultural, and spiritual values guide a nurse’s approach to caring for patients and their families, while ethical principles provide a framework for ethical decision-making. By aligning personal values with ethical principles and standards, nurses can ensure that their actions and decision-making process are ethical, and safe, and promote the well-being of their patients.
Get Your Custom Paper From Professional Writers. 100% Plagiarism Free, No AI Generated Content and Good Grade Guarantee. We Have Experts In All Subjects.
Place Your Order Now