Code of Ethics Review
American Nurses Association’s code of ethics for nurses is a set of guidelines designed to help nurses better evaluate and carry out their duties and responsibilities (“About code of ethics,” 2017). The code itself contains several chapters covering various aspects of nursing activity and their ethic peculiarities (“Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements,” 2017). There are also interpretive statements that help nurses to understand provisions provided in the code better. All in all, there is lots of information; however, all of the guidelines are vital for every nurse.
In my daily work activities, knowledge extracted from the code of ethics is rather easy to implement. Naturally, the most basic application of the code is trying to form a positive relationship with every patient. Furthermore, as stated in the code, I must respect my patients and clearly understand their needs, beliefs, and preferences regarding treatment. Since these are the basic requirements, I always take them into account when receiving patients or discharging them. It is also important to understand what health – as a subject of medical practice – is, what steps are required to form a healthy environment and increase recovery rates.
There are also guidelines provided to ensure that every nurse takes their patient’s privacy into account, understands the responsibility of her actions, etc. Keeping these provisions in mind is beneficial. While carrying out my duties, I tend to remember how much responsibility I have and what consequences my actions may entail. This understanding is crucial to always stay professional and eliminate even the slightest possibility of making any mistake. Thus, the code of ethics for nurses is a very useful document that is necessary to be studied by every nurse to ensure their nursing practice will be highly professional and efficient.
References
About code of ethics. (2017). Web.
Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. (2017). Web.