Nursing is one of the most essential, stressful, and indispensable professions in the modern world. Nursing is not only protecting and taking care of a patient’s health, but also moral support, compassion, and empathy. It is possible to work as an RN with an associate’s degree, but BNS gives excellent benefits to a nurse, such as supervisory roles, more responsibility, and higher salaries. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the decision-making frameworks of the RN-BSN program and identify specific ethical standards and moral conduct codes.
Ethical Decision-Making Frameworks
Compliance with ethical standards in the process of the professional activity of nurses is a complicated case and requires a high level of moral self-awareness. The BSN program helps to understand patients’ moods and serve them professionally through the use of evidence-based research teaching in nursing theory classes. Thinking of the patient’s emotional and spiritual needs is a crucial component of the nursing skill training, allowing nurses to explore an ability to view the whole picture of a patient as opposed to just focusing on the reason for hospitalization and tasks of the day.
Besides growing responsibility for the course of my RN-BSN program at WCU ethical principles and ethical decision-making frameworks have evolved. I have realized that nowadays, it is a daily practice for nurses to meet ethical issues in the health care environment (Pollard, 2015). For example, in the work I did in NURS 521 Ethics in Health Care Class I described a case of a hard choice, in which the nurse acted as an advocate for the patient since in this case, only the patient’s guardians could decide about her life according to the law. But in this situation, the nurse had to be capable not exclusively to give care to the patient yet additionally to be fit for protecting the rights if a requirement for this emerges.
The Professional Standards of Moral, Ethical, and Legal Conduct
Every day nurses are held to the highest ethical code; they teach, care, and relieve physical or emotional pain. It was identified four areas of content regarding nursing students’ ethical problems: respect for life; nurses and clients; nurses and professional practice; and nurses and coworkers. Very often, conflicts arise because of the refusal, to tell the truth to people giving up on incurable patients. There are some ethical principles of nursing in my work from NURS 510 Policy, Organization, and Financing of Health Care Class. They are autonomy (consent must be obtained), justice (no genetic discrimination), nonmaleficence (the biotechnology should not be abused). It is also beneficence (stem cells from one person can help another), fidelity (commitment to responsible, ethical research), totality, and Integrity (respect for the body) (Butts & Rich, 2019, p. 28). All these principles are important to consider including motive, virtue, respect for the patient and their body, as well as social justice when engaging in such controversial practices.
Conclusion
The BSN program explores the concept that as a nursing professional, I am to protect and advocate for my patients. As for me, it taught me the importance of communication and interacting as nursing professionals for patient care. I have explored the area of professionalism and personal values through my practice and classes. My work for NURS 521 Ethics in Health Care and NURS 510 Policy, Organization, and Financing of Health Care gave me a great experience. It also showed that my academic experience and real-world applications did not always go with, but the gained knowledge will undoubtedly improve my professionalism.
References
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2019). Nursing Ethics. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Pollard, C. L. (2015). What is the right thing to do: use of a relational ethic framework to guide clinical decision-making. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(2), 362-368.