Introduction
The ANA Code of Ethics is a guide for all nurses that seeks to direct their practice. This essay scrutinizes this guide in the lens of a recent academic breach. The essay is composed of three parts and the first part is a reflection of the code of ethics and its measure on academic integrity. The second part is a personal reflection of the effect of the academic breach and its impact on my character. The third part scrutinizes my future role as a family nurse practitioner and how the knowledge acquired in the academic breach case will be integral. The code of ethics is essential for nurses at all stages of their practice, spanning students to practitioner nurses as illustrated.
Reflection on ANA Code of Ethics for Nursing and Academic Integrity
The ANA Code of Ethics is a succinct guide for all nursing professionals that provides a comprehensive direction for the practice of nursing. It offers crucial direction for both nurses in practice and also students in nursing who are meant to form a crucial component of the nursing workforce in the future (McDermott-Levy et al., 2018). The code summarily has nine provisions that direct the practice of nursing. The provisions prescribe guidelines for nurses to interact with their patients, colleagues, and institutions (Schmidt & McArthur, 2017). The provisions make a deliberate target for all the facets of the nursing profession, incorporating them into the guidelines and ensuring the practice of nursing is eased. The code of ethics prioritizes the welfare of the patients and requires nurses to ensure the best interests of the sick are catered for maximally. The code provides some critical provisions that touch on the professional practice of nursing and growth within the profession, but all this is for the interests of the patient.
The code prescribes the role of nurses and provides a summary of the characteristics expected of all professionals. Nurses are required to portray integrity and compassion; crucial attributes that ensure they offer optimum services. Nurses are asked to primarily commit to their patients with no regard for their differences whatsoever and this ensures nursing maintains its primary focus. Nursing also encompasses advocacy and the protection of human rights, the very attributes the nursing profession was built upon (Moore & Gaviola, 2018). Nurses are charged with ensuring that they discharge their duties to themselves as to others, including health promotion, preservation of integrity, and maintenance of competence.
Students of nursing are required to adhere to the code of ethics to ensure that academic integrity is maintained. The code requires nurses to maintain honesty within the profession and to be the custodians of compassion and the dignity of the profession. Academic integrity is therefore at the center stage of nursing, given the formative role of academics in the making of a nurse and the continuity of the profession (Bratz & Sandoval-Ramirez, 2018). Nurses are required to advance the profession of nursing through the discovery of new knowledge in research, a crucial component of continuity and permanence (West, 2020). Nurses must uphold academic excellence through adherence to set standards and shun compromise in research. This will be instrumental in ensuring that nursing maintains its position as a prestigious and noble profession adherent to dignity and integrity. Academic integrity involves truthfulness in the education of nurses to ensure only the most qualified serve the unsuspecting public.
Impact of the Academic Integrity Breach and Effect on Behavior
The academic integrity breach has opened my eyes to the importance of the ethical codes of nursing practice and increased my awareness of daily breaches that occur within my surrounding. I have acquired deep admiration and a newfound respect for the nursing profession which is grounded on solid understanding and the benefit of experience. The breach and its consequences on my professor have impacted caution within me when dealing with serious academic content on nursing. I appreciate the need to exercise caution when handling nursing and the associated academic grounds that are the foundations of this source. I comprehend my role as a nurse in the continuity of this knowledge better than before through participation in research and nursing activities that prescribe the development of new codes of conduct. My understanding of integrity has been challenged to include matters that appear trivial, forcing me to develop critical analytical skills that will be vital in preventing the occurrence of such instances of the breach in future.
My behavior within the program will be positively influenced by the experiences gained from the breach of ethical codes. I intend to understand the ethical codes of nursing conduct better from now to prevent the recurrence of breaches in the future. This will ensure that I am wholesomely informed about the responsibility ahead of me and equipped with sufficient knowledge. This will ensure that in addition to academic integrity, I uphold respect for the other codes of nursing practice. I will acquire the aforementioned knowledge through reading into the codes of practice and interpretations from pioneers and writers of these codes. This will guarantee an understanding of the codes from their conception and enable the integration of original ideas. I will also ensure robust discussions with fellow nurses and seniors within the profession around the nursing practice and the ethical requirements to gauge different perspectives and inform wisdom.
I will ensure that I undertake the advocacy of these nursing codes to ensure that my junior colleagues and upcoming nurses understand the importance of ethical nursing practice. This will ensure that they do not commit the same breach in academic integrity or, in extension, break the other codes mistakenly. This will improve the practice of nursing by guaranteeing that the next crop of nurses understands professionalism and the responsibility ahead of them. I will take an active role in the formulation of new codes in the future to ensure that this learned understanding of these codes will be incorporated. Active participation will be achieved through involvement in conferences, research, and discourses. Research and the discovery of new knowledge in nursing should incorporate the nursing codes of ethical practice to ensure that the welfare of patients is safeguarded. I will also ensure that the research methods employed are satisfactory in guaranteeing that the scientific principles are sufficiently employed.
Future Role as Family Nurse Practitioner
The ANA Code of Ethics will be the center stage of my family nurse practitioner practice, ensuring that patients receive the best services from me. I will take a keen interest in advocacy, as prescribed by the third provision. Advocacy implies being a human rights advocate, but within the professional setting incorporates demanding better from the government. I will join the decision-making circles within the workplace and always remind my colleagues to prioritize the interests of patients when creating policy. This means advocating for more affordable services while also ensuring that quality is not compromised. I will foster essential collaboration with other healthcare workers within my setting including nurses and pharmacists, to ensure that patients receive wholesome care. The inclusion of other professionals will promote harmony and decrease waste through the duplication of services.
I will also ensure that I deliver the best possible care for my patients through the practice of my skills. This includes making informed decisions based on evidence-based practices to guarantee optimum outcomes. I will take responsibility for all my actions within the practice of family nursing and ensure accountability from colleagues. I will make maximal efforts to prevent the interference of other distractions within my practice by seeking help from other professionals when in need. This includes ensuring that my medical care is prioritized alongside my mental needs to prevent the spillage of personal conflicts into nursing practice. The academic breach experience will inform crucial caution as I practice family nursing as I will portray extra awareness.
The recently acquired experience will be vital during my involvement in research and the expansion of nursing knowledge. I will undertake research projects that respect methodical underpinnings to the latter, to prevent compromise. I will follow prescriptions on sampling and data collection to ensure that academic integrity is not compromised. When in need of input from previous research projects, I will acquire permission from authors to ensure I avoid compromise. I will additionally educate myself on the current codes of ethics and make attempts to remain abreast with the changes to remain updated. This will be vital in maintaining my position as an informed family nurse practitioner and preventing lapse of judgment during future practice.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ANA Code of Ethics is an indispensable tool of practice, guiding interactions between healthcare practitioners and patients, while also encouraging the conduct of students. The academic breach case has generally enabled me to develop a positive attitude towards nursing and academic integrity. In my role as a family nurse practitioner I will become an ambassador for academic integrity through personal conduct and also through advocacy for honest and ethical practice.
References
Bratz, J. K. A., & Sandoval-Ramirez, M. (2018). Ethical competences for the development of nursing care. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 71(4), 1810–1814. Web.
McDermott-Levy, R., Leffers, J., & Mayaka, J. (2018). Ethical Principles and Guidelines of Global Health Nursing Practice. Nursing Outlook, 66(5), 473–481. Web.
Moore, H. A., & Gaviola, M. S. (2018). Engaging Nursing Students in a Culture of Integrity. Journal of Nursing Education, 57(4), 237–239. Web.
Schmidt, B. J., & McArthur, E. C. (2017). Professional nursing values: A concept analysis. Nursing Forum, 53(1), 69–75. Web.
West, E. (2020). Ethics and Integrity in Nursing Research. Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity, 1051–1069. Web.
