Ethics in a Nursing Program and Practice
Nurses promote patient healthcare outcomes, and they require a balance while providing patient care. Nurses should avoid causing harm to patients. Therefore, ethics in nursing enables caregivers to understand healthcare dilemmas and make correct decisions based on their values while operating within stipulated guidelines. Unethical behaviors in a nursing master’s program and practice lead to significant implications for losing professional credibility and monetary matters.
The consequences of unethical behavior in a nursing master’s program are the loss of professional credibility and organizational reputation. For example, when students pursuing a nursing master’s program at Ohio State University behave unethically by cheating in exams, the institution can expel them. In a nursing master’s program, nurses who are academically dishonest can engage in fraudulent acts in medical practice (Abusafia et al., 2018). Therefore, the Ohio State University may opt to expel the master’s student because academic integrity and ethical practice determine the quality of patient care and outcomes.
Honesty is an essential ethical value that enhances nursing a master’s program. The institution will expel a student engaging in academic dishonesty in a nursing master’s program because it violates trust in the nursing profession. Excommunicating the student also prevents the institution from being liable for any illegal medical action he may undertake (Allen et al., 2017). As a result, it may require the Board of Nursing (BON) to revoke the student’s nursing license to ensure he does not have professional credibility and reputation in nursing practice.
The consequence of unethical behavior in nursing practice is loss of financial and job opportunities. For example, a few nurses at Lenox Hill Hospital breached nurse-patient confidentiality through careless behaviors such as speaking about patients in public spaces and discussing their illnesses on telephones. Others shared patients’ details with third parties (friends and family) without their consent. After Fox News broadcasted this unethical behavior, the hospital incurred a significant financial loss as investors withdrew their shares. Additionally, patients whose information was shared without their consent decided to sue Lenox Hill Hospital. Although the medical facility compensated them, the patients did not return to seek its healthcare services.
The two examples show that unethical behaviors in a nursing master’s program and practice have significant implications. They also indicate that the repercussions of unethical behavior affect unethical and ethical professionals in nursing practice. The medical facilities should ensure that nursing students and graduates adhere to the nursing code of ethics.
References
Abusafia, A. H., Roslan, N. S., Yusoff, D. M., & Nor, M. Z. M. (2018). Snapshot of academic dishonesty among Malaysian nursing students: A single university experience. Journal of Taibah University medical sciences, 13(4), 370-376.
Allen, C., Stanley, S., Cascoe, K., & Stennett, R. (2017). Academic dishonesty among undergraduate nursing students. International Archives of Nursing and Health Care, 3(3), 1-3.
