Nursing Ethics - 5 of the Most Important Principles

March 12, 2010 - PRLog -- The quality of health care treatment provided has a direct impact on patients and that's probably why nurses need to adhere to the code of ethics. The fact that patients trust the nurses with their lives makes it all the more important for ethics to be followed closely.

Here are 5 important ethics of nursing to be followed completely by nurses.

- Confidentiality: This is to comply with the patient-nurse relationship. Nurses should not divulge any information about their patients to anybody unless they are permitted to do so by the patient. Unless it is extremely necessary to share the information, may be in case of preserving life, they may break this code of ethics. The decision to divert information in dire circumstances lies with the nurse on duty.

- Collaboration: Proper collaboration and communication is very essential in health care institutions. This is a multi-faceted field where many people are involved in taking care of a patient. Hence, it's the duty of the nurse to follow correct process of communication and collaborate accordingly keeping the best interest of the patent in mind.

- Compassion: Although it is very important to be professional in nursing, it is equally important to be compassionate towards the patient. Health care completely relies on compassion as this is one of the most effective ways of treating a person with ill health. Nurses should be compassionate caretakers of their patients. They should perform their duties with full diligence without harming the dignity and safety of the individual in any way.

- Competence: Nursing ethics relies heavily on competence. A nurse is completely responsible for all the procedures to be performed or decisions to be taken on duty. They should be experienced and most importantly, properly trained for the task they are about to perform. A LPV or a licensed practitioner nurse is competent to perform all basic nursing tasks under the licensure. With additional training, degree and experience, nurses achieve proficiency in executing advanced nursing techniques.

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