Introduction
Nurses are guided by various codes in their practice. These codes contain standards and ethical standards that nurses must adhere to in their daily practice. They seek to ensure accountability to build confidence and public trust in the healthcare discipline, through defining duties and roles of the professional nurse. This paper discusses three codes that apply to Australian nurses including the code of professional conduct, the code of ethics, and the international council of nurses’ code of ethics.
The Code of Professional Conduct
The Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia is the expected national standard of nursing performance for Australian nurses. The code identifies the least necessities for behavior in the career. The basis of this code for Nurses in Australia is to carry out in a risk-free and skilled manner. A nurse must follow in accordance with law appropriately to the nurse’s area of practice.
The code states that a nurse must ensure and respect dignity, culture, values and beliefs for any other person they attend. This ensures that they offer effective nursing care. The interest of individuals must be protected irrespective of sexual category, age, sexuality, or religious or l beliefs.
A nurse’s duty is to offer secure and right nursing services. Any situation which may compromise the safety and professional principles, or remark of debatable or immoral act, will be made known to the appropriate authority (Hally, 2009). Any concern is not set on and continues to compromise safe and suitable care, a nurse must be involved in the safety of that person and report to the authority. They should not disgrace the reputation of the nursing profession. This means their actions in their personal life may have a detrimental impact on their reputation and the profession and may have adverse beneficial outcomes.
Nurses must at all times conduct themselves well to maintain and build trust and self-confidence in the profession. Where individuals are not capable of deciding or speaking independently, a nurse must try to ensure that the perception of that person is represented by a suitable supporter. A nurse has a proper task, and an official commitment to protect the privacy of a person by restricting information obtained to suit people and settings. A nurse must seek consent from the individual or a person entitled on behalf of the individual where practicable before giving out any information. In case, there is a lack of authority, the nurse is supposed to use professional conclusion regarding the obligation to give out information giving consideration to the benefits well–being, health and safety of the person and bearing in mind that the nurse is expected to disclose certain information.
A nurse must not engage in abuse, half-truths, or perversion in regard to health products and nursing services. Nurses must fully explain the merits and demerits of the products or services, when they provide information about any product or service, that an individual can make a decent option. The idea of this code is to place an anticipated national standard of conduct in this profession. It is also useful in informing the society of the values for the professional behavior of nurses in Australia.
The Code of Ethics
The code of ethics is fundamental to every nurse at all levels and areas of application including those around clinical, administration, learning and research domains (Fry, 2002). According to this code, it is stated that nurses should value excellence in nursing care for all people. Valuing excellent nursing care involves nurses tolerating responsibility for the standard of nursing care they offer and helping to raise the standard of nursing care. This includes a responsibility to inquire and account nurses who take their job as a serious responsibility, and recognize that they are liable for the decisions they make regarding a person’s concern. They should also accept their ethical and lawful responsibilities ensuring they have the understanding, knowledge, and experience needed to offer secure and expert nursing care.
Nurses who respect exceptional quality nursing care make sure that the specialized roles they play are in union with the settled practice principles of the job. What they believe is on a reasonable basis, to be ethical in behavior and conduct.
The code also states that nurses value respect and kindness for self and others (Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia, 2011). This includes valuing the right and dignity of oneself and others. Kindness is the show of candid acts of calmness concern and care. This practice of kindness as a dedicated everyday approach to care reduces the power of unevenness between the person requiring or getting care and a nurse, by placing the nurse at the person’s service, which is the suitable rapport. Respecting oneself involves a lot like recognizing one’s own natural value. Self-respect enables the nurses to hearten their intellect of personal welfare and perform in ways that enlarge their individual wisdom of self-worth. This includes the nurses maintaining their health and acknowledging their corporal and emotional strengths and restrictions, also rising personal traits that support successful specialized affairs and practices. Respect for people who are well-being customers distinguishes their ability for vigorous and knowledgeable contribution in their health care. Nurses enthusiastically conserve the dignity of people through practiced kindness and by recognizing the weakness and helplessness of people in their care. Important weakness and helplessness arise, from the knowledge of sickness and want, to assign the health care organization mainly where the person has inadequate information, experiences ache, sickness and panic and who needs help with private care. It is also applicable for people who experience an unusual failure of self-fortitude. This weakness creates a control disparity in the connection between nurses and the people in their concern that is known and managed.
Nurses are also expected to value different people. This requires recognition of personal differences. It includes most of the nurses recognizing also valuing their self exceptional characteristics and experiences, not leaving behind things such as the thoughts, their beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions.
The purpose of this code is to recognize the basic moral principles and ideals to which the nursing job is dedicated and that is included in other authorized, qualified nursing strategies and principles of behavior. It is immensely helpful in giving nurses an indication position starting with where to mimic on how they behave themselves and others too. Lastly, it helps them in guiding moral on choice or decision making g and put into practice.
The International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics
The ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses is a funnel for an action founded on social morals and wants (ICN Code-Scribd, n.d.). The code has four elements namely nurses and people, nurses and practice, nurses and profession and nurses and coworkers (ICN Code-Scribd, n.d.). It helps the nurses to learn the principles under each element of the Code.
Another exciting and importance of this code is that it helps the nurse to mirror the meaning of every principle and what it means to them. Helps them on finding out how they can use ethics in the nursing field, put it into practice, learning, research, or administration. They apply this code by discussing it with one another and their co-workers too.
Nurses and People
The nurse’s main trained duty is to take care of people requiring nursing care.
In giving this care, the nurse promotes an atmosphere in which the person’s rights, values, customs, and spiritual beliefs of the individual, family, and society the required and adequate data on which to ground approval for care and associated treatment (NURSES’ PAD: Online Training and Seminar Updates for Filipino, n.d.). The nurse contributes to task of instigating and promoting action to meet the health and social wants of the public, particularly those of susceptible populations (NURSES’ PAD: Online Training and Seminar Updates for Filipino, n.d.). The nurse also shares the duty to maintain and protect the normal surroundings from weakening, pollution, deprivation and damage.
Nurses and Practice
A nurse carries all personal duties and responsibilities for nursing practice, and for maintaining fitness by frequent learning. The nurse keeps a regularity of personal health in a way that the ability to provide care is not compromised (Funnell et al., 2008). They use judgment in connection with an individual’s ability when accepting and delegating duties.
At all times, a nurse should maintain standards of personal behavior which is a sign of exceptional performance and enhance public confidence. The nurse, whose responsibilities are in offering care, ascertains that the use of technology and scientific advances are adjusted to the shelter and rights of the public (NURSES’ PAD: Online Training and Seminar Updates for Filipino, n.d.).
Nurses and the Profession
A nurse can assume the crucial task in shaping and implementing adequate principles of clinical nursing, which has been put into practice, administration and training. The nurse is brisk in increasing a core of study-based professional information. The nurse who is acting through the specialized association takes part in developing and sustaining an impartial, common, and profitable working environment.
Nurses and Co-Workers
The nurse should maintain a supportive connection with co-workers in nursing and other fields.
They take suitable acts to preserve people when their care is endangered by a co-worker or any other person. All nurses should study all these standards under each of the elements of code and reflect on what each standard means. They should apply ethics in practice, learning and administration too.
Conclusion
In conclusion, all the codes are related in that they all offer guidelines for the nursing practice. First, the code of professional conduct provides guidelines on how to behave in a career. The code identifies the least necessities for behavior in the career. The basis of this code for Nurses in Australia is to carry out in a risk-free and skilled manner. A nurse must follow by law appropriately to the nurse’s area of practice. Second, the code of ethics offers guidelines on nurses’ ethical and lawful responsibilities. The code is immensely helpful in giving nurses an indication position starting with where to mimic how they behave themselves and others too. Lastly, the international council of nurses’ code of ethics deals with social morals and wants. The code has four elements namely nurses and people, nurses and practice, nurses and profession, and nurses and coworkers (ICN Code-Scribd, n.d.). The nurse also shares the duty to maintain and protect the normal surroundings from weakening, pollution, deprivation, and damage.
References
Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia (2011). Web.
Fry, S. (2002). Ethics in nursing practice: a guide to ethical decision making. Osney Mead, Oxford Malden, MA: Blackwell Science
Funnell, R. Koutoukidis, G. & Lawrence, K. (2008). Tabbner’s nursing care: theory and practice. Chatswood, N.S.W: Elsevier Australia
Hally, M. (2009). A guide for international nursing students in Australia and New Zealand. Chatswood, N.S.W: Elsevier Australia.
ICN Code – Scribd (n.d.). Web.
NURSES’ PAD: Online Training and Seminar Updates for Filipino (n.d.). Web.