Florence Nightingale was one of the most prominent figures in nursing and is considered to be the founder of modern nursing. In 1893, she formulated the Nightingale Pledge, which laid the foundation of nursing professional ethics and has been guiding nurses since that time. In this paper, I will briefly describe the Nightingale Pledge and explain how I make use of it in my nursing career.
Similar to physicians who take the Hippocratic Oath to vow to do their best to treat ill patients, nurses take the Nightingale Pledge when they enter the nursing profession. This oath is considered the first ethical code of nursing, and it serves the purpose of invoking conscientious responsibility in nurses (Ozcan 140). The Nightingale Pledge provides ethical guidance concerning nurses’ professional conduct in different situations. For example, it emphasizes fundamental respect for individuals and calls for giving patients the freedom of choice (Ozcan 140). It also warns nurses against disclosing patients’ private or confidential information (Ozcan 140). The Nightingale Pledge advocates the importance of providing equal, fair, and appropriate care and treatment to everybody (Ozcan 141). Furthermore, it requires nurses to avoid harming patients or doing anything evil and obliges them to do good instead (Ozcan 140). Hence, according to the pledge, nurses should not only perform their work to the highest standards but also be generally virtuous and put the patient health and safety first.
As a nurse, I am bound to follow the Nightingale Pledge because it incorporates the essence of nursing care – to promote patient health and safety and prevent illness. There are several aspects of nursing care when this oath is particularly relevant. One of them is medication administration, which is a common task performed by nurses. When pronouncing the Nightingale Pledge, nurses say that they “will not administer any harmful drug” (Jafaru and Abubakar 14). Harmful drugs, in this instance, mean not only drugs that are essentially dangerous to all people. They also include medications that can do harm to a particular patient because of the peculiarities in the functioning of his or her body. In my nursing practice, I follow this part of the Nightingale Pledge by carefully examining medication contraindications, paying attention to patients’ allergies to certain pharmacological agents, and reconciling medications in patients receiving polypharmacy.
Another aspect of nursing where the Nightingale Pledge comes into play is patient confidentiality. Due to the nature of their work, nurses learn much confidential information about their patients, such as their names, diagnoses, medications, financial data, etc. As was mentioned earlier, the Nightingale Pledge specifically addresses the issue of confidentiality by prohibiting nurses from disclosing patients’ private information. Hence, in accordance with the oath, I can reveal a reasonable portion of patient information only to those who need to know, such as dietitians, the director of nursing, and health insurance companies. I am also cautious to avoid accidental confidentiality breaches, which may occur, for example, when one overhears a nurse’s conversation with the patient.
To sum up, the Nightingale Pledge is an important ethical guide for nurses. It emphasizes the virtuous nature of nursing and prioritizes patient safety and health. The Nightingale Pledge vividly demonstrates that the nursing career is not one that is pursued only for monetary gain. Rather, it shows that nursing is for those who have consciously decided to devote their lives to enhancing people’s well-being and preventing potential health harm.
Works Cited
Jafaru, Yahaya, and Danladi Abubakar. “Medication Administration Safety Practices and Perceived Barriers among Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study in Northern Nigeria.” Global Journal on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, vol. 5, no. 1, 2022, pp. 10-17.
Ozcan, Sadiye. “The Relationship between Nurses’ Conscientious Intelligence Levels and Care Behaviors: A Cross-Sectional Study.” Clinical Ethics, vol. 17, no. 2, 2022, pp. 136-143.