The leadership style a nursing manager adopts is a crucial element in the quality of healthcare that they administer to patients, as well as the development of the nurses. Nurses encounter a lot of situations every day that require them to scrutinize their ethical principals and behaviors. They need to compare their ethical standards with their colleagues, family members, or even patients to effectively administer their services ( Whitehead et al. 2016). From the nursing administrator to the new graduate floor nurse, each nurse has the responsibility to help lead the profession toward a more positive ethical practice environment. It is in this regard that the role of ethical leadership is of utmost importance. (Norman, 2016)
Reflection
The primary goal of nurses is to talk to their patients, learn their backstories, and do whatever they can to make them happy. Ethical behaviors in nurses involve fulfilling universal principals in nursing. These are autonomy, fidelity, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and veracity (Henry et al. 2016).
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Autonomy means that nurses should allow patients to make their own decisions. Beneficence means that the nurse will provide healthcare that is in the best interest of the patient. Fidelity requires the nurse to keep their promise about the care that they pledged to provide. Justice means that they should be fair when they dispense their duties. Nonmaleficence is that the nurse will do no harm to the patient, and finally, veracity is telling the truth to your patient. These are the core principles guiding Healthcare (Henry et al. 2016).
When nursing leaders behave ethically, they create a sense of satisfaction for themselves, their employees, and patients. Ethical behaviour of the leaders leads to improved productivity, which results in providing better services and inspiring ethical behavior in employees. (Henry et al. 2016)
My Code of Ethics
To practice competently and with integrity, nurses require a set of rules to guide them in their duties. As a nursing leader, therefore, I strive to carry out my responsibilities with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity and worth and unique attributes of every person. My commitment is to the patients, no matter the relationship I share with them. I have to promote advocacy and protect the health rights and safety of my patients ( American Nurses Association, 2015)
Apart from caring for others, I owe the same duties to myself, including promoting health and safety, preserve wholeness of character and integrity and maintaining competence, and continuing professional and personal growth. Also, as a nursing leader, I strive to collaborate with other health professionals and the public to promote human rights, encourage diplomacy health, and to reduce health disparity. ( American Nurses Association, 2015)
My codes of ethics are with the belief that everyone deserves proper healthcare and services. It is with such views that I seek to work diligently to ensure that everyone receives adequate health services. A nursing leader should work to foster cooperation among all nurses. I believe that as nurses, we need to work as a team to ensure success in our profession.
Leadership Opportunities
Nursing leaders should be at the forefront to promote ethical thinking within their profession. The nursing profession is evidence-based, and because of this, it paves the way for a more decent workplace. As a nursing leader, I strive to help other nurses by designating an ethical champion to facilitate ethical decision making in the workplace. An ethical champion will receive extra training to broaden their knowledge of ethics in medicine and the ethical challenges that nurses face in their line of work. Also, I will strive to address the ethical problems that occur most frequently in the workplace and guide the nurses in their approach to such issues. ( Whitehead et al. 2016)
Apart from an ethical champion and identifying ethical issues within the workplace, an open discussion among the healthcare team about specific ethical issues is appropriate as this will help to foster and improve their relationship with each other and the patients as well.
Conclusion
With the numerous situations nurses encounter in their profession, it might be difficult for them to carry out their duties. However, with a set of ethical guidelines, nurses have a system to compare their ethics against, which will help them to improve their productivity (Henry et al. 2016). An ethical environment and ethical leadership lead to a productive and positive outcome for the patient and the nurses. An ethical work environment that supports the progress and development of nurses can be developed and improved by paying more attention to the recruitment process, teaching moral values to the leaders, and using a systematic and objective way to obtain morality in the work environment.
References
Henry, N. E., McMichael, M., Johnson, J., DiStasi, A., Ball, B. S., & Holman, H. C. (2016). Leadership and Management Review Module (7.0th ed., pp. 47-48). N.p.: Assessment Technologies Institute, LLC
Norman, J. (2016, December 16). Americans Rate Healthcare Providers High on Honesty, Ethics. IN SOCIAL & POLICY ISSUES . Retrieved from, https://news.gallup.com/poll/200057/americans-rate-healthcare-providers-high-honesty-ethics.aspx
Whitehead, P.B., Herbertson, R.K., Hamric, A.B., Epstein, E.G. & Fisher, J.M. (2015). Moral distress among healthcare professionals: Report of an institution-wide survey. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(2): 117-125. doi:10.1111/jnu.1211
