Essay Nursing Ethic
Running head: MY NURSING ETHIC
My Nursing Ethic
Susan Kreienbrink
Grand Canyon University
In my nursing career I have worked at two hospitals, both run by the Sisters of Mercy. This is a conscious decision on my part because my belief system regarding the way we should care for others, mirrors their mission very closely. I believe it is my moral obligation to help anyone who needs help, regardless of their own personal belief system, whether or not they are a citizen of the United States, or their ability to pay for services. I believe that as a child of God everybody deserves dignity and respect. I also believe that as a human being and a nurse living in a global community it is my responsibility to fight against the denial of human rights, the increase in violence and racism, the continued oppression of women, the abuse of children, the mistreatment of immigrants. More and more we are living in a global community, and therefore I find myself having to care for patients who speak a different language, have completely different cultural views than I do and often times have different values than me. In these situations I feel it is my duty to try to reach out to each patient from where they are coming from. If I have a patient who does not speak English I utilize a trained interpreter or our Cyracom phone to help communicate with my patient. Sometimes this can be time consuming and put us behind schedule. We only have one interpreter and she is very busy so sometimes we have to wait quite awhile for her to be available. This can put our providers behind schedule. It is very tempting in these situations to allow an employee who is not a trained interpreter but speaks the same language, or a family member to interpret. However, this does not follow clinic protocol and therefore is unethical. I work in an internal medicine clinic and most of our patients have multiple health issues. It would be very unfortunate if we missed a
My Nursing Ethic
Susan Kreienbrink
Grand Canyon University
In my nursing career I have worked at two hospitals, both run by the Sisters of Mercy. This is a conscious decision on my part because my belief system regarding the way we should care for others, mirrors their mission very closely. I believe it is my moral obligation to help anyone who needs help, regardless of their own personal belief system, whether or not they are a citizen of the United States, or their ability to pay for services. I believe that as a child of God everybody deserves dignity and respect. I also believe that as a human being and a nurse living in a global community it is my responsibility to fight against the denial of human rights, the increase in violence and racism, the continued oppression of women, the abuse of children, the mistreatment of immigrants. More and more we are living in a global community, and therefore I find myself having to care for patients who speak a different language, have completely different cultural views than I do and often times have different values than me. In these situations I feel it is my duty to try to reach out to each patient from where they are coming from. If I have a patient who does not speak English I utilize a trained interpreter or our Cyracom phone to help communicate with my patient. Sometimes this can be time consuming and put us behind schedule. We only have one interpreter and she is very busy so sometimes we have to wait quite awhile for her to be available. This can put our providers behind schedule. It is very tempting in these situations to allow an employee who is not a trained interpreter but speaks the same language, or a family member to interpret. However, this does not follow clinic protocol and therefore is unethical. I work in an internal medicine clinic and most of our patients have multiple health issues. It would be very unfortunate if we missed a