Consequences of unethical behaviours

Consequences of unethical behaviours

Ethics are essential aspects in both health care practice and education. Nurses are integral to the healthcare team and interact with the patients for the longest durations. The nurses are required to act ethically when interacting with the patients. They are also required to progressively improve their skills when faced with conflicts and dilemmas in providing care to patients. Therefore, equipping nursing students with the essential training and ethics in their practice is one of the most significant objectives of a nursing master’s program.

Negligence is among the most common unethical demeanours in nursing practice. Nurses have a primary role in providing care to patients. Nurses may not meet the reasonable standard, resulting in negligence that may inflict either physical or mental harm to the patients (Khodayarimotlagh et al., 2022). An instance of negligence by the nurses may be demonstrated when a nurse assigned to a patient fails to monitor the patient’s progress. Such a situation may result in failure to notice vital signs in the patients, making the nurse fail to seek the physician’s help. Such action may endanger the life of a patient (Khodayarimotlagh et al., 2022). When negligence occurs in nursing, it is imperative first to identify the individual responsible for the negligence. Consequences follow to the person responsible, including loss of practising license, facing malpractice suits, and suspension. The healthcare facility may also incur charges when their nurses are negligent, which may harm the patients.

An excellent example of unethical behaviour in the master’s program in nursing in nursing is academic cheating. Academic cheating may entail committing fraud on placement assignments, computer assignments, examinations, or reports (Taghadosi et al., 2022). There are various type of academic cheating, such as fabricating data that has not been collected using the correct techniques. Other incidences of cheating may include copying materials from smartphones, notes, or textbooks during examinations without the instructor’s permission. Different disciplinary actions could be given to the master’s students in nursing who are found cheating (Taghadosi et al., 2022). These consequences include suspension or being expelled from the master’s program. The students’ careers may also be adversely affected if cheating is noted on the students’ academic records.

References

Khodayarimotlagh, Z., Ahmadi, F., Sadooghiasl, A., & Vaismoradi, M. (2022). Professional protection is the strategy of nurse managers when dealing with nursing negligence. International Nursing Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12744

Taghadosi, M., Valiee, S., & Aghajani, M. (2021). Nursing faculty’s point of view regarding noncompliance with ethics in academic environments: a qualitative study. BMC Nursing, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00537-y

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Reply to at least two other student posts about   “Compare and examine the consequences of an unethical behaviors in a nursing Master’s program and in the nursing practice by providing one example for each “.

You should use a reflection of their response, with 2 references for each reply.   Please include a scholarly reference.

Word limit 200 words.

Post # 1 :

Ethics are integral to nursing education programs and nursing practice. All nurses and prospective nurses should adhere to the highest ethical behaviour standards. Ethical practices in nursing education ensure that students acquire quality education that equips them with the necessary skills for competent nursing practice by adhering to the set rules and regulations and accreditation standards (Taghadosi, Valiee & Aghajani, 2021). Ethical behaviour in nursing practice ensures that nurses navigate complex moral dilemmas, provide safe and effective care, and uphold patients’ interests. The ethical practice also maintains the nursing profession’s integrity, promoting trust between practitioners and patients. Therefore, nursing Master’s program students and nurses should uphold ethical behaviour and practices.

Unethical behaviours in nursing Master’s programs and nursing practice take different forms. However, they are similar because they undermine patient care. An example of unethical behaviour in a nursing Master’s program includes fabricating research data where students make up or falsify research project data (Kang & Hwang, 2020). Students create fake research data, alter existing data, or modify results. Fabricating research data is an unethical practice that undermines the nursing program’s credibility and the research process’s integrity. The practice has dire consequences on the students because it makes them fail the research project and leads to expulsion. It also dents the nursing profession’s reputation and integrity. Fabricated data and subsequent recommendations also undermine the provision of safe care when published or used in evidence-based practice that relies on research evidence to advance patient care.

An example of unethical behaviour in nursing practice includes discriminating against patients based on protected characteristics like race, ethnicity, religion, and cultural beliefs, among others. Nurses demonstrate discriminative behaviour by denying such people healthcare services, being disrespectful towards them, providing poor services, or making negative and derogatory remarks about the affected patients (Rafii, Ghezeljeh & Nasrollah, 2019). Discrimination has adverse consequences on nurse practitioners because it exposes them to disciplinary actions, loss of practice license, penalties, and lawsuits. It also undermines the provision of safe patient care. In addition, it exposes patients to physical and psychological torture and hinders access to care. Patients also lose trust in the healthcare system, further hindering access to quality care.

The discussion shows that unethical behaviour adversely affects nurses and students and undermines the provision of safe patient care. Therefore, nursing Master’s program students and nurse practitioners should uphold ethical conduct to uphold the profession’s integrity and reputation and advance patient care.
References
Kang, E., & Hwang, H. J. (2020). The consequences of data fabrication and falsification among researchers. Journal of Research and Publication Ethics, 1(2), 7-10.

Rafii, F., Ghezeljeh, T. N., & Nasrollah, S. (2019). Discriminative nursing care: A grounded theory study. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 8(7), 2289.

Taghadosi, M., Valiee, S., & Aghajani, M. (2021). Nursing faculty’s point of view regarding noncompliance with ethics in academic environments: a qualitative study. BMC Nursing, 20, 1-10.

Post # 2 :

Unethical behaviours in a nursing Master’s program and in nursing practice can have severe consequences for individuals and the healthcare system. It is important to understand and examine these consequences to prevent them from occurring and promote ethical behaviour in the nursing profession.

In a Master’s program for nursing, there are several types of unethical behaviour, including cheating on tests or copying assignments. An instance of unethical behaviour in a nursing Master’s program is falsifying clinical hours. Nursing students should fulfill specific clinical hours as part of their learning and development. Falsifying clinical hours is an unethical behaviour that involves lying about the number of hours completed, which can have serious consequences (Pittman & Barker, 2020). Nursing students who falsify their clinical hours may lack the skills and knowledge to provide safe and competent care to patients. This can lead to patient harm, lawsuits, and the loss of nursing students’ licensure. Additionally, falsifying clinical hours undermines the integrity of the nursing profession and can erode trust between healthcare providers and patients (Pittman & Barker, 2020).

Unethical behavior in nursing practice can have significant implications as well. Discrimination is one instance of unethical behavior in nursing practice that can be detrimental. Discrimination refers to providing patients with unequal or biased treatment based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or other factors (Narayan, 2019). Discrimination disregards the ethical standards for nursing and can lead to harm, erosion of trust, and legal ramifications for the nurse. Discrimination can take many forms, such as denying certain treatments or procedures to patients based on their identity, making derogatory comments or jokes about patients, or refusing to work with colleagues based on their identity. Discrimination is unethical and undermines nurses’ duty to provide safe and compassionate patient care (Blanchet Garneau et al., 2018). Discrimination can lead to patient harm, lawsuits, and nurse licensure loss. Additionally, discrimination can create a toxic work environment and damage the reputation of the nursing profession.

Both nursing Master’s programs and nursing practice can encounter severe consequences from unethical behaviors that may impact both the person and the healthcare profession in general. Nursing students and nurses need to understand the essentials of ethical behaviour and the outcomes of unethical behaviour. Ethics education and training should be incorporated into nursing education and ongoing professional development. Healthcare organizations should also have policies and procedures to address unethical behaviour and promote ethical behaviour in the workplace (Choe et al., 2020). By promoting ethical behaviour, the nursing profession can maintain its integrity and provide safe and competent care to patients.

References

Blanchet Garneau, A., Browne, A. J., & Varcoe, C. (2018). Drawing on antiracist approaches toward a critical antidiscriminatory pedagogy for nursing. Nursing Inquiry, 25(1), e12211.  https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12211

Choe, K., Kim, S., Lee, C., & Kim, S. (2020). Effect of ethics seminar on moral sensitivity and ethical behaviour of clinical nurses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(1), 241. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010241

Narayan, M. C. (2019). CE: Addressing implicit bias in nursing: A review. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 119(7), 36-43. DOI: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000569340.27659.5a

Pittman, O. A., & Barker, E. (2020). Academic dishonesty: What impact does it have, and what can faculty do? Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 32(9), 598-601. DOI: 10.1097/JXX.0000000000000477