Professional Identity of the Nurse
Scope of Nursing Practice
Nurses are pivotal to the provision of care services across various healthcare settings. Nurses primarily act as caregivers and health educators and also serve as health system leaders and directors. Throughout the delivery of their services and roles, nurses are expected to observe nursing ethics and the practice standards for the role they are legally licensed for. Decision-making, actions, and nursing practices for registered nurses (RNs) in the United States are guided by resources provided by the American Nurses Association (ANA), majorly the Code of Ethics for Nurses and the Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice. This paper explores the importance of the Code of Ethics in nursing and identifies and discusses the American Nurses Association Standards of Practice for registered nurse (RN) licensure.
Importance of the Code of Ethics in Nursing
Ethics are moral principles that guide individual and group behaviors (Haddad & Geiger, 2022). The ANA Code of Ethics in nursing has four fundamental ethical principles and an additional three specific to the nursing profession. These include the principles of nonmaleficence, beneficence, autonomy, justice, accountability, fidelity, and veracity (American Nurses Association (ANA), 2015). The Code of Ethics in nursing is essential in guiding nursing practice in the United States for various reasons.
Firstly, the Code of Ethics defines non-negotiable ethical standards for nurses. Nurses must commit to these fundamental values in delivering care services. These non-negotiable standards ensure that the nurses deliver care that meets the patients’ physical, mental, and social needs according to the nurses’ ethical and professional obligations. The Code of Ethics also reminds nurses that they are responsible for the health of their patients and the communities they serve and must actively advocate for affordable, quality, and safer care for the patients and such communities.
Through the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence, the ANA Code of Ethics helps nurses understand and develop the nursing values of charity, empathy, respect for others, teamwork, and team communication. These ethical values guide nurses to provide safe and quality care that is beneficial to the patient. Nursing ethics also motivate nurses to adopt and utilize treatment methods that seek to minimize the risks of harm to the patient.
The ethical principles of justice, accountability, autonomy, integrity, and fidelity within the ANA Code of Ethics guide behaviors and relationships that nurses develop with patients, other healthcare workers, and everyone within the healthcare setting. The code helps nurses understand the need to treat all patients equitably, irrespective of their social, racial, or cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, nurses understand how to approach ethical issues, honesty in care delivery, and responsibility for their decisions and actions. Additionally, the code is important in nursing as it explains the process of decision-making in nursing and the need for patient autonomy in making decisions about their health care, as well as protecting the rights and privacy of their patients and ensuring equitable access to healthcare resources.
American Nurses Association Standards of Practice for the Licensure of Registered Nurse (RN)
The ANA Standards of Practice for RNs are the competency levels in nursing care a nurse is expected to achieve necessary for a practical nursing process. The nursing process is a systematic guide to help nurses provide patient-centered care that encompasses critical thinking, the use of evidence, and nursing intuition in care delivery (Toney-Butler & Thayer, 2022). The ANA has defined sequential steps for the nursing process that include assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation (American Nurses Association (ANA), 2015). Accordingly, the ANA has set the Standards of Practice for each nursing process step that nursing students must meet to qualify for licensure as RNs.
The first ANA Standards of Practice on assessment requires RNs to be able to collect subjective and objective health data to determine the health situation of their patient. The second Standard of Practice includes the RN being competent enough to analyze the collected data, develop potential diagnoses, and identify potential health issues. The RN must be able to apply critical thinking to analyze the assessment data to make diagnosis decisions (Toney-Butler & Thayer, 2022).
Thirdly, the ANA Standards of Practice focus on the ability of the individual seeking RN licensure to identify the outcome expectations of an individualized patient plan as per the diagnosed health issue. The following Standard of Practice includes the ability of the RN to create a personalized healthcare and treatment plan with clearly outlined realistic, measurable health goals and expected strategies (American Nurses Association (ANA), 2015b). The fifth Standard of Practice for RN licensure focuses on the ability of the student-nurse to implement the developed plan by coordinating the delivery of the treatment plan. Finally, as a vital Standard of Practice necessary for RN licensure, the nurse should be able to evaluate the progress of the treatment plan against the expected outcomes.
Conclusion
Nurses operate in complex healthcare environments. They are faced with various ethical dilemmas within their practice. Registered nurses can use the ANA Code of Ethics to manage ethical issues encountered in their roles and refer to the ANA Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice to understand better what is expected of them as primary caregivers. In conclusion, the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Practice guide RNs to meet their ethical and professional obligations within their healthcare systems.
References
American Nurses Association (ANA). (2015). Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (The Code).
American Nurses Association (ANA). (2015). Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice. Nursesbooks.org. https://www.nursingworld.org/~4af71a/globalassets/catalog/book-toc/nssp3e-sample-chapter.pdf
Haddad, L. M., & Geiger, R. A. (2022). Nursing Ethical Considerations. StatPearls. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526054/
Toney-Butler, T. J., & Thayer, J. M. (2022). Nursing Process. Fundamentals of Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!: Second Edition, 4. https://doi.org/10.5005/jp/books/14252_4
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Question 
Professional Identity of the Nurse: Scope of Nursing Practice Purpose of Assignment: According to Larson, Brady, Engelmann, Perkins, and Shultz (2013), “the development of professional identity is a continuous process that begins with admission to the nursing program and evolves throughout one’s professional career in a dynamic and fluid process where interacting relationship of education and practice lead to self-reflection, growth, and human flourishing” (p. 138).Larson, J., Brady, N., Engelmann, L., Perkins, B., & Shultz, C. (2013). The formation of professional identity in nursing. Nursing Education Perspectives.34 (2). p 138
Professional Identity of the Nurse
.Course Competency(s): Describe the foundations of nursing practice. Explain the roles and scope of practice for members of the intra-professional team. Describe principles of effective communication in the healthcare setting. Instructions: This course includes a project with three parts. Each part builds off prior knowledge to help you create your nurse professional identity. In the first part, you examine the nurse’s role and the scope of practice, which will help you identify the nurse’s role. In the second part, you describe the importance of the code of ethics in nursing and examine the standards of nursing practice for the role you are obtaining during the nursing program. The final submission requires you to use the first two parts of your assignment to explain your belief in caring in nursing, describe your professional identity, and identify a potential professional organization that you may join to help support your development. Content: Prepare a two to three-page written assignment that includes the following: Introduction to the assignment (sections of the assignment). Describe the importance of the code of ethics in nursing. Identify the American Nurses Association Standards of Practice for the licensure you are obtaining (RN). Conclusion (reflect on the assignment’s criteria). Use at least two credible resources to support your findings. For example, one of the resources could be the ANA Standards of Practice, and another could be the ANA Code of Ethics. These resources must be integrated into the body of your paper using at least two in-text citations. Be sure to use proper APA format and style. Format: