2. Nursing Students: Code of Ethics
• Nursing is one of the most respected and trusted professions
in society.
• As a client-centered practice, the profession of nursing is
obligated to develop nursing students into individuals capable
of providing culturally competent care based within mutually
respectful interactions.
• These ethically centered behaviors preserve the respect and
trust of the public.
• Ethical decision making is of the utmost importance in the
profession of nursing
3. Nursing Students: Code of Ethics
• According to the National Student Nurses
Association, “students of nursing have a
responsibility to society in learning the
academic theory and clinical skills
needed to provide nursing care.
• The clinical setting presents unique
challenges and responsibilities while
caring for human beings in a variety of
health care environments
4. Nursing Students: Code of Ethics
• The code of Academic and Clinical conduct is
based on an understanding that to practice
nursing as a student is an agreement to uphold
the trust with which society has placed in us.
• The statements of the code
– Provide guidance for the nursing student in the
personal development of an ethical foundation
– Need not to be limited strictly to the academic or
clinical environment
– Can assist in the holistic development of a person
5. Nursing Students: Code of Ethics
• Students are expected to provide client privacy,
confidentiality, and safety, while accepting individual
accountability.
• All students (licensed or not) are expected to maintain the
high standards of ethical conduct necessary to ensure
accountability for their learning and optimal care of their
clients.
• Students are expected to conduct themselves in
accordance with high ethical standards consistent with the
International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics
6. Nursing Students: Code of Ethics
• Honesty and integrity are expected of all students and are
foundational to trust in the learning environment.
– Dishonesty undermines nursing education and professional
development, leading to demoralization of the spirit of learning
among students and faculty.
• Working within their chosen profession, nursing students should
strive to do no harm and promote good while encompassing
principles of justice, veracity and fidelity, recognizing individuals’
freedom to make their own decisions.
Developing the ability to make moral and ethical judgments is a lifelong
process. Ethical violation of conduct may result in disciplinary action.
7. Nursing Students: Code of Ethics
• Students at the Al Jinan University of Nursing are
developing their ability to practice the art and
science of professional nursing, respecting all
individuals and incorporating the following
overarching principles of ethics:
• Beneficence – the doing of good
• Nonmaleficence - the duty to do no harm
• Justice – fair, equitable, and appropriate care
• Autonomy –freedom to make own choices
• Veracity- truth telling
• Fidelity –faithfulness and keeping one’s promises
9. Responsibility
• A responsible person
– Is capable of acting as an independent moral agent
– Is competent to perform the task in hand
– Has proved that they are reliable and trustworthy
– Is able of making a response to other people
– Acknowledges legal or moral obligation
– Can give an account of what they have done and why
10. Conditions for responsibility
• Knowledge
• Voluntary action
• Freedom to
– Choose
– Determine goals
– Exercise decision making
– Own one’s action
• Freedom from
– External restraints
– Internal psychological compulsion
– Delusion
– Intoxication
• Goal directed action
11. Levels of responsibilities
• Macro level
– External stakeholder level
– Strategic planning and inter-agency relation
• Meso level
– Internal stakeholder level
– Corporate management of human and financial
resources
12. Levels of responsibilities
• Macho level
– Team leadership level
– Interdisciplinary cooperation and teamwork
• Micro level
– Individual level
– Personal decision-making and employee
development
13. Professional Accountability
• Responsibility for acts and omissions during
action performed
• Willingness to be judged against professional
rules, norms, expectations
• Bear the consequences of such judgement
(Muller , 2003)
14. Accountability
• Give an account for one’s actions
• Give coherent, rational, and ethical
justification for what one has done
• Being answerable for others actions
• Depends on authority
15. Comparison
Accountability Responsibility
• Being answerable for an action
• Public accountability
– Responsibility to wider society
• Professional
– Responsibility to higher
authority
• Doing the action
• Fiduciary
– Responsibility for the care of
others
• Personal
– Responsible for one’s action
16. Competence
• Competence
– Ability to perform a task with desirable outcomes
under the valid circumstances of the real world
– Ability to integrate knowledge, skills, and abilities
into actual practice
(Del Bueno 1990)
18. Levels of Accountability
• Self
– Own competence
– Values and beliefs
• Public (Patient-client)
– Provide required care
• Employer
– Fulfil duty requirements
• Legal systems
– Law
• Professional council or board
– Ex: Canadian board, Lebanese order of nurses
(Muller , 2003)
