Values in Action
When I work with my patients, the most imperative element of their care is discovering what their values or beliefs are. A patient’s values are the key to their recovery and your impact on how they recuperate. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel 2002) It is very essential for me to encompass a great deal of self awareness as soon as I meet my patient for the initial interview. Family is for the most part a valuable aspect of my life and a lot of other peoples as well. It is important that we understand our patient’s relationship with their family and how they want them involved in their care. Some patient’s want the family totally involved and other patients don’t even want them in the hospital setting. During the initial interview when I address other key members and support persons, I get a feel of whether they are family oriented and value the prescience of their family members or whether they detached from their families and the family being present will only make matters worse.
Once this aspect is established we as nurses know what are job is going to be and how important this is to our patient’s recovery. If their values about their family are unclear, it is important that we assist them in clarifying or understanding their values. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel 2002) During the interview with my patient one other value that I instill in my patients is honesty. Honesty has always been one of my biggest values in dealing with family, friends and professionally. My patients know that I am going to be completely honest with them and I expect the same in return. The patient’s recovery relies a lot on the nurse patient relationship and this can only be developed if your patient trusts you and you trust them. Our values influence choices and behavior whether or not we are conscious that the values are guiding the choices. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel 2002) Sometimes our patients may not know that they are not telling us everything we need to know and that telling us something may lead to them getting in trouble. During discussions with my patients I encourage honesty and how important it is and I also let them know whatever we talk about is confidential and will not be relayed to anyone else. This helps to build a concrete relationship and helps open up the conversation to areas they were not so honest about. It seems that once they feel they can trust you and you’re not going to discuss their problems with anyone else, they can relax more and talk more freely.
Values Influencing Professional Decision Making
Values are a huge part of who we are and how we compose ourselves in our professional setting. During my caring for my patients I will always take a minute or two and decide how I would want myself or my family cared for in this situation. My ethical behavior is derived from my individual values that have been developing since I was a child. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel 2002) (Burkhardt & Nathaniel 2002) state “values are acquired in both conscious and unconscious ways and we need to aware that we re not always realizing that we have a given set of values or that these values are affecting our decisions. ” Many times we may not realize we are judging someone based on our unconscious values that are not as clear to us as our conscious values. That is why self-awareness is very important in determining your true values and how important they are to you both personally and professionally. Family and honesty are very important to me in my personal life and even more important to me when I care for my patients. When your not sure how your values are going to affect your patient and your relationship with your patient, you have to stop and evaluate your own values and how you decision making is going to impact this patient and their values. Many times you just assume that the patient would like to have his/her family in the room when the doctor is coming in to see the patient. However, the patient starts to get upset and refuses to have the family in the room. If you would have evaluated this situation and not assumed because you would want your family in there they would to, you probably would have found out there are conflict in this family and the patient does not want them involved in the care. Evaluating and exploring your patient’s wishes and values are the only way you’re going to connect with this patient and the only way the patient is going to trust you and be honest with you.
Level of Development of my Values
My level of development reflects years of growing both personal and professional. Fowler’s stage 3, Synthetic-Conventional faith reflects a movement into a world beyond the family in which values and beliefs derive from experiences in interpersonal relationships. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel 2002) This is a declaration that I realize is very true and possess a great magnitude of influence when we are dealing with the transition from personal to professional stages. When you decide you’re going to become a nurse, you must take a good long look at your faith, beliefs, values and commitments and be able to differentiate your personal identity from the world’s views. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel 2002) This area of growth is very important to prohibit judgment on your clients or their families. The growing involved here is dealing with individuative – reflective stages, also one of Fowler’s stages of development. One area that I found to have a huge impact on my development of values is Fowler’s stage of conjunctive faith. During this stage you should develop an attitude of openness to aspects you may have perceived as a threat to you or different from your own beliefs. I believe this stage was the most difficult for my development because my values and beliefs were of strong conviction and it was very difficult to accept and understand the ways of others beyond my personal and family perceptions. Honestly, there are still times that I am battling developing my values at a new level when I have to close my mind to things I see and don’t agree with, but have to set aside how I feel and be open to new cultures and beliefs.
Personal Values Vs Institutional Values
Currently I am employed with Central Florida Community College as an ADN Instructor. My personal values are looked at daily by my peers, collogues and students. All instructors are of master level or higher and set very high standards for each other and our students. There honestly has not been a lot of conflict concerning my institutions expectations of values, however, there has been some conflict between my personal values and the personal values of my collogues. Currently the schools majority of faculty is in the 60 and above age bracket, which completely is not an issue with me. However, the generations all have a lot of the same values and different opinions on values. Some of the elder instructors continue to enforce strict policy on dress codes when it is apparent that attire has definitely changed over the years. I guess I will incorporate the old saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, these values are instilled in these instructors and it doesn’t matter what happens, they will always want to resort back to the way it was when girls dressed decent and guys didn’t wear their pants down around their buttocks. But, I have to say, most of their beliefs and ideas about this issues I agree with. I may be 20 years younger, but I grew up with a lot of great values and I influenced my children with them as well. It all comes down to respecting others and their opinions and not being disruptive just because you know that is gets people provoked. Describe the ways in which your values align with one or more of the tenets of the ANA Code of Ethics
Values and Alignment of the Tenets of the ANA COE
My values are as important to my professional career as the ANA Code of Ethics. During nursing school you learn how to think critically and professionally. Along with all the teachings, ethical behavior is drilled into each and every aspect of nursing we learn. 1 In my professional commitment and practice, I have compassion and respect for my patients and their families. Truthfully I am still working on it being unrestricted by certain considerations such as social or economic status. 2 My obligation is to always care for my patient first and then secondly come the families and friends. 3 During my years as a nurse, I feel I have always acted as an advocate for my patients. Their rights, health and safety always come first and I do everything I can to help promote this with my patients. 4 Nursing sometimes can be very difficult when there never seems enough time to get everything done and still feel like you spent time with your patient. We are responsible for providing optimal care for our patients regardless of the conditions or situations presented to us. I try never to look at my situation negatively and cause a negative environment for my patient, I just simply use my resources and make the best situation I can with what I have. 5 As a BSN nurse who is working on her masters degree, I feel I am continuously growing personal and professionally. 6 As I continue to practice nursing and further my degree, I will continue to contribute and promote my profession and work with other healthcare professionals to help meet the needs of our communities. I feel we are always shaping the practice and improving the practice even if sometimes we don’t have all the resources we could have. But as a nurse and I do feel I am a good nurse and good for my patients, I feel that I live and practice by the ANA Code of Ethics.
References
Burkhardt, M. & Nathaniel, A. (2002). Ethics & issues in contemporary nursing (2nd ed.) New York: Delmar.
Ethics and Humanities Links (1996).The Program in Society and Medicine. Retrieved January 9, 2007, from Ethics and Humanities Links Web site: http://www.med.umich.edu/psm/resources.html
Contini, Lisa Marie (11/2000). Values Clarification Destroys Conscience. Retrieved January 12, 2007, from Catholic Culture Web site: http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=3512
Huitt, H (2004). VValues. Retrieved January 12, 2007, from Values. Educational Psychology Interactive Web site: http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/affsys/values.html
