Term Paper on "Professional Code of Conduct"

r />What could be most to me is the disturbing level of acceptance currently in evidence concerning illegal and unethical actions taken by individuals who should not be doing so.

According to a study by Badaracco and Webb (1995), many young managers reported being asked implicitly to do things they personally believed were unethical, and sometimes illegal" (Badzek, 1998). The question that comes to mind is, 'are we as a society really at a point where we accept unethical actions as commonplace, even illegal events with a blase attitude?' It is hoped that such attitudes of acceptance are not the norm, and will never come to such. If society is headed down that particular path, it is one that I would rather not trod, especially in regards to the nursing field where a number of situations present themselves that require consideration and reflective action based on both sets of standards to which I adhere.

One particularly sticky area in which ethics could come into play is in the confidentiality that must be maintained when dealing with patients and their relatives or guardians. In a recent case study highlighted on the American Nurses Assocation website a situation concerning confidentiality is displayed. In that case a nurse who had diverted meds for personal use, at the expense of patient's comfort was discovered at a hospital. When confronted with the discovery, the nurse admitted to the diversions and requested help through rehabilitation. One administrator believed that was enough punishment for the nurse and wanted to deal with the matter entirely in-house.

Another administrator was very concerned over the matter and wished to conduct a meeting to discuss the matter in detail. She was worried that patients were affected by this nurse's diversions, that the nurse's "actions had compromised her professional status, and because patients had been affected, and other nurses' actions had been impacted by Jackie's performance, a full discussion need to take place with the nurse. (and she) wanted to determine what people knew or suspected, and if so, why they didn't act" (Badzak, 1998).

The first administrator, who also happened to be the nurse's immediate supervisor, remained adamantly opposed to such a discussion, fearing that the nurse's confidentiality would be compromised.

The solution to this particular dilemma would mostly likely entail initially gathering as much information as possible about the situation. The next step would be… READ MORE