3 sources of professional values and ethics essay
Personal ethics refers to the ethics that a person identifies with in respect to people and situations that they deal with in everyday life. Professional ethics refers to the ethics that a person must adhere to in respect of their interactions and business dealings in their professional life. In some cases, personal and professional ethics may clash and cause a moral conflict. For example:. More often than not people at work resolve moral conflicts by drawing a line between their professional and individual roles. In other words, they separate their work from their personal life and follow their professional code of conduct.
Code of Ethics: Principles for Ethical Leadership
Written by: Jacquie Orford Published: 20 February Ethics is a subject used every day. You may not identify your decisions as using 'ethics' but, whatever you do in life, there are reasons why you follow certain paths. Over the centuries, people have looked at why individuals follow different paths and have considered frameworks to identify trends. This is loosely what ethical theory is.
Thomson et al define ethics which is from the Greek word ethos , meaning the spirit of a community as the collective belief-and-value system of any moral community, or social and professional group. This definition introduces two more words: 'morals' and 'values'. Again, according to Thomson et al, morals and morality refer to the domain of personal values and the rules of behaviour regulating social intercourse.
Human values Morality and ethics deal with human relationships - how humans treat other beings so as to promote mutual welfare, growth, creativity and meaning as they strive for good over bad and right over wrong. Values can be described as 'one set of personal beliefs and attitudes about the truth, beauty and worth of any thought, object or behaviour. Values are action oriented and give direction and meaning to one's life'.
Values are the starting points for morality and ethics. These three concepts of values, morals and ethics can be seen to interact and relate to each other. Each person's morals and ethics develop over a lifetime and originate from a variety of things valued.
Thus, these values and morals have been acquired from a variety of sources. It is not easy to define exactly what constitutes a value.
Perhaps your definition of a value indicates that it is something very important to you, it is personal, precious and, very often, something you would take risks to defend. To find out what a person values and why it is valued, it is useful to look at anthropology, geography, sociology, psychology and theology, as they relate to the individual see box, page It may be argued that values are not static, they help us navigate our lives on a personal and professional level, they can also be the means and instruments for making decisions, be ends in themselves and define us as people.
Values can be seen as dynamic in that they change and develop through life. Not all values are held to be as important as others; there is a tendency to put them into hierarchies. Read more articles like this in Independent Nurse's professional section. A hierarchy of values is where one value is at the top of your priorities and others are of lesser importance.
There will be some things on our list that you will never change. Within the NMC Code, the standard 'Treat people as individuals' states that you must not discriminate in any way against those in your care.
Nurses practise in diverse cultural environments and must take care not to offend patients' values and beliefs. One value that you may never change is that of conscientious objection. Current legislation does permit the nurse or midwife to conscientiously object to providing treatment for patients under article 4 2 of the Abortion Act England, Scotland, Wales, and under Article 38 2 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act If a nurse were to conscientiously object to providing treatment for a patient under this legislation, the NMC states: 'The individual must inform someone in authority if they experience problems that prevent the individual from working within the code or other nationally agreed standards.
Conscientious objection relates to issues contrary to your moral beliefs or a strongly held value, such as sanctity of life, on which you are never prepared to compromise. Read more : Revolutionising care with the Code. Flexible values However, other things will be more flexible and adaptable.
For example, do you value your health? Very few people would say 'no' to that question. Answers that may be given include: by not smoking; by keeping fit; by eating a healthy diet; by practising safe sex; by trying to keep stress-free.
Look at one of these answers and consider how it could be adapted. Many people aim to eat a healthy diet. Those who truly eat a healthy diet may, on occasions, eat very unhealthily. This does not mean that they do not value a healthy diet, rather that the individual can be flexible about this particular value. Another value, such as the sanctity of life, may be more difficult to compromise. This could be an individual's bedrock value that will never change, whatever the circumstances. One of the important things about looking at values is that you clarify for yourself what concepts you value.
This clarification can help you understand why a particular manager, colleague or patient affects you in a certain way. A nursing colleague may, for example, value the concept of 'work' in a different way from you; a patient may irritate you because his or her manners are culturally different from yours. Conversely, your friends may all have a similar approach to the balance of work and social life. People often make friends with those who share similar values.
As Uustal warned: 'If you do not take time to examine and articulate your values, you will not be fully effective with patients. What you value influences your moral behaviour and the decisions you make in life. Your values can also be the framework on which you judge others. It is important to remember this when considering the oft-repeated phrase that nurses must be non-judgmental. It is wise to acknowledge that we do judge others but to remember that this judgement must not be allowed to affect the way that we nurse.
It is what we do with our judgements, rather than having them in the first place, that matters. Although you may have many and varied values, they all contribute to your personal set of morals.
Individually, our consciences are sensitive to our values. These values may make us aware of factors that prick our consciences and help us decide on the appropriate path to take. Read more: Is this the care you'd want? Morals and nursing practice In nursing, as in life generally, you are presented with all sorts of issues and situations to which you will react.
The way you deal with problems that arise will be based on the values that you have and the moral standpoint you take. Many of the problems you face have to do with things like honesty, doing good, having a choice, valuing someone's worth and being fair about something. Philosophers have tried to put these issues into a coherent order.
The list of 'core principles' shown in the box page 40 provides a way of looking at such issues. When providing healthcare, pre-registration students in particular but not exclusively often experience a challenge to their own values and face situations that are new and require them to make decisions that oppose their own beliefs.
The NMC states that the nursing and midwifery professionals must provide anti-discriminatory healthcare, thus issues such as responsibility, accountability and negligence need to be explored in relation to personal and professional values.
Geography may identify the environment that you were brought up in and exposed to. What are your attitudes towards conservation, smoking, urban areas, animals, rural areas, beggars, water and sunlight? Looking at anthropology could identify your cultural background and your social situation: where were you brought up?
What was expected of you as a child in different circumstances? What sort of family were you raised in Apart from your family, who else had influence over your childhood? Sociology may help you analyse 'why' you value certain things and the influence those around you had or still have on you.
Who has influenced you most throughout your life? Do you still value the things these individuals or groups value? If not, why not? Psychology on the other hand may indicate what sort of person you are and why you respond to external influences as you do.
Are you easily persuaded to change your mind? Are you aware of how you tend to respond to different circumstances? Do you find advertising easily or rarely influences you? Theology may be a great influence on your value system and be tied up with other issues considered above. Your spiritual or religious point of view may be the most significant factor of all.
When you make a decision, does your religious or other belief system influence what you do? Do you find you value things that others seem to consider unimportant? Are you conscious of 'trying to do the right thing' Are your beliefs about 'right' and 'wrong' different from some colleagues?
Sally Carvalho is a senior lecturer in nursing within the Institute of Health and Society at the University of Worcester. Jacquie Orford has taught legal, ethical and professional issues at post-and pre-registration nursing levels for Birmingham City University.
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These will always be relevant and you can opt out at any time. If you would prefer not to receive communications of this nature, please indicate: Do Not contact by email Do Not contact by post Do Not contact by telephone. This site is intended for healthcare professionals only. Toggle navigation. Home Professional. Read more articles like this in Independent Nurse's professional section Hierarchy of values A hierarchy of values is where one value is at the top of your priorities and others are of lesser importance.
Read more : Revolutionising care with the Code Flexible values However, other things will be more flexible and adaptable. Core Principles The value of life: Individuals should revere life and accept death.
Ethical values for teachers are based on the underlying principles of 1 Star 2 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars 5 Stars We will write a custom Essay on Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics Sources of Professional Values. 3 Sources Of Professional Values And Ethics Essay. As a outcome, big swings happen in the market more commonly than the standard distribution assumption.
At the very basic level, a professional is someone who has undergone specialized training for a certain vocation. However, a professional is not solely defined by this attribute but also by his adherence to certain values and behavior that are inherent in the particular profession. This is because every professional group has a code of conduct which stipulates what is admissible behavior within the profession. Professional ethics are stipulated by professional bodies which endorse the code of ethics that professionals in a certain field should adhere to.
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The code of ethics for a professional association incorporates values, principles, and professional standards. A review and comparative analysis of a pledge and codes of ethics from , , , , , and for a health information management association was conducted.
Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics Essay
Written by: Jacquie Orford Published: 20 February Ethics is a subject used every day. You may not identify your decisions as using 'ethics' but, whatever you do in life, there are reasons why you follow certain paths. Over the centuries, people have looked at why individuals follow different paths and have considered frameworks to identify trends. This is loosely what ethical theory is.
The difference between personal and professional ethics
Metrics details. Today, nurses are required to have knowledge and awareness concerning professional values as standards to provide safe and high-quality ethical care. The present cross-sectional study was conducted in in four educational hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Sampling was conducted through the use of stratified random sampling method and clinical nurses participated in the study. Furthermore, it is recommended that mixed methods studies should be conducted in order to design an instrument to evaluate the use of values in nursing practice. Peer Review reports. Any professional group has primary standards called professional values. These values are considered as the guideline and motivation of professional behavior for the members of a certain profession [ 1 ]. According to Weis and Schank, professional values are standards for action that are accepted by professional groups and individuals, and are used to evaluate the integrity of the individual or organization. Professional values are rooted in personal values, which are influenced by family, culture, environment, religion, and ethnicity.
Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behavior expected by professionals.
