Extraordinary Care - Ethics in Nursing

By Karen Rodgers

One of the first things a new nursing student learns, long before they start sticking needles in people, is a nursing code of ethics. Every profession has an ethic, a common morality or overriding philosophy evolving around the profession itself and the acts of the people who are involved it. In the field of nursing where people put their lives in the hands of a total stranger, following a system of ethics is critically important. Nursing ethics takes the form of several categories:

1. Competence - A nurse is responsible at all times to see that they have the proper training and experience for every procedure that they do. When a nurse is issued a license to practice nursing after passing the state board of nursing exam, there is an understanding that the nurse is competent to perform all nursing tasks under the licensure. However, continuing education and experience are the responsibility of the nurse to ensure the proper technique and understanding is present.
2. Compassion - The next set of ethics regards the treatment of patients. A nurse is supposed to be a compassionate caregiver who regards the safety and dignity of each individual with utmost diligence. That means each patient must be treated as a unique individual with a right to privacy and dignity. Each patient or their guardian must consent to nursing care and be treated out of the best experience of the nurse.
3. Quality Care - a nurse is to ensure that they are in a position where they can provide consistent quality care to the patient while they are on shift. That means a nurse who hasn't gotten enough sleep, is overworked to the point of exhaustion, is distracted by professional or personal problems, or is using drugs or alcohol that could impede judgment is breaking the ethic of quality care and could be putting their license in jeopardy. Quality care also means using the required standards for care involving procedures, techniques and hospital policy.
4. Collaboration - The health care system is a multi-connected organism where each person depends on the other to fulfill his or her obligations correctly. Communication and collaboration are essential elements in a nursing code of ethics. Nurses must collaborate honestly with doctors, technicians, specialists, social workers, administration, patients and family members of patients to create a holistic healing environment where all elements of patient care are foremost and efficient.
5. Career Professionalism - A nurse does not just do things for patients or themselves. A nurse must be conscious that they work for and are part of a larger profession of people. Nurses are required to further the profession by their appearance, attitude and consistent representation of the profession as a whole. Nurses must continue as part of that profession to engage in dialogue and documentation that uplifts the nursing profession and provides a consistent body of wisdom and accountability to the career as a whole.

The nursing code of ethics passed by the American Nurses Association encompasses all these categories and provides nurses with guidelines and benchmarks to ensure they are meeting their obligation to the overall ethic of the health care system.

Nurse Net Online is one of the premier nursing information resources online. We have articles on everything from nursing grants to RN travel jobs.

The Ethics of Copywriting - Writing with Respect

By Laurence James

A marketing director from a large creative agency once told me, ‘Always concentrate on producing great work, and never let the client interfere with the creative process. Clients come to you for guidance on each project, so you should be prescriptive about the work you give them. The day you start to care about their input - is the day you should get out of the business'. Astonishing isn't it, and I completely disagree.

The agency in question, (which will forever remain nameless), had won sack loads of awards for its creativity. No doubt everyone who worked there was very smug and felt extremely pleased with themselves – but what did their clients really think about the service they received? Were they happy with it? Was the effectiveness of client campaigns ever measured or followed up on? I wonder.

In my view, all work you complete as a freelance copywriter or creative professional should start from the perspective of respecting your clients. You should listen to the individual needs of each client and understand how their company works. Equally, you should attempt to get to know your key contacts as real people – not merely ‘consumers' of your creative genius.

If you start each project from this platform of respect, the client will love your work and the respect will be mutual. They will appreciate your personal service and your willingness to understand their company ethos, and you may even come to be viewed as part of their team - which is great for repeat business.

Further to this, when you write copy that respects your clients, and their customers too, this is reflected in the believable tone of your writing. Your target audience is never stupid, and they will always read between the lines of what you're directly saying. So, if you're insincere or take them for granted – this will be reflected in poor sales. If you're respectful and honest, your readers will instantly find you credible and authoritative – and will be more inclined to trust and buy from you.

It's also important to follow up on each project to build on this relationship of mutual respect with the client. Monitor the results of a direct mail campaign or check the response rates from a sales letter you've written. Go back and ask the client how your copy or creative is working out for them – offer to tweak a headline here or a paragraph there to make them happy. You'll be rewarded with great testimonials and more business in future.

Ultimately, respecting both clients and readers will stand you in good stead for your future career as a copywriter or creative professional. It may sound obvious, but it's relatively easy to develop a bit of an ego and start taking things for granted - especially when the money starts rolling in. In the long run, you may not win a sack load of awards for your work, but you will win a sack load of respect and fantastic feedback. You'll also have the satisfaction of knowing you did a good job and genuinely helped your client's business. That always feels great – because at the end of the day, it's not all about the money and industry acclaim. In the end, a truly great copywriter or creative professional is always recognisable by their long list of satisfied clients.

An English graduate from the University of Birmingham and professionally trained journalist at postgraduate level, Laurence James has been copywriting for over ten years. A Member of The Institute of Direct Marketing, he is also founder of The Copy Box

What is Business Ethics?

By Louise Manning

The word “ethics” comes from the Greek word “ethos” meaning conduct, customs or character.
Ethics addresses the implementation of concepts such as responsibility, right and wrong and the application of moral ideals to practical human activities. Ethical analysis will address the constraints of moral standards and legal requirements and the consequences of actions. The output of such analysis is the determining of principles and protocols, the development of individual and group responsibilities and the verification of the outcome of the implementation of such a framework. Individual countries, cultures and business organisations will determine distinct codes of ethical behaviour. Individual organisations therefore need to determine and develop their ethical strategy and the scope of such strategy may include the following:

1. Criminal behaviour and the need to operate within the legal framework. The strategy may include awareness training for individuals and teams so that employees understand the legal constraints on the business and the responsibilities this places on individuals;

2. Human values and personal behaviour. Ethical policy needs to define at a strategic and human resources level how people are expected to behave both internally within the business and also in their interactions with suppliers, customers and competitors and the development of business relationships;

3. Behaviour in business. Ethical policy should address how all corporate activities are undertaken, monitored and verified to ensure that they comply with legal guidelines and ethical standards. Ethical strategy should also include a review of potential ethical business risks and how these can be mitigated.

So what is your organisation’s ethical strategy and does it stand up to scrutiny?

http://thehumanimprint.typepad.com/the_human_imprint/

Government Regulatory On-going Education Tests with Unethical Questions on Ethics

By L. Winslow

The government is requiring more and more businesses to comply with on-going education and yet we see that amongst these tests are tests in every industry on ethics. One might ask what the government knows about ethics, yet this is not the topic that came up in discussion recently in our think tank, instead we discussed that on these ongoing education tests on ethics it is impossible to get 100% correct, because one question is always impossible to get right, there is No right answer?

Well it there is no right answer and the test indicates there is then there is a problem with Trickery questions and is that really ethical? No of course not. It is nearly impossible to understand all the verbose rules and regulations, ambiguous definitions and intent of the laws sometimes, and all this is a clear sign of over regulation, over regulation is unethical, because it is like saying there is a problem in an industry that does not actually exist.

Even if you know the Letter of the law, over time the case Law is inconsistent with any sort of real ethics. Regulations are most often used as tools, like the regulators who write the legislation in order to attack a competitor in the market place. Of course, once attacked from a government agency, no matter why or who instituted the investigation, fine or finding; it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend and slows the progress of the company in question in the market place.

Thus most of our regulations are not made to help consumers, rather they are made so one business can get the upper hand of another. One has to ask why the government takes sides and why the government cannot practice what it preaches with regards to ethics or listen to the warnings of Adam Smith. So, if we really wish to discuss ethics, it is time to clean up the government's hand in it, from the on-going education tests to the actual market place extortion. Think on this.

L. Winslow is an Economic Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entrepreneur http://www.worldthinktank.net . Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity and is sponsored by http://www.Calling-Plans.com and all the proceeds will go to various charities who sign up.