Registered Nurses in the Healthcare System

Registered Nurses in the Healthcare System

Throughout Units 1 & 2 we found ourselves completing both social media and professionalism audits. This allowed time for reflection, further exploration, sharing and opened up discussion with other healthcare professionals. This led to asking the question “what kind of professional identity do I want to have?”. To answer that I always reflect on the Standards of Practice and the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses.

The Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses inform us of the ethical values that support the self-regulatory process by which nurses serve and protect the public. According to the Canadian Nurses Association (2017), nurses need to recognize that they are moral agents in providing care and they have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a manner that is ethical and professional.

Some of the professional values that shape my professional identify include the seven key values identified in the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses:

· Providing safe, compassionate, competent, and ethical care

· Promoting health and well-being

· Promoting and respecting informed decision

· Honoring Dignity

· Maintaining privacy and confidentiality

· Promoting justice

· Being accountable (CAN, 2017)

In addition to the values within Code of Ethics, I also reflect on the values of my employer, the Nova Scotia Health Authority, which align with my personal values. These values include: respect, integrity, courage, innovation and accountability. (NSHA, 2015)

When I look back on my social media audit and social media plan, what I have come to realize is that what has truly guided my presence on social media has been some of these core values that are shared by both my employer and my own personal beliefs. This lends me to think that it is what has driven my decision to maintain a low profile on social media to this point and allow both my professional and personal presence to be very similar due to the fact that in both my personal and professional life I carry the same set of values.

The professional identity of a nurse develops over a life time through a continuous process that incorporates the key values within the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses and includes both personal and professional development. For me my professional identity is one that has been developing from the time I was considering applying for nursing school. Since that time my professional identity has evolved into a caring, competent professional that respects others, promotes health, maintains the dignity and privacy of others and does so with integrity, and accountability.

Year after year nurses are considered to be of the top most trusted professions in the country. Registered nurses are the largest group of health professionals in Canada and are crucial to the transformation of healthcare in Canada. Some of the ways by which Registered Nurses are able to transform healthcare in Canada are by enhancing the healthcare experience, through patient centered care and quality; improving population health through health promotion, disease prevention and equitable access to care; improving value for money through sustainable spending and accountability. (CNA, 2013)

References

Code of Ethics 2017 Edition. (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2019, from https://www.cna-

aiic.ca/html/en/Code-of-Ethics-2017-Edition/index.html.

Canadian Nurses Association. (2013). Registered Nurses: Stepping up to Transform Healthcare. Retrieved May 25, 2019, from https://www.cnaiic.ca/~/media/cna/files/en/registered_nurses_stepping_up_to_transform_health_care_e.pdf.

Nova Scotia Health Authority. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2019, from http://www.nshealth.ca/about-us