Fundamental Nurse’s Duties and Decision Making
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
The fundamental duties of the nurses are to promote health, to alleviate suffering, to restore health and prevent illness. To perform these duties, nurses have to make decisions on a regular basis which forms the operational part of their job. To effectively promote health and alleviate illness, a nurse should be able to make good decisions (Cherry & Jacobs, 2011). Decision making in nursing is associated with uncertainty, which professional nurses should make to ensure the welfare of the patient. Therefore, a nurse has to base his or her decisions on the standards of nursing, which influences the professionalism of nurses. Specifically, making such decisions is greatly influenced by the Nightingale Pledge and the Hippocratic Oath.
The Nightingale Pledge and the Hippocratic Oath are taken by nurses during graduation to align their practice to professional codes, ethics and standards (Scheffer & Rubenfeld, 2009). The pledge and the oath influence their practice making them internalize ethics and professionalism in making decisions. A nurse will therefore make decisions whose results will meet the expectations that he or she declared during the oath and the pledge. The oath and the pledge influence a nurse to perform the four fundamental duties by guiding nurses to provide quality health care that focuses ethical practice.
The oath and the ledge task the nurse to make decisions that improve the well being of the patients. The nurse will always put the concerns of the patient under consideration during practice. For instance, a nurse will consider confidentiality rights, privacy and integrity of the patient (Kilipi, 2002). The internalization of the oath and the pledge creates a sense of responsibility for every decision made by the nurse. This means that a nurse will be a good decision maker if he practices the oath in caring for patients.
References
Cherry, B & Jacobs, S. (2011). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends & management. Maryland: Mosby Publishing
Scheffer, B. & Rubenfeld, M. (2009). Critical thinking tactics for nurses. (2nd Ed.) Sudbury,MA: Jones and Bartlett
Kilpi, H. (2000). Patient’s autonomy, privacy and informed consent. Amsterdam: IOS press