Nursing Code Of Ethics Essay

First and foremost, nursing is not just a job. It is a profession that requires giving “self” every minute, of everyday. Though job security and salary can be added benefits, they simply could never surpass the emotional, psychological, and physical components that nursing requires. Some might think it is alarming that at the point of preceptorship, the end of a student’s career, he or she believes job security and salary are the reasons to go into this field, even worse that he or she would admit it to a seasoned nurse. In a moment like this, the preceptor will have to take a deep breath, close her eyes, and remember all the moments in her career that kept her going.
With that said, the nursing profession has a unique code of ethics, that though at times challenging, it is each nurses duty to uphold. Specific provisions can guide a preceptor in navigating and facilitating a conversation that can help a student nurse to understand the journey that lies ahead. More importantly, the student must understand how the profession defines their client, or in nursing, the patient. The ANA Code of Ethics defines the term patient by the derivative meaning, “the one who suffers” (ANA, 2001). This is fundamental for the student to understand because no amount of money or job security can retain a nurse when faced the trials, tribulations, perseverance, or jubilation that accompanies caring for “the one who suffers”.
Realistically, most students are not privy to the winding journey of a nursing career. Students learn how to bathe, medicate, feed, assess, and some psychosocial concepts. However, there is no class that teaches or can teach students how to stand back and watch your patients struggle to help themselves, how to face your own mortal...

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...rave and caring nurse (Radcliffe, 2010). It is not about who the student is now, but who he or she will become.
Some may be born to nurse and some might take the scenic route. Some may have had their nurses hat on since they were five. That is what makes nursing so unique. People like Mark that came into nursing because they needed a paycheck but through human interaction, compassionate mentors, and the art of nursing would never choose another field. Also, the nursing professionals who lived and breathed nursing from the day they were born yet accept and foster the naive, foolish, and sometimes shallow student nurses. At the end of a nurses career, the question will be different. If she had the chance to choose again, would she choose nursing? The response would likely be yes, and paychecks would fall short on the list of reasons she would choose nursing again.