RESPECT IN NURSING

The Lack of Respect in Nursing

Introduction

Respect is of great importance in one's life, its ubiquity, significance and implications largely explains why philosophers in moral and political philosophy are interested in these areas. It has a crucial role to play in how we go further in our lives, mainly on how we respect ourselves. We are nurtured in initial stages of life to respect our parents, teachers, elders, school, rules and regulations, laws and policies, family and cultural values and morals, other people's feeling and opinions, country's flag and leaders. The concept of respect is often discussed in the context of bioethics, environmental ethics, business ethics, workplace ethics, and other applied context involving ethics. The fact remains that despite widespread knowledge as well as acknowledgment of respect, there are still crucial ethical issues existing at various functional areas of an individual's life.

Discussion

Scope and Impact of the Issue

The subject is of great importance since nurses are cornerstone of health system of the world and they have significant influence over the lifestyle of populaces around the world. They not only offer care and comfort, but play as role models to ensure safe and healthy lifestyles. As per the United States Department of Labor's revised occupational outlook handbook (2000), nurses are responsible for promoting health, prevent disease, and help patients cope with illness (O'Brien-Pallas et al, 2001). They are advocates and health educators for patients, families, and communities. Given their crucial role in shaping the society, concerns regarding respect for nurses are critical issue for the industry and prospect individuals seeking their profession in nursing. Nursing is one of the most important groups within the team making sure patients get the best care and the industry has to respect and recognize the work that nurses do, the work they do in its nature is of high regards and must be valued.

Critical Analysis

Attitude is most generally the key factor to respect; we shall discuss it mainly in the context of nursing and analyze its significance, role, and reasons why it has been an ethical issue throughout the world and an area of debate for researches and philosophers for critics.

Caring about individuals, families, communities to restore them to optimal health and retain their quality of life, nursing is a profession encompassing positivity, autonomous and collaborative care to shape healthy future. The profession in its very core, holds superior status and outmost respect but it is apologetic to observe that the profession as well as people i.e. nurses are not looked with respect which is halting for the health industry as well as leading to moral hazards. The basis of professional relationships incorporates the elements of trust, respect, commitment, truthfulness and reverence to the expertise of a colleague. Professional journals report that there are more nurses than ever in American but to the regrets, only few of them are working mainly because the great ethical responsibility and nature of work is often overshadowed with the lack of respect (Manthey, ...