Academic Integrity in Nursing

Academic Integrity in Nursing

Introduction

Nursing is referred to a very important profession in the field of health care and is focused on taking care of the individuals, communities and families that is aimed to achieve and maintain quality of life and optimal health for the society. A very important concern for the nursing students is to assure that they follow the rules of academic integrity during their academic course because nursing student have an important responsibility to take care of the health of individuals when they come into their practical life (Fleischmann, 2006). The core focus of this essay is to discuss the connection between academic integrity and the profession of nursing.

Discussion

It has been observed that academic integrity in the profession of nursing is considered very important ion the profession of nursing, and is also considered as a code of truth, knowledge and understanding in a loyal and truthful manner. The occurrence of truthfulness, loyalty and ethical practices is the reflection of academic integrity in all the fields relating to education. The most important factors in academic integrity include truthfulness, honesty and loyalty and these factors are also considered as the foundation of ethical practices and attitude in the educational environment (Giddens, 2008). Academic integrity is also very important in the education of nursing and there is availability of specific principles and ethical code of conduct according to which nursing student could maintain academic integrity.

It is also very important for the faculty members to make the students focus only on achieving good grade, but they should also make the student understand the importance of academic integrity in the profession nursing and nursing education (Utley, 2010). An honest and loyal environment should be created for students in the nursing institutions that will motivate the students to obey the ethical practices important for the maintenance of academic integrity. A loyal and honest environment in the institutions will enable the students to incorporate ethical practices and attitude and in turn improve their moral, physical, social and cognitive activities (Arhin, 2009). If a loyal and honest environment is provided to the students during their academics, then the individuals adopt and continue honesty and integrity in their professional activities when they become professional nurses.

It is significant that student in their academics involve in some unethical practices and activities of dishonesty that negate the academic integrity. The activities of dishonesty in nursing academics are also significantly observed in the profession of nursing. Cheating and plagiarism are significant activities of dishonesty that are included in the academic dishonesty in the profession of nursing. Plagiarism occurs when an individual uses the content or ideas of another individual intentionally or unintentionally without any reference of original source or acknowledgement (Jeffrey, 2012). Any illegal assistance that is involved in the academics is considered as academic dishonesty in the field of nursing.

The most significant illegal activities that are observed in the academics of nursing include copying or cheating from other class mates in examinations or tests, use ...