Hippocratic Oath and Nightingale Pledge are taken by the healthcare professionals with the aim of promoting ethics in their profession. Healthcare professionals undertake this by pledging to lead by example, faithfulness, accuracy, devotion, responsibility, quality, and accountability (Kantarjian & Steensma, 2014). Nurses are responsible for giving quality care and therefore, the decision they make in their profession should be seen to promote quality care for all.
One of the fundamental duties of a nurse is to maintain the noble traditions of the nursing profession and not going against the code of ethics that govern their profession. This, therefore, shows that the decisions made by the nurses are ones that are in line with their code of ethics (Johnson, 2013). The fundamental duty of a nurse is also to ensure utmost respect for the life of a human being. This involves making sure that they offer quality care to them regardless of their background. This is the reason as to why nurses are required to practice holistic nursing (White, 2013). To human improve human life; nurses should as well be taking care of other aspects that affect the life of human beings and not just their physical well-being. Nurses should, therefore, make decisions that are geared at taking into consideration the health of their patients.
Moreover, nurses have the fundamental duty to ensure that issues such as nationality, religion, race, and social factors do not affect the delivery of care (White, 2013). This is the reason as to why nursing practice insists on cultural competency. Nurses should make decisions that do not conflict with these factors as it can lower the level of confidence the patients and their families have on care.
Conclusively, Hippocratic Oath and Nightingale Pledge taken by nurses influence their practices and decision making in undertaking their fundamental duties of giving quality care, maintaining nursing profession traditions, and ensuring cultural competency.
References
Johnson, M. (2013). Nursing values in a changing world. Salute e società.
Kantarjian, H., & Steensma, D. (2014). Relevance of the Hippocratic Oath in the 21st Century. The ASCO Post, 5(16), 104-105.
White, K. M. (2013). Professionalism and Nursing—A Quest or an Accomplishment?. Patient Care and Professionalism, 77.
