In my role as a nurse ethicist, I recently had a conversation with a staff nurse who asked me a simple question: “Is it an ethical issue if one of my co-workers is dissing a patient?” By “dissing” she meant her colleague was making disrespectful comments about the patients in her care.
Everyone needs an opportunity to vent, even complain sometimes. So when does it cross a line and become an ethical issue?
The answer is in the standards of professional practice, defined in the ANA Code of Ethics, which serves as the foundation for nursing practice at Clarian Health. Within the fundamental values of the code are provisions for practicing with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity of individuals.
Complaining about patients violates this fundamental value when the complaints become the rule instead of the exception; when the complaints drift outside the privacy of a locker room or staff lounge, when they are spoken within ear shot of a patient or a family member and, in rare cases, when they reflect a true disdain for a particular patient or “type” of patient. This type of behavior is not consistent with a healthy working environment.
The code is not just about our duty to patients. As nurses, we have a duty to ourselves, to preserve our integrity and seek continued growth in our practice. Complaining to the point of habit suggests it’s time to evaluate our need to rejuvenate.
It takes energy and endurance to maintain ethical practice in the face of computer problems, ringing phones, family demands, ill calls and all the other pressures that would even tax a saint. Oddly enough, people whose complaining has become a habit may not realize what they are doing.
If you have a colleague who has slipped into this behavior, offer them support by way of feedback and suggest “a time out,” something as simple as covering their assignment for a short break, or encouraging them to utilize the sanctuary of healing space.
Lucia Wocial
Everyone needs an opportunity to vent, even complain sometimes. So when does it cross a line and become an ethical issue?
The answer is in the standards of professional practice, defined in the ANA Code of Ethics, which serves as the foundation for nursing practice at Clarian Health. Within the fundamental values of the code are provisions for practicing with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity of individuals.
Complaining about patients violates this fundamental value when the complaints become the rule instead of the exception; when the complaints drift outside the privacy of a locker room or staff lounge, when they are spoken within ear shot of a patient or a family member and, in rare cases, when they reflect a true disdain for a particular patient or “type” of patient. This type of behavior is not consistent with a healthy working environment.
The code is not just about our duty to patients. As nurses, we have a duty to ourselves, to preserve our integrity and seek continued growth in our practice. Complaining to the point of habit suggests it’s time to evaluate our need to rejuvenate.
It takes energy and endurance to maintain ethical practice in the face of computer problems, ringing phones, family demands, ill calls and all the other pressures that would even tax a saint. Oddly enough, people whose complaining has become a habit may not realize what they are doing.
If you have a colleague who has slipped into this behavior, offer them support by way of feedback and suggest “a time out,” something as simple as covering their assignment for a short break, or encouraging them to utilize the sanctuary of healing space.
Lucia Wocial
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