Honesty, accountability, and responsibility in organizational practice

¶ … medical field to understand the significance of being honest under all circumstances. Accountability and responsibility are key factors in making a good medical professional. Honesty while it's important needs to be toned down to make it more acceptable to the patient. Brutal honesty is not needed in the nursing profession, it can make the condition worse and hence truth must be delivered in an acceptable manner according to the circumstances. "Brutal honesty may undermine the respect of the dignity of the patient to receive information in a way and at a time that is appropriate for him or her." (Caulfield, p. 41)

Honesty, accountability and responsibility are values we all understand but within the framework of nursing practice, their meaning may go a lot deeper. A nurse is accountable for her actions but her accountability is not limited to professional practice, there are few pillars of accountability that she must understand to fully grasp the concept. The first most important pillar is of course the professional accountability. This is connected to nurse's professional conduct in relation to her work involving her patients. For this she must conform to the guidelines provided by major bodies that develop the professional code of conduct for nurses. These guidelines are based on the solid principle that each nurse is responsible for her own actions and omissions, regardless of advice received from another professional.

The second important pillar is ethical accountability. This is related to ethical behavior that a nurse needs to conform to in order to perform her duties in a socially acceptable manner. We must understand that ethics covers everyone so what is universally considered ethical is also correct for the nurse. There can be many sources for this ethical behavior including general guidelines and major ethical frameworks that a professional organization adheres to.

The third pillar is legal accountability. Every nurse must understand that anything that goes wrong during treatment can result in legal complications which may involve the nurse as well if the patient was harmed while under her care. This is when the nurse becomes legally accountability to the law for any actions or omissions that may or may not have contributed to the accident.