Cultural Values for Nursing There are several personal, cultural and spiritual values that I have which have made substantial contributions to my worldview and philosophy or nursing. Firstly, these values pertain to my belief in a higher power or God. As creations of God, I believe that we have a categorical imperative of sorts to live in accordance to the principles of this deity, which largely involve temperance and kindness. In this respect, the categorical imperative largely pioneered by Immanuel Kant has immense relevance to my cultural, spiritual and personal values. Additionally, my personal values are influenced by strong familial ties and the sorts of things that I was taught by my parents and my surrounding family members. Those things include taking a non-judgmental approach to interacting with others, as well as taking personal pride and value in the sort of work in which I am engaged. This aspect of my values is certainly important to my work as a nurse because I believe I can make significant contributions to my community and to society as a whole by taking pride in the work I do and effecting thoughtful care for others.

Ultimately, I am attempting to help make the world a better place by dealing with one patient at a time, and by dealing with one person at a time. In fact, this sort of creed is actually the core of my personal worldview. I think virtually everyone would agree that the world at large could certainly stand some improvement. I am convinced that the best way of making that improvement is by improving one person as a time. Naturally, the first person I can attempt to better is myself, which I have attempted to do by adhering to my spiritual, family, and personal values. Next, I believe that it is necessary to transmit this sort of self-improvement to other individuals in a singularly solitary method. Thus, by working with patients I believe I can play a significant role in helping them to receive better care and, in some small way, become a better person to help improve the world at large.

The primary consideration when defining values, morals and ethics in the context of my obligation to the nursing practice is to assist the patient in the best way possible. Still,...

Quite simply, it does not suffice to help one patient while excluding others in the process. From an ethical perspective, nurses are obligated to assist entire populations of patients -- while doing so individually. The primary conflict in this sort of moral charge that nurses are tasked with exists when the goals of the overlying infrastructure (specific patient care facilities, resources, national health care initiatives, etc.) conflict with those of administering ideal patient care. Shortages in resources and questionable facets of legislature may create such a conflict, which can help to form an ethical dilemma for nurses in general and possibly for me as well. The goal of ethically responsible nursing is not to better the career and the life of the nurse, but those of the patient. My own personal values, philosophy and worldview may conflict with my obligation to practice nursing while potentially creating an ethical dilemma in the following scenario. There may come points in the treatment of a patient in which getting better is no longer an option. I am generally an optimist and would hate to make such an admission to a patient or to his or family member, but may possibly be tasked with doing so. In general, dilemmas for me in which my worldview conflicts with those of my nursing responsibilities involve curbing my idealist, hopeful nature for the realities of modern medicine and the issues that patients face.
My own personal thoughts regarding the morals and ethical dilemmas I may face in the health care field are that I believe in the general cause of this field -- to help people. To that end, I will strive to do just that. I realize that I may encounter situations in which what I may need to do to help a patient is circumscribed by my organization or by protocol, in which case I will abide by my position and the chain of command that helps direct it. Although I know right from wrong, I also know what I am supposed to do as a professional. If those two things ever conflict I will firstly abide by the latter, and then perhaps look for ways to change…