Truth Telling in the Nursing Profession

¶ … Nurse, Must I always tell the truth Truth in nursing fraternity "I think it's difficult for many physicians and nurses to be completely truthful about their patients' medical condition. I believe we prefer giving positive news because of the desire for nonmaleficence and to avoid the stress of delivering bad news to patients and their families" (Crystal Hird, 2005).

Despite the grave sadness that truth saying within the nursing practice may bring to the nurse or the patient and at times the family members, there is need to have the truth told at all times by the nurse and truth that is handled with absolute care and professional communication system must be followed. This paper is purely based on the value of truth in nursing and the virtue of nurse telling the truth despite the situation.

It will also look at how the truth needs to be told in the nursing practices especially if the truth is bound to hurt the recipient. Discussion Whether a nurse must always speak the truth, even if he has full knowledge that that truth may not be what the patient or the family would like to hear has been a matter of discussion for a long time.

There is need to understand first therefore, the value of truth in nursing before making up decisions if it is paramount to speak the truth always and for what reason. Major philosophers on morality and ethics like Aristotle state that "falsehood in itself is bad and reprehensible while the truth is a fine and praiseworthy thing" (Kate Hodkinson, 2008: Pp 249). This is in line with the virtue ethics that looks into the moral character of the individual, how the individual puts forth the virtues and how they lead their daily lives.

In this case, the virtue ethics demand that we should always say the truth at all times within the nursing profession, and indeed it should be the lifestyle of the nurse. By speaking the truth, first, as noted above, it will portray the nurse as a virtuous person who is dependable in telling the reliable, fine and praiseworthy thing.

The truth from the nurse will also represent the professional side of the practice and not only bring forth that particular individual as open and adhering to the codes of the profession, but bring respect to the nursing as a profession. Contradictory and false information will always bring shame and display the profession in a bad light especially if and when the patient or the relatives come to discover the truth. Tuckett, A.G.

(2004) indicates that, telling the truth goes a long way to boost the trust that the patient walked into the hospital with into a relationship, while still under the care of the nurse. Telling the patient the truth in a caring manner will make the patient trust that the nurse knows what he is doing, is mindful about him as a patient and will continue giving the best care possible.

This bond and relationship that forms between the two is paramount in the psychological comfort of the patient and the moral obligation of the nurse in ensuring the truth and best care possible is maintained between them. There are, however, situations that help to demonstrate why some incidences of concealment of truth, paternalism or nondisclosure still occur in the hospitals today.

This is common especially in situations where the nurse deals with a terminally ill person and these situations present a dilemma for the nurses on whether to tell or not to tell the truth, prompted by the following reasons (Neelam S.

2013); The ethical dilemma-where the family indicates that their patient just be treated but not informed of the truth of the ailment since he will not handle it well, the nurse is torn in between respecting the wish of the family members or going with the ethical dictate and tell the truth anyhow. Respect for autonomy-in a case where the patient refuses to be told the truth, it is difficult to know what to do and hence many nurses end up telling the lie.

Beneficence- this presents a problem to nurses especially when they know by telling the truth, the patient may sink into depression or get high blood pressure, some resort to concealing the truth in order to promote the good health of the patient in line with the principle of beneficence. The underlying fact is that patients have the right to information, there needs to be freee flow of information from the nurse to the patient and in the event that the patient may not be in a position.