Completing the first two units of the MHST 601 course have allowed me to reflect on my professional identity and values as a nurse and to think more about how I would like this identity to evolve in the future. Our first recommending reading for the course was about a nurse who “vented” online about the quality of care a family member received and who was subsequently found guilty of professional misconduct (CBC News, 2016). When I first read this story, I was confused about why this nurse would be found guilty for her behaviour. The nurse in question was discussing her dissatisfaction in the care that her grandfather received in a facility that she was not an employee of. As long as she was not revealing any information about patients that she had looked after, and was not speaking ill of her co-workers, what was her crime? After reviewing the code of conduct that I adhere to as a registered nurse in Ontario, I found my answer: the principle that nurses must maintain public confidence in the nursing profession (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2019). By sharing her negative experience with her grandfather’s care, the nurse in question was publicly displaying a lack of confidence in the competence of the nursing profession as a whole. As nurses, we have fought for a long time in order to gain respect from the general public as knowledgeable, competent medical professionals, capable of a level of autonomous practice and decision making. By “venting” publicly about the behaviour of other nurses, one could compromise this level of respect.
After reviewing the scenario mentioned above and re-orienting myself to the professional standards of my practice, I realized that I may have to be more careful about the things that I post publicly from now on. As a student nurse, I remember times where I vented on social media about my school life that may have revealed more information than was appropriate. After reflecting on the professional identity that I wish to have as a nurse, I looked back through some of my social media posts and deleted any that could appear to be questionable. I made a mental note going forward that all social media posts that I make should be reflective of the kind of health care professional that I strive to be: a respectable and kind person who strives to exude both my personal values and those that I have sworn to take on as a professional nurse. Now, in my eighth year of nursing practice, I am happy to have reviewed the professional standards of the College of Nurses of Ontario for this course so that I could refresh my memory on the code of conduct that I learned in nursing school and any recent changes.
Another important thing that I have learned so far in this course has been my position as a nurse in the Canadian health care system. As a graduate of an accelerated course of studies, I realized when beginning this course that I had learned very little about the Canadian health care system in school thus far. After reading about the federal and provincial health systems in Canada and the Canada Health Act, I was able to familiarize myself with how health care services and professionals such as my own are funded and administered. This was an especially important topic to learn about as someone who hopes to be involved in health policy and health services funding in the future. Also, as someone who is interested in improving health care equity for Indigenous people, it was interesting to learn that health care services provided on reserves is funded mostly by the federal rather than provincial systems (Government of Canada, 2019). This information allowed me to think about the differences in pay for health care professionals, as well as differences in the quality of care that may be present in reserve versus non-reserve health care settings.
References:
CBC News. (2016, December 3). Nurse who “vented” online found guilty of professional misconduct. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/srna-discipline-social-media-nurse-saskatchewan-1.3880351
College of Nurses of Ontario. (2019). Practice standard: Code of conduct. https://www.cno.org/globalassets/docs/prac/49040_code-of-conduct.pdf
Government of Canada. (2019). Canada’s health care system. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/reports-publications/health-care-system/canada.html
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