Nursing is a highly respected profession that requires expertise, compassion, and dedication. Most nurses exhibit utmost professionalism, providing excellent patient care while upholding stringent ethical and legal standards. However, some nurses occasionally engage in unprofessional behaviors that can negatively impact patient outcomes and safety. This article examines what constitutes unprofessional conduct in nursing and why it occurs.
Common Examples of Unprofessional Nursing Behaviors
Some examples of unprofessional nursing behaviors include:
Poor Attitude
– Displaying apathy, disinterest or impatience towards patients
– Making insensitive or rude comments to patients, families or colleagues
– Spreading gossip or engaging in malicious talk about co-workers
– Showing disrespect to supervisors or resisting instructions
Negligence
– Failing to properly monitor patients or follow treatment plans
– Ignoring patient calls for assistance or requests
– Committing frequent charting errors or incomplete documentation
– Poor hygiene practices like failing to wash hands between patients
Substance Abuse
– Arriving to work under the influence of alcohol or drugs
– Abusing prescription medications accessed at work
– Frequently calling in sick due to hangovers or withdrawal
Violating Boundaries
– Engaging in inappropriate personal relationships with patients
– Disclosing confidential patient information without consent
– Accepting inappropriate gifts from patients or families
– Posting compromising information/photos of patients on social media
Laziness
– Arriving late to shifts or leaving early
– Taking overly long breaks or avoiding difficult assignments
– Refusing additional duties or showing inflexibility
– Displaying sloppy appearance or poor uniform cleanliness
What Causes Nurses to Act Unprofessionally?
There are several factors that can precipitate unprofessional conduct in nurses:
Job Dissatisfaction
Nurses who are unhappy or disengaged from their jobs are more prone to apathy, poor bedside manner and cutting corners when it comes to proper protocols. Heavy workloads, lack of autonomy and insufficient recognition can fuel dissatisfaction.
Compassion Fatigue
The emotional strain of continuously caring for sick patients can cause compassion fatigue. Emotionally exhausted nurses struggle to empathize with patients and provide optimal care.
Personal Problems
Issues like relationship conflicts, financial stress, mental health issues or family demands can negatively impact a nurse’s ability to focus at work. Some turn to drugs, alcohol or inappropriate relationships with patients as unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Lack of Accountability
Insufficient leadership, oversight and performance management enables bad behaviors. Nurses who are not held accountable for unprofessional conduct are more likely to repeat it.
Poor Coping Skills
Nurses face high stress. Without healthy outlets like exercise, meditation, or talking to colleagues/supervisors some turn to drugs, emotional outbursts,boundary violations or neglect of duties to cope.
Personality Issues
Some problematic personality traits like narcissism, mood instability, hostility or entitlement can make certain nurses prone to unprofessional actions.
Lack of Peer Support
Nurses need peer bonding, teamwork and lively engagement to thrive. Isolated nurses are more apt to become frustrated, apathetic and dismissive of standards.
Impact of Unprofessional Nursing Conduct
Unprofessional nursing practices jeopardize healthcare quality and patient wellbeing in various ways:
Adverse Events
When nurses are negligent, impaired or incompetent, it places patients at risk. Medical errors, falls, wounds,and infections are more likely to occur.
Suboptimal Care
Patients often feel anxiety, confusion and vulnerability in medical settings. Uncaring attitudes from nurses can worsen patient stress. Rushed care or dismissal of patient concerns also negatively impacts care.
Distrust
Public trust in healthcare declines when patients witness unprofessional nursing conduct. Stories of boundary violations or impaired providers on duty undermines faith in the profession.
Lower Patient Satisfaction
Disrespectful behavior, lack of empathy and neglect from nurses understandably lowers patient satisfaction scores for hospitals. Facilities could see reduced reimbursements as a result.
Increased Healthcare Costs
Medical errors, preventable complications and adverse events due to unprofessional nursing lead to extended hospital stays and readmissions. This drives up expenditures for patients and healthcare facilities.
Toxic Work Culture
Widespread unprofessional conduct results in low morale, infighting, disengagement and dysfunction among the nursing team. This makes providing excellent care difficult.
Nurse Turnover
Many nurses leave facilities where unprofessional behavior is rampant and tolerated. Constant staff churn leads to instability that also hampers care provision.
Legal Liability
Egregious examples of unprofessionalism like boundary violations, substance abuse or falsifying records could result in lawsuits or loss of nursing license. This raises organizational risk.
Reporting Unprofessional Nursing Conduct
While nurses have an obligation to display utmost professionalism, they are human and occasionally falter. Facilities should implement training on professional standards and self-care. Compassion fatigue programs, counseling resources, workshops on ethics and healthy coping are also beneficial.
When nurses witness serious breaches of conduct that jeopardize patient wellbeing, they have a duty to report it immediately. Many facilities have anonymous compliance hotlines nurses can use to report impaired colleagues, negligence or abuse. State nursing boards also investigate misconduct complaints. By holding each other accountable, nurses can maintain the highest standards of their honored profession.
Preventing Unprofessional Conduct in Nurses
Healthcare organizations can take certain steps to promote professionalism and reduce unprofessional behaviors among nurses:
Ensure Adequate Staffing Levels
Assign reasonable nurse-patient ratios to prevent burnout. Have additional per-diem nurses to allow for breaks.
Foster Teamwork
Encourage nurses to collaborate, assist each other and acknowledge contributions. Make sure nurses feel supported by peers.
Cultivate Ethical Culture
Develop clear conduct policies and provide regular ethics training. Encourage peer oversight and reporting of violations.
Offer Wellness Initiatives
Provide stress management resources, mental health support, retreats and workshops on resilience. Promote self-care.
Conduct Surveys
Regularly survey nurses on engagement, satisfaction and workplace culture. Track experience trends and address issues.
Recognize Nurses
Celebrate nursing excellence through awards, ceremonies and other appreciation efforts. Praise instances of compassion and dedication.
Provide Counseling
Offer accessible counseling to nurses facing personal issues, mental health struggles or burnout.
Give Autonomy
Allow nurses input into policies and unit operations. Provide opportunities to participate in committees or take leadership roles.
Conclusion
While most nurses uphold the highest standards of care and compassion, instances of unprofessional conduct do occur in healthcare settings. Factors like job dissatisfaction, lack of accountability, poor coping skills and insufficient peer support can precipitate unprofessional behaviors. Examples include negligence, substance abuse, boundary violations, disrespect and laziness. Such conduct negatively impacts patient outcomes, satisfaction, costs and facility culture. Healthcare organizations need to actively promote professionalism through training, wellness initiatives, ethical reinforcement and proper oversight. By maintaining professional standards, nurses can provide the empathetic, competent care patients deserve.