that includes a measure of self-sacrifice, restraint and post-
ponement of immediate gratification needs. Common modes
of value transmission include:
•
Modelling
: Children learn to value certain behaviours
and attitudes by observing parents, peers and significant
others. Thus, modelling may lead to socially acceptable
or unacceptable behaviours.
•
Moralising
: Children whose carers use the moralising
mode of value transmission are taught a complete value
system by parents or an institution such as their church
or school that allows little opportunity for them to
weigh different values.
•
Laissez-faire:
Those who use the laissez-faire approach
to value transmission leave children to explore values
on their own (no one set of values is presented as best
for all) and to develop a personal value system. This
approach often involves little or no guidance and can
lead to confusion and conflict.
•
Rewarding and punishing:
Through rewarding and
punishing, children are rewarded for demonstrating
values held by parents and punished for demonstrating
values that are deemed unacceptable.
•
Responsible choice:
Finally, carers who follow the
responsible-choice mode of value transmission
encourage children to explore competing values and to
weigh their consequences. Support and guidance are
offered as children develop a personal value system.
Professional values
Professional values provide the foundation for nursing and
midwifery practice as distinct caring-healing professions,
and guide clinicians’ interactions with patients, clients, col-
leagues and the public. These values include
compassion,
competence, confidence, respect for self and others, relation-
ships and connections, responsibility and commitment
.
While these may describe personal values held by individual
nurses and midwives, they are primarily the values that are
attributed to the nursing and midwifery role, which requires
leadership, advocacy and accountability at many levels.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Code
of Ethics for Nurses presents six broad value statements as
a point of reference against which nurses are encouraged to
measure and critique their own practice (ANMC, 2008a).
These statements, which represent a decision-making
framework for determining the best course of action in the
face of conflicting alternatives, are set out below:
•
Value statement 1
: Nurses value quality nursing care for
all people. The focus is on quality and accountability in
terms of maintaining professional competence.
•
Value statement 2
: Nurses value respect and kindness for
self and others. The focus is on the importance of
appropriate professional boundaries in caring relationships.
•
Value statement 3
: Nurses value the diversity of people.
The focus is on human diversity in contemporary society;
respect for individual needs, beliefs and values; and
awareness of the impact this has on caring relationships.
Unit II Foundations of nursing and midwifery practice
194
•
Value statement 4
: Nurses value access to quality nursing
and healthcare for all people. The focus is on awareness
of equitable provision of services without discrimination.
•
Value statement 5
: Nurses value informed decision
making. The focus is on the provision of accurate and
complete information to consumers, as well as an
understanding of the potential impact of ill-health on the
individual’s capacity for self-determination.
•
Value statement 6
: Nurses value a culture of safety in
nursing and healthcare. The focus is on risk management
and responsibility for reduction of adverse events.
•
Value statement 7
: Nurses value ethical management of
information. The focus is on appropriate and accurate
documentation and confidentiality of health information.
•
Value statement 8
: Nurses value a socially, economically
and ecologically sustainable environment promoting
health and well-being. The focus is on the nurse’s
responsibilities in relation to environmental health issues.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation also has a Code of
Ethics (NZNO, 2010), written for nurses who practise in a
constantly changing multicultural society. The underlying
philosophy of the code is that caring as a nurse requires
involvement of self in a real concern for the well-being of
another. Caring is an experience that cannot be measured,
and the complexities of caring as a nurse defy a neat defini-
tion (Johnstone, 2009). The code is based on three
assumptions that inform nursing, and on the recognition that
nursing takes place in unique relationships with individuals,
colleagues, society and organisations:
•
Assumption 1
: Relationships and interactions take place
in a respectful manner. This value is enacted within the
concept of cultural safety. Relationships include those
between the nurse and colleagues, patients,
organisations and society.
•
Assumption 2
: Respect for the individual encompasses
the principles of partnership and collaboration, where
the patient/group/community participates actively in the
process of nursing. The principle here is that the nurse
values the contribution of the client/group/community.
•
Assumption 3
: Relationships and interactions have the
purpose of achieving a positive outcome for the
patient/group/community. This value relates to the
overarching aim of nursing caring.
The framework for the Code of Ethics highlights the
underlying ethical values of: autonomy, beneficence, non-
maleficence, justice, confidentiality, veracity, fidelity,
guardianship of the environments and its resources, and being
professional. The code individually relates these underlying
values to the relationships a nurse has with the four groups of
individuals, colleagues, society and organisations.
The code was developed from different ethnic, cultural,
employment and practice settings and included Ma
–
ori, New
Zealand European, Samoan, Tongan, Nieuean, Chinese,
Korean, Filipino and European people. Incorporated in this
code is the concept of cultural safety (Ma
–
ori translation is
