Debra Stinchcomb Reflects on the “Year of the Healthy Nurse”

Wow, it’s amazing that I’ve been a nurse since 1981. Seems just like yesterday. During that time, I’ve taken advantage of experiencing a few different areas within our profession: Med/Surg, Oncology, ICU, PACU, home health, home infusion and DME and finally, ambulatory surgery centers, where I’m happy to be a consultant with Progressive Surgical Solutions. What other profession allows for this much flexibility?

I recently attended ASCA 2017, where I listened to Nursing Leadership: Identifying and Addressing Ethical Challenges. It was presented by Dana Bjarnason, PhD, RN, NE-BC, Vice President & CNO at OHSU in Portland, Oregon. She initially started her presentation with nursing theory. I have to admit it brought back some nightmares from nursing school! But, she quickly tied that into the ethical challenges we can face as nurses and nurse managers and how we need to be aware of our own personal values in these situations. Ms. Bjarnason reviewed our professional duty, principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence, ongoing development of nursing, confidentiality and our commitment to other healthcare providers and to patients.   She tied several decisions she has had to make to the ANA Nursing Code of Ethics. Our Code of Ethics is only a little over 100 years old and was last revised in 2015. She tied several real life ethical challenges back to using the provisions within the code of ethics to assist her in decision making. I encourage all of you to download and review the ANA Code of Ethics and refer to them when you find yourself in an ethical quandary. Her presentation was wonderful and reminded me, as well as others in the audience, what it means to be a nurse and proud to be one! Happy Nurses Week, everyone!

-Debra Stinchcomb