Being a good nurse and doing the right thing: A replication study

Abstract

This qualitative research study, a replication of a study published in 2002, investigated the qualities of a good nurse and the role ethics plays in decision making. After reviewing the limitations of the published work, the current study implemented modifications related to the research questions, sample selection, data collection, and use of software for data analysis. The original study identified seven categories that related to being a good nurse and doing the right thing. In the present study, the use of relational analysis led to the recognition of four categories: (1) personal traits and attributes; (2) technical skills and management of care; (3) work environment and co-workers; and (4) caring and caring behaviors. To understand what it means to be a good nurse and do the right thing is a complex task; however, this research adds to the small amount of empirical data that exists to describe those characteristics.

Nursing Students' Work Experience Based Perceptions of "Being a Good Nurse"

“…Respect in interpersonal relationships, and support for each other is necessary in nursing and contributes to the health of patients. These findings coincide with others (Catlett, Lovan, 2011;Cleary et al, 2014;Päätalo, Kyngäs, 2016) that suggest a positive emotional atmosphere in nursing depends on nurse-nurse interactions. Students experienced the hierarchical interrelationships within nursing, whereby nurses are seen as superior to patients.…”

“…Empathy and understanding regarding patients and relatives are essential features of good nurses, in order to ensure the quality of care, and to reduce patients' suffering. Empathy is interrelated with compassion, and is a typical feature of good nurses (Catlett, Lovan, 2011). Our research revealed that empathy may be emotionally painful for nurses.…”

“…Nursing students observed the implementation of the professional mission by nurses during their practice in nurses' goals and intentions regarding patients: caring, reducing suffering, empowering, ensuring quality of life, satisfying spiritual needs, and preserving patient autonomy. Caring patients is the essential nursing mission and the dominant characteristic of a "being a good nurseˮ (Catlett, Lovan, 2011;Cleary et al, 2014). Findings showed that good nurses must care not only about the physical health of patients, but they must also respond to their spiritual needs.…”

“…A "good nurse" has specific skills and knowledge, continuously learns in changing environments (Alqahtani, 2016), and has a professionally suitable attitude in person-to-person relationships, in which patients' uniqueness is respected, dignity is ensured, and adequate support is provided (Jones, 2014;Alavi et al, 2015). A "good nurse" is required and expected to manifest professional solutions and discretion in complex situations (Catlett, Lovan, 2011;Jimenez-Lopez et al, 2016). The literature provides information about the concept of a "good nurse".…”

Virtue-based Approaches to Professional Ethics: a Plea for More Rigorous Use of Empirical Science

“…In this section, I briefly discuss the relevance of virtues to professional education, personnel recruitment and selection, and performance appraisal. make the yet stronger claim that virtues relevant to nursing should be a requirement for admission of candidates to schools of nursing (Catlett and Lovan 2011). The main reason for this is that patients' dissatisfaction with nursing care has been shown to be partly due to nurses' poor traits of character (Chen and Hsu 2015), and it is hoped that character formation will improve the situation.…”