professional values essay

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The importance of professional values from nursing students’ perspective

Batool poorchangizi.

1 ICU, Shahid Bahonar Hospital, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Fariba Borhani

2 Department of Nursing Ethics, Medical Ethics and law Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abbas Abbaszadeh

3 Bam University of Medical Sciences, Bam, Iran

Moghaddameh Mirzaee

4 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Jamileh Farokhzadian

5 Nursing Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, PO Box: 7716913555, Kerman, Iran

Associated Data

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available because this study is part of a larger study. This datasets are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Professional values of nursing students may be changed considerably by curricula. This highlights the importance of the integration of professional values into nursing students’ curricula. The present study aimed to investigate the importance of professional values from nursing students’ perspective.

This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Data were gathered by using a two-section questionnaire consisting of demographic data and Nursing Professional Values Scale-Revised (NPVS-R). By using the stratified random sampling method, 100 nursing students were included in the study.

Results showed that the mean score of the students’ professional values was at high level of importance (101.79  ±  12.42). The most important values identified by the students were “maintaining confidentiality of patients” and “safeguarding patients’ right to privacy”. The values with less importance to the students were “participating in public policy decisions affecting distribution of resources” and “participating in peer review”. The professional value score had a statistically significant relationship with the students’ grade point average ( P  < 0.05).

Conclusions

In light of the low importance of some values for nursing students, additional strategies may be necessary to comprehensively institutionalize professional values in nursing students.

Introduction

Values are goals and beliefs that establish a behavior and provide a basis for decision making [ 1 ]. In a profession, values are standards for action that are preferred by experts and professional groups and establish frameworks for evaluating behavior [ 2 ]. Nursing is a profession rooted in professional ethics and ethical values, and nursing performance is based on such values. Core values of nursing include altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, honesty and social justice [ 3 ]. The core ethical values are generally shared within the global community, and they are a reflection of the human and spiritual approach to the nursing profession. However, the values in the care of patients are affected by cultural, social, economic, and religious conditions dominating the community, making it essential to identify such values in each country [ 4 ].

Professional values are demonstrated in ethical codes [ 5 ]. In fact, ethical codes clarify nursing profession practices, the quality of professional care, and professional norms [ 2 ]. Advances in technology and expansion of nursing roles have provoked complex ethical dilemmas for nurses. Such dilemmas, if not dealt with properly, negatively affect the ability of novice nurses to make clinical decisions [ 6 ]. With the ever-increasing number and complexity of ethical dilemmas in care settings, promotion of professional values has become more crucial in nursing education. The acquisition and internalization of values are at the center of promoting the nursing profession [ 2 ]. When values are internalized, they will become the standards in practice and guide behavior [ 7 ]. Values can be taught, modified and promoted directly or indirectly through education [ 8 ]. Each student enters the nursing school with a set of values that might be changed during the socialization process [ 9 ]. Purposeful integration of professional values in nursing education is essential to guaranteeing the future of nursing [ 10 , 11 ].

One of the significant consequences of teaching ethics and professional values to students is increasing their capacity for autonomous ethical decision-making [ 12 ]. Nursing students acquire professional values initially through the teaching of their school educators and the socialization process. Professional socialization is the method of developing the values, beliefs, and behaviors of a profession [ 13 ]. In their study, Seda and Sleem reported a significant relationship between professional socialization of students and improvement of professional values [ 9 ]. Through professional socialization, which results in the complete acquisition and internalization of values, nursing students should acquire necessary skills and knowledge in cognitive, emotional, and practical dimensions. Presently, however, less attention is paid to the emotional dimension in the formation of values compared to the other two [ 14 ]. In order to develop a value system, individuals should reach the fourth or fifth level of learning of Bloom’s affective domain, i.e. organization and internalization of values. At this level, stabilization of values requires passage of time [ 15 ].

Studies have shown that education causes differences in the formation of professional values, and that nursing educators have significant influence on the stimulation of professional values [ 8 , 14 , 16 , 17 ]. Wehrwein reported that education related to ethics was effective when students’ awareness of ethical issues increased along with the application of values in the workplace. In addition, the ability to make ethical decisions was reported to be stronger in students who had passed an ethics course compared to those who had not [ 18 ]. Therefore, nursing educators play a key role in determining the future way in which nurses grow professionally and are prepared to confront new, unavoidable challenges [ 9 ].

Professors and educators, both in clinical settings and at each stage of education, have the role of facilitator in developing students’ perception of the nursing profession and the nurse’s role. Students may increase their commitment to professional values directly through role playing and indirectly through observing behaviors related to professional values [ 14 ]. Nursing educators are effective role models because of their clinical skills, sense of responsibility, professional commitment, and personal characteristics such as kindness, flexibility, and honesty. Nursing educators enhance creative learning by encouraging critical thinking and decision-making, establishing a supportive learning environment, having technical and ethical knowledge, and providing opportunities for fair evaluation and feedback. Nursing educators should teach nursing students effective strategies to confront ethical dilemmas [ 12 ].

Students’ perspectives on professional values influence their approach to applying professional values in their future profession [ 14 , 15 , 19 , 20 ]. Nursing educators need additional awareness of nursing students’ perspectives on importance of professional values as a basis to use more effective methods for applying professional values. Therefore, nursing educators are able to educate graduates who are ready for decision-making and can effectively deal with daily ethical challenges. Nursing educators’ and students’ awareness of professional nursing values is important for preparing nurses to provide care of patients in an ethical and professional manner [ 6 ]. Researchers have found insufficient information about nursing students’ professional values in Iran. Because of the potential impact of cultures and clinical environments on professional values, the present study aimed to examine the importance of professional values from nursing students’ perspective.

Study design and setting

This cross-sectional study was performed from February to May 2016 at the Razi Nursing and Midwifery School affiliated with the Kerman University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), in Kerman, Iran. This study is a part of a larger study. The results of the first part was published in previous study [ 21 ].

The participants included all undergraduate nursing students who were studying at the time of data collection ( n  = 177). The sample size ( n  = 106) was determined based on the Cochran formula ( d  = 0.06, p  = 0.05). Inclusion criteria were undergraduate nursing students in the fourth, sixth, and eighth semesters without official work experience in hospitals. Submitting an incomplete questionnaire was considered an exclusion criterion. The participants were selected using a stratified random sampling based on the proportion of students in each semester. Therefore, among the total of 50, 62, and 65 students in the three semesters, 30, 37, and 39 students were enrolled, respectively. Finally, of the remaining 106 students, 100 students completed the questionnaires, but six students did not return the questionnaires. Thus, the final sample consisted of 100 students (with the response rate of 94.34%).

A two-section questionnaire was used for data collection. The students’ demographic data including age, grade point average (GPA: 17–20 (level A), 13–16 (level B) and ≤ 12 (level C)), ethnicity, gender, marital status, economic status of family, educational semester, and participation in professional ethical training courses was collected by the first section. The second section was Weis and Schank’s Nursing Professional Values Scale-Revised (NPVS-R). The NPVS-R is a potentially useful instrument for measuring professional nursing values. In developing the professional values scale, Weis and Schank used the ANA Code of Ethics as well as the studies on nursing values and their promotion among nurses [ 2 ].

We used the Persian version of the NPVS-R in this study. The validity of the translated questionnaire was confirmed using face and content validity as well as expert opinion. Reliability of the NPVS-R was reported to be 0.91 using Cronbach’s alpha [ 22 ]. To establish reliability of the NPVS-R in Persian, a pilot study was conducted with 20 nursing students, which resulted in a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.90.

The NPVS-R includes 26 items with a Likert-scale format in five dimensions: 1) trust: 5 items, 2) justice: 3 items, 3) professionalism: 4 items, 4) activism: 5 items, and 5) caring: 9 items. The trust dimension reflects the nurse’s duty (the value of veracity) to patients. The justice dimension deals with patients as noted in statements reflecting equality and diversity issues. The professionalism dimension reflects the promotion of nursing competence, self-evaluation and reflection, and seeking professional growth. The activism dimension reflects participation in professional activities and solutions to professional problems. The caring dimension reflects respect for patients and protection of patient rights.

The participants specified the importance of each item on a Likert 5-point scale ranging from 1 to 5 with 1 = not important, 2 = somewhat important, 3 = important, 4 = very important, and 5 = the most important. The possible range of scores is 26 to 130 [ 2 ]. In this study, the scores below 43, scores between 43 and 86, and those above 86 were considered low importance, moderate, and high importance, respectively. A higher score indicates that professional values are very important, and that nurses are more oriented toward stronger professional values.

Data collection

The first researcher distributed the questionnaires among the participants and explained the study objectives. The researcher also explained to the participants how to fill out the questionnaires and asked them to specify the importance of professional values. In order to eliminate any ambiguity regarding questionnaire items, necessary explanations were provided. The researcher collected the questionnaires while maintaining anonymity and confidentiality of the data.

Statistical analysis

Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent samples, t- test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Mann-Whitney, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient) were used. SPSS software version 19 was used for data analysis and level of significance was considered p  ≤ 0.05.

Ethical considerations

First, the study was approved by the ethics committee affiliated to the Kerman University of Medical Sciences (No code: 1394.238). Then, official permission for collecting data was obtained from the Razi Nursing and Midwifery School. Prior to distributing the questionnaire, the researcher guaranteed the confidentiality and anonymity of the questionnaires. The students’ informed consent was implied from returning completed questionnaires.

The results showed that the students’ mean age was) 21.9 ± 1.26 (and GPA was at B level (16.20 ± 1.20). Most of the students were female (75%), single (67%), and Iranian (97%). Around 37% of the students were in the eighth semester, and around 37.6% of the students had participated in professional ethical training courses (Table  1 ).

Demographic data of the nursing students and its relationship with professional values

The high mean score of the professional values of the nursing students indicated high awareness and perception of the importance of professional values from the students’ perspective. The most important values as identified by higher mean scores were respectively as follows: “maintaining confidentiality of patients”, “safeguarding patients’ right to privacy”, “assuming responsibility for meeting health needs of the culturally diverse population”, and “maintaining competency in area of practice”. The values with lower mean scores were “participating in public policy decisions affecting distribution of resources”, “participating in peer review”, “recognizing role of professional nursing associations in shaping healthcare policy” and “participating in nursing research and/or implementing research findings appropriate to practice”, respectively (Table  2 ).

Importance of professional values from the nursing students’ perspective

Adapted from Weis & Schank [ 2 ] and Poorchangizi et al. [ 21 ]

The results of the Pearson’s correlation coefficient test indicated that there was no significant relationship between professional values and age ( r  = 0.03, p  = 0.47), while there was a significant relationship between professional values and the GPA ( r  = 0.29, p  = 0.003). This revealed that the students with higher GPA had higher scores in professional values. There was no significant difference in the students’ professional values based on different educational semesters ( F  = 0.29, p  = 0.74). In addition, there were no significant differences in professional values based on the other demographic variables such as gender, marital status, ethnicity, and participation in professional ethical training courses (p  > 0.05) (Table ​ (Table1 1 ).

The present study was conducted to examine the importance of professional values from nursing students’ perspectives. The results showed a high total score with regard to the importance of professional values. These findings are in agreement with the findings of the studies conducted in the United States [ 15 , 23 ], Taiwan [ 24 ], Korea [ 25 ], and Iran [ 21 ]. Results of these studies highlighted that instructors and nursing trainers were seen as role models by students.

In this study, the most important nursing professional values were “maintaining confidentiality of patients”, “safeguarding patients’ right to privacy”, “responsibility for meeting health needs of the culturally diverse population”, and “maintaining competency in area of practice”. The results of this study are in agreement with the results of the studies conducted by Lin et al. [ 19 ], Clark [ 15 ], Fisher [ 23 ], and Leners et al. [ 8 ], who identified these values as the most important values. One possible reason for the consistency between the results of this study and those of the other studies may be that these values are among the main values in the nursing profession and are closely associated with it. Leners et al. reported that maintaining competency in area of practice, accepting responsibility and accountability for own practice, and safeguarding patients’ right to privacy were values prioritized by students. Since these values are associated with the direct care of patients and given that students complete their clinical practices under supervision of nurses, students may learn the importance of these values through role modeling and application in clinical settings [ 8 ].

In this study, the least important values from the students’ perspective were “participating in public policy decisions affecting distribution of resources”, “participating in peer review”, “recognizing role of professional nursing associations in shaping healthcare policy”, and “participating in nursing research and/or implementing research findings appropriate to practice” . The results of this research are also in agreement with the results of the studies conducted by Lin et al. [ 19 ], Clark [ 15 ], Fisher [ 23 ], and Leners et al. [ 8 ]. A multitude of factors may have contributed to the lower importance placed on these values; some causes might be less information about the importance of these values in the development of the profession, low motivation, insufficient affirmation, and low encouragement by nursing educators.

The reason for the low importance placed on the values such as “participating in nursing research and/or implementing research findings appropriate to practice” might be the fact that nursing students do not acquire necessary skills (such as information literacy skills) to apply in evidence-based practices during their academic days [ 26 , 27 ]. Another reason for the low importance of the above-mentioned values might be graduate education programs; undergraduate students focus on the rules of clinical practice because they are novices. As they become more competent and eventually experts, the ranking of the values is likely to change.

Concerning the lower importance of the “recognizing role of professional nursing associations in shaping healthcare policy” value, Esmaeili et al. reported the following items as causes for reduction of participation in such associations: long working hours, lack of awareness about the associations’ objectives and activities, insufficiency of time, and lack of support from hospitals to play active roles in associations. Moreover, the inactivity of members in such associations and the weak relationship among these associations were other barriers confronted by such associations in Iran [ 28 ]. In addition, one other reason might be that nursing educators themselves do not participate in professional nursing associations because of high workloads and limited time. Professional nursing associations play major roles in promoting nursing authority and professional identity. Consequently, understanding and valuing the importance of participation in professional associations may require emphasis as an important professional value.

Regarding the low importance of values such as “participating in peer review” and “participating in public policy decisions affecting distribution of resources”, it can be mentioned that these activities are part of the manager’s duties, and that the nurses are not involved in peer evaluation and policy decisions.

In this study, a significant relationship was found between the GPA and scores of professional values. Students with high GPA Probably have the necessary scientific competency in their professional performance, which may result in giving higher importance to professional values as a significant index of professional competence. Lechner et al. emphasized that academic environments appear to elicit and reinforce values such as developing one’s capacities and pursuing one’s interests [ 29 ].

In this study, although no significant difference was found between educational semester and the students’ scores of professional values, the highest score was related to the sixth semester whereas the lowest score was related to the fourth semester. The studies conducted by Rassin [ 16 ] and Clark [ 15 ] had results similar to those of this study, with no difference found between total scores of professional values of students in different semesters of their nursing education. However, several studies [ 8 , 14 , 25 ] found significant differences between total scores of professional values of students in different semesters. It is difficult to compare these differences due to the use of different instruments to measure professional values, differences in nursing education curricula and environments, and differences in study designs. In line with the results found on the association between academic year and education with professional values, researchers reported in several studies that education had a positive effect on professional values, and nursing students’ education experience increased total scores of professional values in a positive direction from entry into school until graduation [ 8 , 14 , 19 ]. In their study, Weis and Shank concluded that higher focus on curricula of junior and senior students could change some professional values, indicating that time spent in school was associated with change in values [ 30 ].

The study had three limitations. First, the assessment of the students’ perspectives on professional values was limited only in the school affiliated with the KUMS in southern Iran, which may limit generalization of these findings. The second limitation was the translation of the NPVS-R into Persian. Cultural and language differences may have affected the meaning of the terms literally and in the context of nursing education in Iran. Third, this study did not assess how the students learned professional values. Similarly, we did not know to what extent students had these values prior to entering nursing education and we did not collect information on these two items; thus, we did not highly emphasize the role of nurse educators in this study. It is suggested that further studies with more accurate instruments are conducted in other nursing schools with different cultural and environmental conditions might lead to comprehensive strategies for internalizing professional values of nursing students.

Implications for nursing

Nursing educators can primarily facilitate professional values by urging students to participate both in research studies on the topic and in nursing education. Periodic classes and seminars about professionalism should be presented by clinical tutors and school educators, who play important roles as behavioral models for their students. It is also recommended to conduct studies to investigate the impact of educational environments and university educators as role models for students on advancement of professional values in students.

The study showed high mean total of professional values from the nursing students’ perspective. However, some professional values such as participating in public policy decisions and participating in nursing researches were less important. This shows low awareness about these values or educators’ insufficient emphasis on them, time limitations to promote these values, and negative attitudes of students toward these values. As future nurses, nursing students should be able to apply professional values in making decisions when confronted with the emerging ethical challenges in the healthcare area. This preparation should be provided for students by educators and professors during their professional socialization process in schools. The findings suggest that many of the values were similarly important in other countries, which can be a reflection of the globalization process in the nursing profession and the presence of professional values at the root of the discipline. However, strategies should be developed to improve weaknesses of nursing students in the professional values adapted to cultural, social, and religious conditions prevailing in the societies, faculties, schools, and hospitals.

Acknowledgements

The researchers appreciate all nursing students who gave their time so generously in order to participate in the study.

Abbreviations

Authors’ contributions.

BP, FB, AA, and JF contributed to conceiving and designing the research. The data were collected, analyzed, and interpreted by BP, MM, FB, and JF. BP, FB JF, AA, and MM contributed equally in writing the manuscript and approved the final manuscript.

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Availability of data and materials

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

First, the study and consent procedure was approved by ethics committee affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences (No: 1394.238). Then, verbal and written informed consent was obtained from the students prior to the data collection. The students were ensured about anonymity and confidentiality of the data as well as voluntary participation in the study. All participants provided written consent by filling in the written questionnaires.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Start with Values

Discover, align and activate your core values

A guide to professional values

By Daniela Kirova

Your professional values are the core ethics and values you uphold and demonstrate in the workplace. They can include actions, skills, and behaviors that many companies actively seek out and want to see in an employee.

A number of professional values can be key to career success. They can be crucial to your performance at work.

Table of Contents

How values help you succeed at work

 Professional values are traits that often include behaviors and soft skills needed to build and sustain a career. Having the ability to adjust your style of communication and interaction with different groups or teams demonstrates an adaptive and flexible personality, which can have a positive effect on how you are perceived in the workplace.

This is just one example. A value like responsibility will make you desirable at the workplace as someone who is accountable for their actions and can be trusted. 

Loyalty to a company can help you succeed at work too. If you stick with them in tough times, like a recession, you might reap the benefits at times of economic growth. You might be rewarded for your loyalty with a big bonus or a promotion. This depends on the company and its own set of values. It’s always good if your values correspond to your employer’s.

The importance of consistency

The traits you demonstrate at work influence how your employer, coworkers, and clients or partners perceive you and interact with you. You’re demonstrating to everyone you interact with that you have confidence and self-worth and want to succeed when you have strong, constructive, and consistent professional values. What’s more, your professional values can be critical in terms of demonstrating your ability to take on more important and challenging tasks, which can help you advance professionally in the future.

List of professional values

• Responsibility
• Time management

Accountability

• Team working
• Helpfulness
• Communication and presentation
• Confidentiality

Professional values to adopt

Responsibility is at the top of most people’s lists when it comes to professional values. It mainly involves keeping any promises you’ve made related to work but also offering help or support when needed.

A professional who upholds responsibility as a value is capable of meeting objectives. They make sure they perform as well as possible and complete the tasks that they take on. Demonstrating this value shows superiors, coworkers, and subordinates that you are committed to contributing to company growth and achieving goals.

Honesty and integrity are related values, both of which can help you build a strong foundation of professional values. Your supervisors or coworkers will be more likely to turn to you when they need reliable input if you are open and honest in your communication with them. What’s more, you show you can be trusted when you’re honest in your work, which is crucial for building strong professional relationships.

Integrity can help you build supportive and reliable relationships. It means you’re reliable and honest in your communications and interactions with others.

Reliability

Reliable professionals are punctual, follow through on their commitments, and are on track with their work objectives. Demonstrating reliability can lead to more challenging projects that can help you move forward in your career. Your superiors will be more likely to trust you with important tasks.

People who demonstrate accountability in the workplace take responsibility for their behavior and actions in the workplace. You uphold more than one value when you’re accountable for your behavior and conduct in the workplace. You also demonstrate your responsibility, honesty, adaptability, and positive attitude, particularly when you seek input and feedback to improve your performance.

Adaptability

Adaptability to different situations is a very helpful value in the workplace. It makes it easier to navigate interactions with different types of people. Issues and challenges can arise in any field of professional activity. Adaptable people can adjust their approach to resolving issues in challenging situations.

Self-motivation

Being able to motivate yourself is critical to have as a core value. Staying motivated at work will help you find meaning in your job, stay satisfied with it, remain passionate about it, and inspire others. Many employers look for people who can stay motivated on their own because this ability demonstrates a strong need to achieve not only personal but also corporate success.

Companies usually look for staff that will stay loyal to their organization. Loyal employees do their job for the benefit of their employer, superiors, and team and remain committed to supporting the company’s development and growth.

By demonstrating loyalty to your employers, you’re showing them that you care about how the organization achieves success and that your job matters to you.

You can develop confidence at the workplace as you master challenging tasks, solve problems, ask for feedback, and apply it to improve your performance. By focusing on improving your skills and on your professional development, you’re showing that you trust your ability to grow and succeed professionally.

What’s more, you can build confidence by accepting tasks you aren’t typically responsible for, like giving a presentation or leading a team meeting.

Employees who are compassionate support each other, offer help when needed, and find ways to let others know they care. Compassion helps people build meaningful relationships by leading to a deeper understanding of others’ feelings. At the workplace, this value is crucial for resolving conflict, solving problems, and giving and receiving constructive feedback.

Patient people deal with challenges more effectively. They can find the right solutions to problems and ultimately cope with work-related stress more easily. Being patient can help you find solutions to issues, overcome challenges, understand other people’s perspectives, and complete tasks accurately and comprehensively.

Being empathetic means understanding others’ points of view, feelings, and ideas. If it becomes a professional value, this trait can help you relate to people at the workplace and find common interests with them.

Empathy can even help you build friendships at work, which will make your job more fulfilling and contribute to an all-around supportive environment. It helps people adapt to different interactions, making relating to others easier.

Flexibility

Like adaptability, flexibility as a professional value reveals an ability to stay open-minded and willing to help others and take on challenges. In addition, being flexible at work means your superiors can rely on you to provide support to a coworker, handle a last-minute task, or take on additional projects outside your usual job responsibilities.

Professional vs. personal values

Professional and personal values can overlap, but they can be completely different. Personal values tend to change as a person develops. This happens through social influences, life experience, growing awareness, and an improved understanding of human nature. On the other hand, professional values are more like a formal guide to adhere to. They aim to create a professional culture that tries to set boundaries for conduct and improves practice.

How to identify your professional values

Begin by establishing what is most important in your career among many different and often mutually exclusive values. Most commonly, professional values include income, stability, advancement, the opportunity to live abroad, excitement, travel, creativity, growth, flexibility in schedule and location, mentorship, purpose, title and stature, recognition, work-life balance, contribution to your community, entrepreneurship, leadership, engagement, collaboration, competition, team culture, etc.

After articulating several values that resonate most with you, prioritize them, so it’s easier to see if there is any conflict between two or more values. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is it important for me to work for a famous brand?
• Am I looking for an opportunity to do a specific type of work?
• Am I looking for upward mobility, or do I crave flexibility?
• Is making money more important than working for an organization that aligns with my personal values?
• Am I willing to make less money to work for an organization I’m proud of?
• Is an impressive job title more important to me than the tasks and responsibilities?

Be true to yourself

In pursuing an important professional value like making more money, you might move to a new city or country where you have no friends or family, and this wouldn’t be a problem for you. A lot of people think making money is their top professional value, but their behavior says otherwise.

Money probably isn’t a priority if you don’t want to travel regularly, aren’t willing to move to get a raise, and don’t want to be on call for emergencies. Instead, your priorities might be a better work/life balance, a flexible schedule, or full autonomy. There is nothing wrong with that at all.

When articulating a set of values, don’t base it on what society dictates. Being honest about what matters most to you is far more important. You’re the one that has to live with your career.

If you feel frustrated in your career, there could be a misalignment between your values and your work goals. It might be that your professional values have changed with time. Defining professional values can help you build a meaningful and sustainable career. Otherwise, you’re perpetually searching for something you can’t put your finger on. 

https://www.bradford.ac.uk/careers/develop-skills/professional-values/

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/professional-values

https://thecriticalblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/personal-value-system-vs-professional-value-system/

https://www.inc.com/scott-miller/dont-know-your-professional-values-you-might-be-on-wrong-track.html

About Daniela Kirova

Daniela is a writer, translator and editor fluent in English, German and Bulgarian. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from the New Bulgarian University and bachelors degree in English Linguistics from the University of Sofia.

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Essays About Values: 5 Essay Examples Plus 10 Prompts

Similar to how our values guide us, let this guide with essays about values and writing prompts help you write your essay.

Values are the core principles that guide the actions we take and the choices we make. They are the cornerstones of our identity. On a community or organizational level, values are the moral code that every member must embrace to live harmoniously and work together towards shared goals. 

We acquire our values from different sources such as parents, mentors, friends, cultures, and experiences. All of these build on one another — some rejected as we see fit — for us to form our perception of our values and what will lead us to a happy and fulfilled life.

5 Essay Examples

1. what today’s classrooms can learn from ancient cultures by linda flanagan, 2. stand out to your hiring panel with a personal value statement by maggie wooll, 3. make your values mean something by patrick m. lencioni, 4. how greed outstripped need by beth azar, 5. a shift in american family values is fueling estrangement by joshua coleman, 1. my core values, 2. how my upbringing shaped my values, 3. values of today’s youth, 4. values of a good friend, 5. an experience that shaped your values, 6. remembering our values when innovating, 7. important values of school culture, 8. books that influenced your values, 9. religious faith and moral values, 10. schwartz’s theory of basic values.

“Connectedness is another core value among Maya families, and teachers seek to cultivate it… While many American teachers also value relationships with their students, that effort is undermined by the competitive environment seen in many Western classrooms.”

Ancient communities keep their traditions and values of a hands-off approach to raising their kids. They also preserve their hunter-gatherer mindsets and others that help their kids gain patience, initiative, a sense of connectedness, and other qualities that make a helpful child.

“How do you align with the company’s mission and add to its culture? Because it contains such vital information, your personal value statement should stand out on your resume or in your application package.”

Want to rise above other candidates in the jobs market? Then always highlight your value statement. A personal value statement should be short but still, capture the aspirations and values of the company. The essay provides an example of a captivating value statement and tips for crafting one.

“Values can set a company apart from the competition by clarifying its identity and serving as a rallying point for employees. But coming up with strong values—and sticking to them—requires real guts.”

Along with the mission and vision, clear values should dictate a company’s strategic goals. However, several CEOs still needed help to grasp organizational values fully. The essay offers a direction in setting these values and impresses on readers the necessity to preserve them at all costs. 

“‘He compared the values held by people in countries with more competitive forms of capitalism with the values of folks in countries that have a more cooperative style of capitalism… These countries rely more on strategic cooperation… rather than relying mostly on free-market competition as the United States does.”

The form of capitalism we have created today has shaped our high value for material happiness. In this process, psychologists said we have allowed our moral and ethical values to drift away from us for greed to take over. You can also check out these essays about utopia .

“From the adult child’s perspective, there might be much to gain from an estrangement: the liberation from those perceived as hurtful or oppressive, the claiming of authority in a relationship, and the sense of control over which people to keep in one’s life. For the mother or father, there is little benefit when their child cuts off contact.”

It is most challenging when the bonds between parent and child weaken in later years. Psychologists have been navigating this problem among modern families, which is not an easy conflict to resolve. It requires both parties to give their best in humbling themselves and understanding their loved ones, no matter how divergent their values are. 

10 Writing  Prompts On Essays About Values

For this topic prompt, contemplate your non-negotiable core values and why you strive to observe them at all costs. For example, you might value honesty and integrity above all else. Expound on why cultivating fundamental values leads to a happy and meaningful life. Finally, ponder other values you would like to gain for your future self. Write down how you have been practicing to adopt these aspired values. 

Many of our values may have been instilled in us during childhood. This essay discusses the essential values you gained from your parents or teachers while growing up. Expound on their importance in helping you flourish in your adult years. Then, offer recommendations on what households, schools, or communities can do to ensure that more young people adopt these values.

Is today’s youth lacking essential values, or is there simply a shift in what values generations uphold? Strive to answer this and write down the healthy values that are emerging and dying. Then think of ways society can preserve healthy values while doing away with bad ones. Of course, this change will always start at home, so also encourage parents, as role models, to be mindful of their words, actions and behavior.  

The greatest gift in life is friendship. In this essay, enumerate the top values a friend should have. You may use your best friend as an example. Then, cite the best traits your best friend has that have influenced you to be a better version of yourself. Finally, expound on how these values can effectively sustain a healthy friendship in the long term. 

We all have that one defining experience that has forever changed how we see life and the values we hold dear. Describe yours through storytelling with the help of our storytelling guide . This experience may involve a decision, a conversation you had with someone, or a speech you heard at an event.  

With today’s innovation, scientists can make positive changes happen. But can we truly exercise our values when we fiddle with new technologies whose full extent of positive and adverse effects we do not yet understand such as AI? Contemplate this question and look into existing regulations on how we curb the creation or use of technologies that go against our values. Finally, assess these rules’ effectiveness and other options society has. 

Highlight a school’s role in honing a person’s values. Then, look into the different aspects of your school’s culture. Identify which best practices distinct in your school are helping students develop their values. You could consider whether your teachers exhibit themselves as admirable role models or specific parts of the curriculum that help you build good character. 

In this essay, recommend your readers to pick up your favorite books, particularly those that served as pathways to enlightening insights and values. To start, provide a summary of the book’s story. It would be better if you could do so without revealing too much to avoid spoiling your readers’ experience. Then, elaborate on how you have applied the values you learned from the book.

For many, religious faith is the underlying reason for their values. For this prompt, explore further the inextricable links between religion and values. If you identify with a certain religion, share your thoughts on the values your sector subscribes to. You can also tread the more controversial path on the conflicts of religious values with socially accepted beliefs or practices, such as abortion. 

Dive deeper into the ten universal values that social psychologist Shalom Schwartz came up with: power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security. Look into their connections and conflicts against each other. Then, pick your favorite value and explain how you relate to it the most. Also, find if value conflicts within you, as theorized by Schwartz.

Make sure to check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . If you want to use the latest grammar software, read our guide on using an AI grammar checker .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics Essay

At the very basic level, a professional is someone who has undergone specialized training for a certain vocation. However, a professional is not solely defined by this attribute but also by his adherence to certain values and behavior that are inherent in the particular profession. This is because every professional group has a code of conduct which stipulates what is admissible behavior within the profession.

A professional is required to align himself/herself to these values and constantly aim to exhibit certain principles and responsibilities which are desired in the particular profession. Professional ethics are stipulated by professional bodies which endorse the code of ethics that professionals in a certain field should adhere to.

Ethics can loosely be defined as a system of moral principles by which social conduct is judged as either “right” or “wrong”. As such, ethics are moral principles which prescribe what legitimate behavior in varied dealings is. On the other hand, Values are what professionals judge to be right and they are obtained from a higher authority than the individual; for example, the government or the society (Bagad, 2007).

These values and ethics act as the standard for the professional and take precedence over other qualities therefore dictating the manner in which an individual may act in particular instances. While professional values and ethics may vary from profession to profession, they are of utmost important for they define standards that are to be expected from the professional. Professional values and ethics are not only desirable but mandatory for the success of the organization or setting in which the professional applies himself.

Sources of Professional Values

One profession which has well established ethics and values is the teaching profession. These ethical issues are enshrined in the “National Educational Associations” code of ethics which prescribes what is considered to be good behaviour for a teaching professional (NEA, 2010).

These ethical values for teachers are based on the underlying principles of commitment to the student and commitment to the teaching profession that every member of the teaching practice is meant to ascribe to. From the NEA code, teachers are able to obtain the standard code of proper conduct for the teaching profession as well as ideals that regulate their conduct therefore leading to professionalism.

Bagad, V. S. (2007). Professional Ethics & Human Values. Technical Publications.

NEA. (2010). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from: www.nea.org

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IvyPanda. (2019, February 7). Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics. https://ivypanda.com/essays/introduction-on-professional-values-and-ethics/

"Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics." IvyPanda , 7 Feb. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/introduction-on-professional-values-and-ethics/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics'. 7 February.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics." February 7, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/introduction-on-professional-values-and-ethics/.

1. IvyPanda . "Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics." February 7, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/introduction-on-professional-values-and-ethics/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Introduction on Professional Values and Ethics." February 7, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/introduction-on-professional-values-and-ethics/.

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Professional Values and Ethics, Essay Example

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Different people have their own vision on what is good and just. Being accumulated through the whole life, values form personality. Achievements, leadership, money, freedom are someone’s key criteria for success and happiness. Others cherish honesty, inner harmony, excellence, and community. Ethics is based on personal values and addresses general perception of all people on what is right and wrong. However, there is a certain difference between values and ethics, as not all values can be ethical. In their attempt to become rich and popular, people tend to overestimate the role of money and achievements. Though earning good salary involves hard work, development of excellent communication skills, becoming rich by all means is not the very good way to behave.

Values, ethics and career success are interconnected.  In his article “Moral reasoning as a Strategic Competency”, Martin Cook describes moral reasoning as a key factor of achievements at work. “Clearly, the moral issues characteristic of this level of strategic leadership require a sophistication and nuance in moral thinking that simple slogans like “maintain your integrity” and “always tell the truth” do little to advance.” (Cook) According to this author, to behave ethically at work person needs to develop certain skills and values. Rewords and punishment is the first and the most important stage of development in formation of moral reasoning. In fact, person needs not only to indentify goals and values, but also to control oneself and act according to the new standards.

Ethical attitude of the employees towards work itself and colleagues is highly valued in both small firms and large corporations. Moreover, team building is essential for big companies with the great number of workers. Therefore, code of ethics is used to regulate positive environment within the corporation. “The Code [of ethics] summarizes broad ethical principles that reflect the profession’s core values and establishes a set of specific ethical standards that should be used to guide social work practice.” (National Association of Social Workers, 2008) In the “Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit for Managers”, Carter McNamara describes how personal values can be developed in the workplace. By implementation of code of ethics managers use to form and stimulate ethical behavior of the employees at work. (McNamara, 2008) For example, each employee is supposed to produce adequate amount of work in response to the salary he/she earns. If person fails to be productive or just does not want to, he/she is acting unethically towards the employee. Code of ethics is a good source to stimulate development of professional values and attitude towards work.

Finally, another source of ethical behavior and development of professional values is person’s character itself. Self-motivation is considered to be the most influential factor that drives people to improve their skills. It is obvious that there is no way to force person to do something until one desires to act accordingly. Therefore, setting mission in life and specific goals stimulates person to develop such values as hard work, openness to experience, self-sacrifice, and self-reliance.

Professional values and ethics are essential for career success. One the one hand, high productivity of the employee, willingness to work in a team, and responsibility can quicken career growth. Secondly, managers can positively treat employee in response to his diligence and ethical behavior. Professional values and ethics can also be applied to the whole organization, not just single employees. For instance, the case with Tylenol in 1982 has shown how business ethics can save the company’s good name. Cyanide was detected in drugs and several people died. Though it was obvious that some of the capsules were poisoned, Johnson & Johnson Co. has removed Tylenol from the market and carefully investigated this case. It was predicted that company should cease production and leave a market. Nonetheless, Johnson & Johnson returned its market share in just six months. If the company tried to neglect this issue, the number of buyers would be small and J&J would become bankrupt (Business Ethics Case Studies). Professional values and ethics are beneficial for both the employee and the company, as they stimulate good performance and effective cooperation.

Business ethics Case Studies. The Johnson and Johnson Tylenol Controversies. Last retrieved May 31, 2009 from http:/ /www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Ethics/BECG015.htm .

Cook, M. Moral Reasoning as a Strategic Leader Competency . US Army War College.

McNamara, C. (2008). Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit from Managers . Last retrieved May 31, 2009 from http:/ /www.managementhelp.org/ethics/ethxgde.htm#anchor39675.

National Association of Social Workers. (2008). Code of Ethics. Last retrieved May 31, 2009 from http:/ /www.socialworkers.org/pubs/Code/code.asp.

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Professionalism in nursing 1: how to develop professional values

07 March, 2022

This article explores the professional values in nursing and is the first article in a six-part series for student nurses that explores professionalism

Professionalism is integral to the role of a nurse and nursing students need to become familiar with this concept. The importance of professionalism should be understood and adopted as students undertake their studies but it can be complex to try and break down the key aspects of the Nursing and Midwifery Council Code and apply them in practice. This article, part one in a series, is aimed at undergraduate students beginning their journey towards registration. It breaks down the Code into the four key themes: prioritise people, practise effectively, preserve safety, and promote professionalism and trust. The article includes learning activities to help you develop your understanding of professionalism.

Citation: Smart A, Creighton L (2022) Professionalism in nursing 1: how to develop professional values. Nursing Times [online]; 118: 4.

Authors: Alison Smart and Laura Creighton are lecturers in education at Queen’s University Belfast.

• This article has been double-blind peer reviewed
• Scroll down to read the article or download a print-friendly PDF here (if the PDF fails to fully download please try again using a different browser)
• Download the Nursing Times Journal Club handout here to distribute with the article before your journal club meeting
• Click here to see other articles in this series

Introduction

The popular image of a professional nurse is someone in a uniform with a fob watch; they are taking a blood pressure, administering medication or helping to carry out a medical procedure. However, being a professional encompasses numerous different components that go beyond individual tasks and procedures. It is about upholding professional values, your attitude and behaviour towards your patients, colleagues and staff both within clinical practice and at university.

This professionalism in nursing series will help you, as you enter the nursing profession, to build your knowledge of how to be a professional. It will break down some of the key components of being a professional and provide practical advice you will be able to apply as you begin your career.

To become a professional nurse, you must undertake a professional qualification. You are then bound by a code of conduct from a professional governing body. The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) Code (2018) states that registered nurses must promote professionalism and trust. For undergraduate nursing students, this can be a difficult concept to grasp until they undertake clinical placements. Formal teaching of the concept of professionalism in the academic curricula can often seem detached from students’ experiences in the clinical environment (Rees et al, 2014) and sometimes students experience a mismatch between theory and practice.

A student becomes a registered nurse when they have completed a set period of study and supernumerary practice and are registered with the NMC. The NMC (2019) has highlighted that the development of professionalism in students is paramount during training. Professionalism can be described as how you demonstrate your values and standards in practice, which is reflected in work attitudes and behaviours (Zulipiye et al, 2018).

Essentially, the NMC Code provides clear guidance on how to conduct yourself to maintain a caring rapport with patients when you are in clinical practice. Historically, there is evidence that when this professional trust and confidence in nurses is questioned the reputation of the nursing profession can be damaged, not just in relation to specific incidents but more widely (Hoyle et al, 2017). This risk is exacerbated in a world where news reporting and social media disseminates information at a rapid rate. A recent example was the media coverage of nurses creating videos for the social media platform TikTok in personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic. It was a trend in many countries but provoked criticism from the general public at a time when professionalism was expected and PPE was limited in stock.

Once you embark on a nursing programme or become a registered nurse, it is important to understand that the NMC Code is not only relevant to clinical practice but also extends to your personal life. For example, if a nurse fails to abide by the law, such as using a phone while driving, this could affect their registration.

“Values are an internal compass that guide us through decision making”

Regulation and standards

Nursing and midwifery are among 32 regulated professions within healthcare. They are regulated by the NMC, which regulates nurses, midwives and more recently nursing associates. The NMC aims to protect the public, maintain confidence in the profession and ensure that standards of care are upheld. The NMC has set out these standards of care in its Code (NMC, 2018). The standards have been updated in the past decade due to the rise in use of social media and the publication of several reports citing poor standards and sub-optimal care in healthcare settings, including the failures of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (Francis, 2013).

The NMC maintains a register of nurses, midwives and nursing associates who meet the professional registration standards, promotes life-long learning and encourages concerns to be raised should poor practice be demonstrated. From an educational perspective, the NMC sets standards that students are required to achieve before they become registrants. Standards for pre-registration nursing programmes state that students should have a 50:50 clinical and academic course structure, be of good character, and undertake 2,300 clinical practice hours to become a registrant (NMC, 2019). It is important to understand that, although students are not held to account in the same way that a registered nurse would be, they are still accountable for their own acts and omissions. Students can be referred to their university for fitness to practise concerns. This can lead to them being removed from their professional course, and, can ultimately, mean they are unable to become a registered nurse.

The four elements of the NMC Code are:

• Prioritise people;
• Practise effectively;
• Preserve safety;
• Promote professionalism and trust.

Prioritise people

The Code advises that people should be treated as individuals and their dignity upheld. A nurse, midwife or nursing associate should always act in the best interests of people, making sure that their physical, social and psychosocial needs are assessed and responded to (NMC, 2018). This concept is known as the person-centered care approach. Person-centered care is underpinned by values, mutual respect and understanding of people (McCormack and McCance, 2016). Right to privacy and confidentiality should be respected and this has multiple implications including when to share information, how to communicate with relatives, and safe and accurate record-keeping. Consider the scenario presented in Box 1.

Box 1. Confidentiality

Gavin is a third-year nursing student finishing his six-week clinical placement. Gavin takes a selfie on the ward with a patient and another member of staff, and posts it on social media, naming the ward and the hospital.

• What does the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code say about confidentiality?
• What could this mean for Gavin as a student nurse with regards to university and the NMC?
• What is the legal position of the hospital trust?

Practise effectively

To practise effectively, it is essential that you use the best available evidence, more commonly referred to as evidence-based practice (EBP) and ensure you are using the most up-to-date techniques and procedures so that patients are assured the highest-quality care. The NMC Code also notes that nurses should share their skill, knowledge and experience for the benefit of both patients and colleagues. This is essential for students and the relationship they build with practice assessors and supervisors in the clinical area is vital for learning. The Code is also a valuable tool for patients in that they become empowered with knowledge given to them by experts in their field.

The NMC Code indicates that communication should be effective between patients and colleagues to enhance patient safety and improve teamwork. The gold standard in healthcare is to provide safe and effective care that is of a high quality for patients and clients.

Clinical governance is a term used to describe the activities that help improve and sustain patient care (Scally and Donaldson, 1998), for example, audits and quality improvement initiatives. The process of clinical governance has been used to respond to reports of poor-quality or sub-optimal care, such as those highlighted by Francis (2013) and National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcomes and Death (2021). Consider the scenario presented in Box 2.

Box 2. Communication

Mae is a newly qualified nurse. She is looking after a bay of male patients and has delegated obtaining clinical observations on each patient to the care assistant. Two hours later, a patient becomes very unwell. When Mae looks at the NEWS2 chart the score is 8, illustrating that the patient is unwell and requires urgent review what but she was unaware.

Discuss what the Nursing and Midwifery Council Code expects with regards to delegation and communication.

• What should Mae have done?
• What is the potential outcome for this patient?

Preserve safety

The safety of those in your care is paramount. Among care pathways and care plans in modern nursing are countless risk assessments and strategies for keeping patients safe from falls, pressure damage and malnutrition. The NMC Code recommends that record keeping should be accurate and contemporaneous, but these assessments are only useful if the recommendations from the assessments are implemented.

Integrity and honesty are essential qualities in a nurse, midwife or nursing associate. These are not skills that can be acquired but are the framework on which professionalism is hung. Patients and clients should be informed when clinical procedures go wrong, or medications are incorrectly administered. Human error is in every workplace, but in healthcare these errors can have negative consequences for health and wellbeing. Registrants should raise concerns immediately if they believe that there is risk to patient safety (NMC, 2018). This may sound easy, as everything should be in the best interest of patients and their families. However, often health professionals find it difficult to raise concerns in the environment in which they practise, because they may fear a negative reaction from staff or be subject to bullying – an issue that has been highlighted in multiple inquiries, including by Francis (2013). Complete the scenario in Box 3.

Box 3. Work within your limitations

Deepa is a student midwife. She is asked to carry out an examination on a pregnant woman by her practice assessor. She is unsure how to do this or what she is looking for. She is embarrassed to appear incompetent and goes ahead with what she thinks is being asked of her.

Discuss the issues surrounding her decision and link with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code.

• What does the NMC Code state?
• What could be the outcome for the patient?
• As Deepa is a student midwife, does she have responsibility if it does go wrong?

Promote professionalism and trust

Nurses, midwives and nursing associates must always uphold the reputation of the profession and display personal commitment to the standards and behaviours set out in the Code. Registrants should be a model of integrity and leadership who will inspire trust and confidence in the profession from patients and those who encounter them. All registrants must fulfil the requirements that the NMC outlines, updating their registration and revalidating every three years. Consider the scenario in Box 4.

Box 4. Raising concerns

You are on placement as a second-year student nurse. You have arrived late and have forgotten your uniform. You have not tried to contact the ward before arriving and you are overheard by a patient later discussing that you were out late at a friend’s birthday last night.

Using the Nursing and Midwifery Council Code to guide you, what are the professionalism issues raised in this scenario?

Values in nursing

Everyone has values and both professional and organisational values are instrumental to nursing as a profession. When you are entering the profession, you must take on and uphold the professional values that are stipulated by the NMC (2018). It is important to break down and understand what these values are and to know how to demonstrate them at both pre-registration and post-registration levels. Nursing models and theories are also important elements when developing skills and knowledge. Kaya and Boz (2017) advocate for a professional values model to be implemented within the profession. The framework of this model has three parts: individual values, professional values of nurses and nursing care quality.

Individual values

Values are an internal compass that guide us through decision making. It is quite probable that your values were assessed during the selection process, when you gained a place to study nursing. In essence, your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work. These are formed by our families, previous experiences, and society. People often express their values in relationships with family and friends, and in their personal and professional development. It is imperative to know your own personal values prior to understanding professional values.

“Professional nursing values are important concepts and the foundations of your identity as a nurse”

Professional values

Professional values are the performance standards accepted by a specific professional group (Schank and Weis, 2001). Professional nursing values are mainly outlined by our governing body. The NMC (2018) stipulates all four fields of nursing must be able to demonstrate professional value competencies. The Code outlines the fundamental nursing values to practise autonomously, and be responsible and accountable for safe, compassionate, person-centered, evidence-based care.

The development and nurturing of professional values are instrumental during your time as an undergraduate nursing student. Professional nursing values are important concepts and the foundations of your identity as a nurse. It is fundamental that you do not just know them but act them on a daily basis. When healthcare students fail to develop and adopt professional values, they are more likely to violate their code of ethics, harming the public image and professional credibility of nursing (Papadakis et al, 2004). In the worst-case scenarios, patients suffer harm. One such example is patients being left on trolleys for a long period of time with no action to address their deteriorating clinical observations (Francis, 2013). When care is not being guided by professional values this can result in a decrease in patient safety and can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Consider the activity in Box 5.

Box 5. Professional values

You are on clinical placement as a student nurse. Your practice supervisor has asked you to assist Mrs Green to have a shower and get dressed. Discuss how you would demonstrate professional nursing values, as outlined with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2018) Code, when assisting Mrs Green.

Organisational values

As a nursing student, you will be spending some of your course working in clinical placements. The settings for placements will range from large-scale NHS organisations to the independent sector. The various organisations may identify with similar values that stem from core professional nursing values.

The report published by Francis (2013) placed organisational culture to the foreground as a key determinant in what creates a safe healthcare system. It reflected a lack of organisational values and illustrated how patient care was being severely affected. In healthcare, we are looking for organisations to ensure an implementation of the ‘6Cs’ and demonstrate this in everyday practice. NHS England introduced the 6Cs as values to be integrated into clinical practice (Cummings and Bennett, 2012).

The 6Cs articulate the core values essential for all health and social care staff. These are the values you may be most aware of during your time in university. They are:

• Compassion;
• Competence;
• Communication;
• Commitment.

Other organisations have adopted different values but ultimately these will be based on the professional values outlined above. Complete the activity in Box 6.

Box 6. Organisational values

Look up the values of the organisation that is providing your placement. How do these reflect the professional values?

The NMC Code is one of the key sources of guidance that will stay with you during your career. If you start by developing self-awareness of your own values and subsequently build on this with professional values, your professional identity will form over the duration of the course. It is not about knowing and being able to list values, it is about understanding these values and using them every day.

• Nursing students need to have a working knowledge of how to apply the Nursing and Midwifery Council Code to their professional and personal roles
• Values are a key component of professionalism and time should be spent to explicitly identify nursing students’ professional values
• The development of professionalism and the nourishment of professional values is key for nursing students
• Professional values should guide the way nurses behave with patients

Also in this series

• Professionalism in nursing 2: working as part of a team
• Professionalism in nursing 3: the value of self-care for students
• Professionalism in nursing 4: record keeping, consent and capacity
• Professionalism in nursing 5: social media and e-professionalism
• Professionalism in nursing 6: the nurse as innovator

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Essay on Personal and Professional Core Values in Social Work: A Reflection

Core values are an essential part of what defines a person in terms of the individual identity as well as their professional identity. They are a set of fundamental beliefs or ideals that a person has, that define the way the person acts in their life (Your Dictionary, 2021). They help people in identifying actions as being right and wrong, and help in guiding them to the right path that needs to be followed in order to establish an unrelenting approach towards life. Core values are present on a personal level, and are also listed for every profession. In order for a person to be a good match for a particular line of work, it is essential that these values match.

Personal Core Values

Every individual has a set of values that they have imbibed from their personal experiences throughout their life. Every experience, big or small contributes towards the formation of these values and strengthening them. Personally, numerous experiences have shaped the ideals that I believe are a part of my identity. Following are some of the values that I hold valuable – Family, Honesty, Trust, Loyalty, and Passion.

From my childhood, a large part of the moral values that have been taught in my home is to treat everyone like family. Watching the elders of my family treat guests as well as others like they are an extended part of our family has been an inspiration. From minor things like helping people reach for the stuff on the top shelf or helping someone financially, or donating for a good cause, my family has taught me that doing good for people is a necessity of being human.

Stressing the need to be honest in all aspects of life, and explaining that lying leads to bad consequences has been a part of what my experiences have been. In the recent years, the only times I had to be dishonest have been to help people or to ensure that my studies are not affected, like saying that I was well enough to attend classes despite running a fever, resulting in me being exhausted after classes was a revelation that I had to take care of myself as well.

Trust and Loyalty

My experiences with people have been quite revealing in the sense that I have understood the need to be trustworthy myself before expecting others to be so, and to be loyal to the people who put their trust in me. Often times, it involves helping out friends who are in need of financial help and trusting them to pay me back, or asking for help when I need it myself and remembering the people who have been helping me throughout my life.

Every person in my life whom I have seen succeed in their own life have shown me that one should step forward in one’s education, career, or any aspect of one’s life with passion to work hard and succeed, and it has been an integral part of my approach to all issues that I personally face or help someone in resolving. Passion drives creativity and helps in solving problems more efficiently. However, it is necessary that the values I hold at my core needs to align with the values required for the job I take on for myself.

Professional Core Values for Social Work

Social work as a career requires certain core values in a person choosing to undertake the work in the field. They are – Service and Social Justice, Dignity of a person, Importance of relationships, Integrity, and Competence (University at Buffalo, 2021). In order for a person to work at their best in this line of work, these ideals must match with their personal core values.

• Service and social justice are the primary focus of the job as a social worker. One should have a hard definition of equality and how they can serve people to provide them with help and the solutions to combat oppression (National Association for Social Workers, 2021)
• Every person in the line of work, irrespective of whether it is a colleague or someone else, deserves to be treated with respect. Any action which goes against this aspect of the profession should be treated as a disrespect towards the profession itself.
• Every person whom one encounters in the line of work forms a relationship that goes beyond just blood. Helping a person to stand up for themselves and support themselves is an important part of social work.
• Integrity towards doing the right thing for the benefit of the people, and not compromising in any way when faced with obstacles or someone in power urges to do so, is necessary to ensure that our actions are towards the better life. All actions should show that one is competent enough to take on the obstacles and succeed

How do personal and professional core values relate?

My experiences in life which have developed my personal core values are in line with the core values of social work as a profession. Treating everyone as family with respect and helping them out in their time of need is the same as service and relationship that the profession demands. While the words used may be different, the essence of both ideas are the same to a great extent. Integrity in the line of work is no different that trust and loyalty that are a part of my personal values. Trusting colleagues to act in line with the intentions of the group and the benefit of the people and being loyal to the idea of helping people is the same integrity that social work demands. Developing the competence required for the profession through continuous learning and understanding new ways to work towards the benefit of the society is the same passion that drives me personally to do good to others. While the terms or words used are different in expressing the points, a large part of the ideas professed towards professional core values indeed match with my personal beliefs.

Working towards understanding the personal and professional core values that exist in social work, through reflection has been a revelation that proper upbringing of people often helps in forming them into social workers with or without the tag of a professional. While it is true that excellent education and the nuances of being a professional will be different and complex than just simply helping people, the latter is no different that social work, as long as the person is driven by the inner force to help people.

Your Dictionary (2021).  Examples of Core Values: 100 Powerful Principles.  Your Dictionary:  https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-core-values.html

University at Buffalo (2021).  Social Work Core Values and Code of Ethics.  University at Buffalo: School of Social Work:  http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/admissions/is-social-work-right-career-for-me/values-ethics.html

National Association for Social Workers (2021).  Read the Code of Ethics: Preamble.  National Association for Social Workers:  https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

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Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Values of Life — My Personal Values in Life

My Personal Values in Life

• Categories: Values of Life

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Words: 773 |

Published: Jan 31, 2024

Words: 773 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, body paragraph 1: personal value 1, body paragraph 2: personal value 2, body paragraph 3: personal value 3, counterargument.

• Adler, M. J. (2000). The four dimensions of philosophy: Metaphysical, moral, objective, categorical. Routledge.
• Miller, W. R., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Spirituality, religion, and health: An emerging research field. American Psychologist, 58(1), 24-35.
• Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press.

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