ENDA Abstracts book Enda Abstract book 16_07_2017_1 | Page 70
Haddy Tunkara-Bah, Mrs
University of The Gambia
C/o School of Nursing and Midwifery, No. 2 Marina GM
[email protected]
TEACHING AND IMPLEMENTING NURSING CODE
OF ETHICS AND VALUES TOWARDS PROMOTING
REFORMS AND STANDARDS IN NURSING
PROFESSION IN THE GAMBIA
Nursing has a professional autonomy which goes along with responsibility and
accountability of nursing actions. Nursing practice should always be guided by a
code of ethics and values. However, the concepts of nursing ethics and values are
contained only in the introductory courses of the nursing curricular in the Gambia.
Many nurse educators and clinicians are not knowledgeable of the code of ethics
of nursing in this country. Lectures on nursing ethics and values are mostly taught
by invited guest lecturers in only one or two lecture sessions of the entire nurse
training programme. Teaching nursing ethics and values at clinical level is poor due
to the limited number of trained senior nurses to serve as mentors and supervisors
for students and junior nurses. Most of the Gambian public health facilities don't
have standard guidelines on various nursing procedures. Low status of nurses and
conformist style of training nurses hinder the effective implementation of the code
of nursing ethics and values among professional nurses in this country. There is,
therefore, inadequate teaching and implementation of the code of nursing ethics
and values which calls for urgent reforms in nursing education and practice to
improve the standard and image of the Nursing Profession in the Gambia.
Keywords:
Teaching, Implementing, Nursing, Ethics, Values, Reform, Standard, Profession,
the Gambia
Congress Topics:
Ethics in the Workplace
68 |