Significance of Whistleblowing in Nursing Research Paper

WHISTLE BLOWING IN NURSING
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Whistle Blowing in Nursing
Introduction
Accountability within the nursing sector is a key concern today, an aspect that establishes the need to assume responsibility for the nurse’s actions. The modern approach of professional accountability as applied within the nursing field assumes that nurses are members of a professional body. Given this, the element of whistleblowing is currently perceived as a stigmatized and hidden activity that carries with itself a considerable amount of ramifications within the nursing industry. In the nursing sector, instances and episodes of poor practice or service delivery are met with whistleblowing activities aimed at rectifying the challenges exhibited, an aspect that this paper seeks to study.
Significance of Whistleblowing in Nursing
Whistleblowing is referred to as an activity that allows the members of an organization to disclose other employee’s and leaders immoral, illegal, or illegitimate activities and practices that are under the control of their employers to individuals within the organization who have the capacity to effect actions (Ahern & McDonald, 2012). Within the nursing industry, the element of whistleblowing is considered as an activity undertaken by nurses who take the opportunity to go outside the organization for the public’s best interest in instances where the institution turns unresponsive in reporting the dangers exhibited through proper channels.
As detailed in the definition, it is, therefore, significant to establish that whistleblowing unravels the failures of a health institution in abiding by the ethical climates established in addressing accountability for the welfare and safety of patients. In other words, the element of whistleblowing ensures that sufficient steps are taken towards promoting the safety of patients, an act that best ensures that the optimum clinical guidelines and practice in patient management are adhered to within a health institution (Jackson et al., 2012). Whistleblowing, therefore, highlights the poor areas of practice, an aspect that allows a health organization to follow due processes in improving practice.
Review of the Literature
The element of patient advocacy remains a crucial aspect identified by several kinds of literature and that influences nurse’s behavior to blow the whistle. In some instances, nurses believe that it is within their duties to act as advocates for their patients, thus leaving them with no option but to blow the whistles n organizational or individual actions that are perceived as deviant in a bid to protect the interests of their patients and improve the quality of care (Faunce, 2012).
Building on this work, several social researchers developed a model of whistleblowing also referred to as the prosaically organizational behaviors which clearly suggests that the aspect of whistleblowing is not a single decision but a complex process. As established by these social researchers, the element of whistleblowing decision making undergoes three primary phases (Firtko & Jackson, 2015). In the first step, a nurse employee witnesses a focal...