Opinion Editorial on Human Dignity and Common Good in Nursing Practice

This opinion editorial examines the concepts of human dignity and the common good within the nursing profession. It highlights the challenges faced, such as poor leadership, communication issues, and inadequate staffing, which can undermine patient care and dignity. The essay emphasizes the importance of nurses understanding and prioritizing human dignity in practice, identifying factors that threaten it. It also discusses how nursing contributes to the common good and the societal forces shaping the profession. The editorial underscores the need for a clear definition of human dignity based on nurses' experiences and a clearer articulation of the common good to benefit patients, nurses, and society. It references several studies to support its arguments and provides insights into how to improve nursing practice.

Running head: OPINION EDITORIAL ON HUMAN DIGNITY AND COMMON GOOD
Opinion editorial on human dignity and common good in nursing
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Author Note

1OPINION EDITORIAL ON HUMAN DIGNITY AND COMMON GOOD
Opinion editorial on human dignity and common good in nursing:
The Op-Ed or opinion editorial is the writing published in any magazine or newspaper. It
reveals the perspective of the named author who is not affiliated with the editorial board of the
publication. The following Op-Ed shows the challenges related to the dignity of the human person
and the realizing of the common good.
The mercurial idea of human dignity has been featuring the legal, political and ethical
discourse as the basic commitment towards human value or status. The origin of the value or the
behavior of the status is been contested. The human dignity is emphasized in various sectors of
nursing as a basic human right and moral obligation (Jacobs 2016). The term common good, on the
other hand, is used to recognize the activities and results that possess some definable advantages.
This extends beyond the gaining of the individuals. The common good is denoted in the professional
literature related to political action, environment, healthcare, ethics, and nursing (Grace 2017). In
this Op-Ed, the integrated review is done on the nature of human dignity and common good for the
nursing profession, as the chosen issue.
In the nursing profession, it is seen that the persons who have been in the top positions have
been lacking the leadership and the interpersonal quality in motivating the patients and the staffs.
Thus, it has no only be resulting in the poor services for the patients but also the common good and
person’s dignity gets hampered (Parandeh et al. 2016). It is seen that because of the over workload,
poor interpersonal communication and staffing practices take place. The medical staffs are found to
be conversing in derogatory languages with the patient’s family. They never show any concern with
the pleas of the patients. Thus the problems in nursing profession have been seeking attention to
practice the guidelines promoting the common good and human dignity.

2OPINION EDITORIAL ON HUMAN DIGNITY AND COMMON GOOD
The idea of dignity from the viewpoint of the nurses has been seen as prosperity and
developing. However, the conclusions show that maximum of the studies is done on the professional
dignity of nurses. The respecting of the inherent individual dignity was not analyzed. The patients
are the main focus of the clinical environments. Hence the human dignity of the patients has not
been the priority (Cheraghi, Manookian and Nasrabadi 2014). The human dignity has comprised of
seven dimensions. However, only two of the dimensions of the professional and the intrinsic dignity
of the nurses are revealed. Hence the identification of the human dignity in the nursing would be
helpful for the nurses to work together along with similar aims. It would permit the nurses to make
sense of the importance and values of the nursing care and determine the professional role. As the
value gets identified, various factors that are threatening to the human dignity must get eliminated.
The nursing is seen as promoting the common good. Moreover, the development of the
profession as a discrete one has been reflecting the societal recognition which the services given by
the nurses have been supporting the common good. The added value of the common good to the
current nursing concepts has been shown by various instances of the ethical misconduct in the
clinical research. This also includes the development of the healthcare delivery system (Matney,
Avant and Staggers 2016). However, there has been the challenge dealing with the determination of
the methods where the common good has been playing the role to shape the development of this
practice and profession. The societal forces have been strengthening the nursing through supporting
and promoting the implementation, development, and conceptualization of the advanced practice
roles (Foth et al. 2017). Thus the society has been shaping the elements of common good that the
profession opts to address.

3OPINION EDITORIAL ON HUMAN DIGNITY AND COMMON GOOD
There has been no clear definition of the idea of human dignity on the basis of the
experiences of nurses. Various organizational factors and individuals, the imagination of the society
and group of professional cares has been influential in developing or undermining the human dignity
of nurses. On the other hand, the professional organizations within nursing have not included the
common good in the nursing theory explicitly. However, the clearer articulation and definition of the
common good as the idea in nursing would be advantageous to the patients, nursing, and society.

4OPINION EDITORIAL ON HUMAN DIGNITY AND COMMON GOOD
References:
Cheraghi, M.A., Manookian, A. and Nasrabadi, A.N., 2014. Human dignity in religion-embedded
cross-cultural nursing. Nursing ethics, 21(8), pp.916-928.
Foth, T., Remmers, H., Holmes, D., Kreutzer, S. and Hülsken-Giesler, M., 2017. Introduction:
Critical Approaches in Nursing Theory and Nursing Research: Implications for Nursing
Practice. Pflegewissenschaft und Pflegebildung, p.9.
Grace, P.J., 2017. Nursing ethics and professional responsibility in advanced practice. Jones &
Bartlett Learning.
Jacobs, B.B., 2016. Respect for human dignity in nursing: Philosophical and practical
perspectives. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive, 32(2).
Matney, S.A., Avant, K. and Staggers, N., 2016. Toward an understanding of wisdom in
nursing. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 21(1).
Parandeh, A., Khaghanizade, M., Mohammadi, E. and Mokhtari-Nouri, J., 2016. Nurses’ human
dignity in education and practice: An integrated literature review. Iranian journal of nursing and
midwifery research, 21(1), p.1.