Law, Ethics, and Nursing: Analyzing Signature Forgery & Implications

This essay discusses the ethical issue of signature forgery in nursing practice, focusing on a case where a student is asked to forge a colleague's signature on an attendance sheet. It emphasizes that such behavior is unethical and a serious disciplinary matter, violating the core principles of the nursing profession, which include ethics, integrity, responsibility, and self-discipline. The essay highlights the legal and professional implications of signature forgery, referencing the Australian Registered Nurse Standards for Practice, the ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses, and the Code of Conduct for Nurses. It underscores the importance of ethical education in nursing, advocating for a holistic approach to instill ethical values and prepare students to handle ethical dilemmas in their future practice. The essay concludes that universities and educators should take strict action against unethical behavior and use various methods, such as case studies and discussions, to raise ethical awareness among nursing students, ensuring they understand the gravity of their actions and their impact on patient care and the profession.

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Nursing is the backbone of healthcare system of the county. Most of the times, nurses are given
the responsibility to save the lives of the people at crucial circumstances. They regularly
encounter the dilemma of making ethically sound decisions. In healthcare profession, the nurses
must realize the importance of accurate record-keeping and maintaining ethical conduct related
to signatures. In the present essay, the ethical issue of signature forging is discussed. In the given
case, a colleague is asked to attend the class and forge the signature in the attendance sheet of the
student. It can be perceived as an unethical behavior. In the nursing profession, signature forging
is considered as a serious disciplinary matter. In such situation, the nursing student must be
charged under the discipline regulations of the University. The nursing ethical committee and the
University discipline committee heavily penalize such misconduct. It is due to the fact that the
nursing profession is based on ethics, integrity, sense of responsibility and self-discipline. In this
essence, the present essay will discuss the issue of signature forging and provide possible actions
to address the issue.
Forging of signature is a serious ethical issue and required immediate legal action. Even in
normal circumstances, forging signature should be addressed with legal action as it can result in
fraud. The results of signature forging are negative on the finances and the image of the person.
Moreover, the nursing professionals have to be ethically responsible as they have the
responsibility of protecting the lives of the patients. The case of signature forgery among the
students is a serious issue. It is a common practice among the students to forge each other’s
signature in the attendance sheet. However, it encourages absenteeism. Moreover, students do
not value the importance of being present in the class. This behavior should be immediately
reported to the ethical committee (Park, Kjervik, Crandell, & Oermann, 2012).

The nurses have the responsibility of protecting the health, safety and the rights of the patients. It
is unethical behavior of the nurses to forge the signature of the patients or a colleague. It impacts
the right of other person in making an informed, self-derived and autonomous decision. The
nurses have a high job responsibility as they have to honor, protect ad respect the right of
patients and their peers. The nurses must honor their rights and the rights of their patients. While
making ethical decisions, the nurses must be attentive to the legal language and understand how
their actions affect others (Cannaerts, Gastmans & Casterlé, 2014).
In order to promote ethical actions, the government and the nursing committee have made
several laws to address the fraud and abuse in the healthcare. These committees are also focused
on encouraging moral behavior in the name of ethics. It is the responsibility of the organization
to motivate moral behavior, settling disagreement and controversies among different people
(Johnstone, 2011). The committees have designed ethical guidelines to promote ethical behavior
among the nurses. The nursing ethics is a specific discipline, which concerns with the ethical
behavior in the field of nursing. The nursing principles are concerned with several values, such
as beneficence, non-maleficence and respect for autonomy. Other than that, the nursing ethics are
also based on emphasis on relationships, human dignity and collaborative care to the patients.
The nurses have the ethical responsibility to address the high-quality care to the patients (Bollig,
Gjengedal & Rosland, 2016). Therefore, they should be familiar to the ethical code of conduct
and use them in the decision making. The international nursing code of conduct is culturally
adapted so that the nurses can adapt their behavior according to the geographical location and the
behavior of the customers. The ethical codes provide the required elements for the ethical
conduct and assist the nurses in taking the ethical decisions. The nurses have several duties such
as to work as clinical nurse, researcher, administrator and the policy makers. The nursing ethics

also acknowledge them that they are required to make ethical decisions and the value of their
profession as they provide direct care to the patients, teaching nursing staff, performing research
and supervision and management to the teaching staff.
The nursing educators also owe importance of understanding the legal and ethical standards to
increase the capability of the nurses. The ethical duties also raise the awareness of the nurses
regarding the significance of certain duties and responsibilities. In the recent years, several issues
have occurred, in which experienced nurses have broken the ethical code of conduct. These
situations have highlighted the importance of specialized ethics and nursing education in the
education. In the nursing profession, ethics encompass values, rights, duties and responsibilities.
The ethical codes are used to interact with the patients, colleagues and other professionals. The
nursing educators should adopt a holistic approach to establish a proper value system among the
students. The ethical issue will expand the intellectual capacity of the students. As a professional,
they will be more emotionally stable and morally mature. The ethical case study will increase the
ethical awareness of the students, which will make them proficient in handling the ethical
dilemma. It also makes the student ready to handle the ethical conflicts, which will be
encountered in the future practice (Grace & DRN, 2017). The ethical education also helps the
professional in developing a sense of identity, which promotes the professional development.
Therefore, education interventions are needed at the beginning of the professional education as
the students realize the importance of ethical education. By following the ethical rules, the
nursing students will also be able to develop desirable relationships with the other nurses. The
nursing ethics education require lecture regarding nursing ethics and professionalism. The
content of the lectures should be based on the learning objectives designed by the international
nursing committee. The learning objectives should focus on the concepts of nursing ethics,

ethical thinking, ethics pertaining to the nurses and the clients, professional establishment and
characteristics of the nursing profession. It should also encompass the theories and the real life
case-studies (Kang, 2017).
While discussing the ethics and the responsibility of the nurse, it is important to realize that these
ethical values must be imbibed in the education of the nurses. It is important to make the nursing
students aware the importance of the ethical conduct in their professional behavior.
In the present case, a nursing student tried to breach the ethics and tried to adopt unethical
behavior. In such case, it is important that the nursing student is realizes that his behavior is
inappropriate. However, to change the attitude and demonstrate the importance of the issue, the
case must be notified to the University ethics committee. The university ethics committee will
take strict action and heavily penalize the student. The student should realize that je is certifying
the acquisition of knowledge, which he has not received. The nursing profession is a responsible
profession and the nurses have to deal with critical situations, which often involve the life of the
people (Benner, Tanner & Chesla, 2009). In this case, it is important that the nurses have attained
the knowledge, for which they are giving guarantee. If the student passes with the certification,
he might be given some critical responsibility in his professional career (Ulrich, Taylor, Soeken,
O’Donnell, Farrar, Danis & Grady, 2010). However, the student will not be able to handle this
responsibility. Therefore, in nursing, forgery in attendance sheet results in severe outcomes.
The patients are not the only stakeholder in the treatment of the patients, but it also includes the
patient’s family and the healthy people in the society, which are part of the plans and services
provided to the patient. The nurses must realize that their actions will not only play with the lives
of the patients but it will also affect the lives of their families. Here, it can be critiqued that

ethical and professional authenticity and ethical b behavior is important in the nursing
profession. The importance of following ethical behavior should be enforced to the students
during their education.
The nurses often have to work in a fast-paced and technical environment. It is their responsibility
to take ethically sound decisions about the patient care and share it with other healthcare
professionals. The nurses should be prepared about such situations from their undergraduate
years. The development of ethical behavior and adherence to the ethical standards is important
part of nursing profession. The nurses must be capable of developing trust and they are also
needed to demonstrate compassion and empathy to the nurses. Most of the times, nurse work
alone in the treatment of the patients and they have to perform duties according to the
physician’s instructions or use their own judgement in urgent situations. Ethics assure that the
nurses are indulging in fair and equal treatment to all the patients including economic status, age,
ethnic background and sexual orientation. Therefore, ethics have important role in the nursing
education. Nursing ethics are important for making the students an important member of the
society and offering them highest ideals of the nursing profession. The nursing education has a
critical role in developing a climate, which makes the student exercise sound judgement, practice
ethical standards, supporting the colleagues and committing to their profession. Therefore, any
instance of unethical behavior must be shunned immediately by the nursing educators and the
committees (Benner, Tanner & Chesla, 2009). There are other codes of ethic, which states that
the nurses should respect the individual dignity of the patients, and it should be regardless of the
cultural, socio-economic, gender or ethnic background of the individual.
The international code of conduct also emphasizes the importance of ethical behavior in the
nursing profession. The fourth element of the code elaborates on the ethical conduct of the

nursing professionals, which emphasize the ethical behavior between the nurses and co-workers.
As practitioners and managers, the nurses should develop a workplace system, which support the
professional and ethical value at the workplace (ICN, 2012).
Therefore, the university should take strict action to combat such behavior. The university should
make the student aware that such behavior is inappropriate and unacceptable in terms of nursing
profession. The nurse should behave in an ethical manner. The student must be given a chance to
justify himself. However, if he is still found guilty, he should be penalized financially and
suspended from the college. He must be able to realize the importance of nursing ethics.
Conclusively, it can be stated that the ethics are important part of the nursing profession. The
ethical education is indispensable in the development of the ethical value system among the
nursing students. In the present essay, the case of signature forgery among the students has been
evaluated. It is a common practice among the students wherein they forge each other’s signature
in the attendance sheet. It promotes absenteeism and the students do not value the importance of
being present in the class. Other than that, signature forgery is a serious ethical issue. This
behavior should be immediately reported and the University should heavily penalize the students
involved in such type of crime. It is recommended that the universities and the educators should
use different approaches in teaching ethics to the students. There are several approaches such as
the use of movies, documentary videos, press release and discussions. The ethical awareness
among the students should be raised by the use of movies, documentary videos, press release and
the ethical discussion.

References
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clinical judgment, and ethics. Springer Publishing Company.
Bollig, G., Gjengedal, E., & Rosland, J. H. (2016). Nothing to complain about? Residents’ and
relatives’ views on a “good life” and ethical challenges in nursing homes. Nursing
ethics, 23(2), 142-153.
Cannaerts, N., Gastmans, C., & Casterlé, B. D. D. (2014). Contribution of ethics education to the
ethical competence of nursing students: educators’ and students’ perceptions. Nursing
ethics, 21(8), 861-878.
Grace, P. J., & DRN, P. (Eds.). (2017). Nursing ethics and professional responsibility in
advanced practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
ICN. (2012). THE ICN CODE OF ETHICS FOR NURSES. Retrieved 18 April 2018 from
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Johnstone, M.J. (2011). Bioethics: A Nursing Perspective. Elsevier Health Sciences.
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clinical experience regarding the code of ethics: A case study. Journal of Nursing
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Park, M., Kjervik, D., Crandell, J., & Oermann, M. H. (2012). The relationship of ethics
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Ulrich, C. M., Taylor, C., Soeken, K., O’Donnell, P., Farrar, A., Danis, M., & Grady, C. (2010).
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