Professional Standards
Guidelines and Responsibilities for Professionalism.
• Professional Relationships – Students are a direct reflection of GSON, and the nursing profession at large. Students will communicate and treat clients, families, facility staff, faculty, college staff, peers, other professionals, and the public in a professional manner. This includes addressing them appropriately, respecting individual rights to hold opinions that differ from their own, and promoting a positive climate.
o Treating others with respect – Respect is a foundational component of the nursing profession. Students will refuse to engage in, or condone discrimination based on race, creed, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender, marital status, lifestyle, disability, or economic status.
o Civility – Nurses are required to “create an ethical environment and culture of civility and kindness, treating colleagues, coworkers, employees, students and others with dignity and respect…All RN’s and employers in all settings, including practice, academia and research, must collaborate to create a culture of respect the is free of incivility, bullying and workplace violence.” (ANA, 2014)
o Values – All clients have a set of beliefs that inform their values. Students must provide care that respects a client’s belief system and works toward empowering clients to meet their health care goals.
o Honoring individual identities – Similarly, all individuals have diverse identities. Students must attempt to understand individual health goals, their strengths and values, and their diverse identities to best support care.
• Honesty and Integrity – Communication is key to providing safe, quality care. Therefore, student behavior will consistently exemplify truthfulness and accountability. All communication must be thorough, accurate and timely. Students are responsible for upholding and maintaining an honest academic environment, including reporting when an instance of dishonesty is thought to have occurred.
• Professional Appearance – Students should appear professional when representing GSON. We understand that professional attire can reflect beliefs, values, attitudes, and aesthetics. These expressions of identity can coexist with professional appearance standards for nurses. Students should follow GSON’s student professional attire standards. Additional requirements may be set by a particular clinical agency, in which case students must comply with the requirements of the clinical setting in which they are practicing.
• Responsibility and Judgment – Students are accountable to GSON, healthcare agency providing clinical experiences, and above all, clients, and society. Students are expected to always meet their educational and clinical responsibilities. While personal issues can conflict or interfere with such obligations, every effort must be made by students to resolve the conflict in a professional manner by assuring that client care is not compromised, and that appropriate members of the health care team and faculty are notified.
o Compliance – In order to maintain a student’s responsibility for patient safety, all students are required to be in full adherence to the school’s compliance program while enrolled at GSON. Compliance documents must be kept up to date as an essential part of a student’s professional responsibility for patient safety.
o Attendance – Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes, simulations, and clinical experiences to fulfill credit requirements for each course. The college calendar is publicly available before the start of each term. Students are expected to plan special events, travel, and outside activities during scheduled college breaks or as outlined by the program. Students are also expected to adhere to the attendance policy as outlined in the course syllabus.
• Use of Technology – GSON believes in protecting the students’ rights of freedom of speech, expression and association, including their right to use social media. GSON also believes in protecting the rights and privacy of patients with whom students interact, the rights of faculty members, the rights of other students and the public at large. Students are expected to monitor their own social media use and post only statements and images that appropriately represent them, the college and the profession.
o American Nurses Association principles for nurse’s use of social media can be accessed at https://www.nursingworld.org/social/
• Safety – Students should refrain from any deliberate action or omission of care that creates unnecessary risk of injury to the client, self, or others.
o Students who demonstrate unsafe nursing practice that jeopardizes the client's or family’s physical or emotional welfare may be dismissed at any time from clinical. Unsafe clinical practice is defined as any behavior determined by faculty or a preceptor to be actually or potentially detrimental to the client or to the healthcare agency.
o Students are expected to identify hazardous conditions while providing patient care. Students should receive instruction and training prior to performing skills and are expected to follow facilities policies and procedures. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the preceptor or faculty member if they have not been adequately trained to perform a procedure.
• HIPAA – Nursing students are required to complete HIPAA training and follow HIPAA guidelines.