Free Essay On Whistle Blowing

Whistleblowing in nursing is important as nurses can save lives, especially when misconduct of specific people adversely affects the health outcome of patients. The nurses possess the tendency to highlight any unlawful activity that is present in the system. This would include any portion of their respective hospital because nurses are an important aspect after the doctors. However, whistleblower nurses face stern opposition and criticism from their colleagues and superiors. This is because their colleagues do not want them to interfere in the welfare matters, as they believe that this would negatively affect their own performance. Whistleblowers face alienation and separation from other nurses and coworkers due to their actions regarding the reporting of illegal activity. Nurses forms groups and they separate these nurses from the group because of this activity of whistle blowing. Nurses that blow the whistle on misconduct face criticism primarily based on the lack of devotion and loyalty to the team and organization. The criticism significantly increases when nurses report misconduct or illegal activities to external entities including law enforcement agencies and regulators. Nurses believe that they need certain support from the external environment because through this perspective they can work in a proactive manner. Nursing staff need coordination with each other because coordination with the staff is an important perspective in the longer-run.
Whistleblowing has several implications for the administrators, supervisors, and other leaders in nursing due to the misconduct and offenses of employees under their supervision. The implications or consequences of whistleblowing increase significantly for leaders if they take part in illegal activities or misdemeanors. One of the major factors in whistleblowing is the ethical dilemma of reporting the behavior or actions of a colleague or coworker. The frustration or stress increases considerably if the whistleblower has a good relationship with the individual.
The nursing staff faces numerous negative consequences when some of them decide to blow the whistle against a wrong act. Most of the nurses do not opt for this strategy because they do not have enough guts to blow the whistle. However, some who blow the whistle face numerous scenarios. This would include humiliation, isolation, disillusionment, loss of job, etc. These aspects negatively affect the mental mindset of individuals and stop them to work properly. The doctors and different decisions makers should play a viable role in this regard, and they should try their level best to support these nurses. This would create a beneficial communicational environment for the hospital and this would result in a well-communicated internal structure. Nursing leaders who plan to blow the whistle should always remain confident about their act but they should understand the politics of their respective organization. Discussing it with the core decision maker and managing the environment by forming likeminded groups is a viable strategy. Individuals should coordinate with their seniors and the organization should provide training and development in such scenarios. This would ultimately result in a beneficial condition for the organization and result in a long-term success for an organization.

References

Jackson, D., Hickman, L. D., Hutchinson, M., Andrew, S., Smith, J., Potgieter, I., et al. (2014). Whistleblowing: An integrative literature review of data-based studies involving nurses. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession, 48(2), 240-252.
Lachman, V. (2008). Whistleblowers: Troublemakers or Virtuous Nurses? Retrieved Jan 8, 2015, from Medscape: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/582797_7