VIRTUES VICES

HABITS

OF A HEALTH
CARE PROVIDER
VIRTUES OF A
HEALTH
CARE FIDELITY
PROVIDER RESPECT
COMPASSION

VIRTUES
INTEGRITY

HONESTY

HUMILITY PRUDENCE
COURAGE
 VIRTUES

The faculty of the

human person to
choose what is good
against what is deemed
to be bad or evil
 FIDELITY

Derived from the

Latin word fidelitas
which means
faithfulness
Faithfulness to
one’s
obligations,
duties and
responsibilities
Purtillo (2005) lists five expectations associated
with what patients might reasonably expect in
terms of fidelity in the health care context:

1. That you treat them with basic respect.

2. That you, the caregiver or other health care

professional, are competent and capable of
performing the duties required of your professional
role.

3. That you adhere to a professional code of ethics.

4. That you follow the policies and procedures of

your organization and applicable laws.

5. That you will honor agreements made with the

patient.
 THE NIGHTINGALE’S
PLEDGE
I solemnly pledge myself

before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to
practice my profession faithfully. I will
abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly
administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of
my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and
all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I
endeavor to aid the physician, in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those
committed to my care.
 HONESTY
•Derived from the Latin word honestus which
means honor
•A nurse is supposed to be sincere, truthful,
straightforward, decent, comely (pleasing
appearance), tidy, open, upright, virtuous,
trustworthy, fair, honorable, creditable, and
of good moral character
•A nurse should not cheat or steal anything
from his/her patient
 INTEGRITY
•Comes from the Latin word enteros
which means whole
•Makes a human person complete
•A nurse practices integrity when he/she
does his/her duties and obligations
according to the beliefs, principles, and
values he/she claims to embrace
•Free from hypocrisy.
 HUMILITY
•Humility does not mean that one
has to think less of himself/herself;
rather, it invites one to think of
himself/herself less.
•A nurse ceases to think of his/her
own needs as he/she transcends
his/her attention to the needs of the
patients
 RESPECT
•An act through which one takes notice of
others
•Regard other with special attention,
esteem, and care, or to consider other
worthy of esteem and honor
•Patients are also bound to respect nurses
•Acknowledge the feelings, beliefs,
convictions, status, and condition of the
patient
 COMPASSION
•A feeling of deep sympathy
and sorrow for someone struck
by misfortune, accompanied by
a desire to alleviate the
suffering
•Nurses should be sensitive to
their patients
 PRUDENCE
•An exercise of good judgment,
common sense, and caution in the
conduct of practical matters
•The overarching virtue that ties
together discretion, foresight,
forethought, and circumspection
•Being careful to avoid embarrassing
and distressing situations
 COURAGE

•The quality of mind or spirit

that enables a person to face
difficulty, danger, and pain
without fear
•Nurses are expected to be bold
in undertaking a very sensitive
job
•Allows the nurse to face the
challenges and dangers of the
healthcare profession:
- NURSES TAKING CARE
OF COVID-19 PATIENTS
- TAKING CARE OF A
DYING PERSON
- ASSISTING DURING
CODE BLUE
VICES
•Derived from the Latin word
vitium which means failing or
defect
•The product of a repeated sinful
act
•Immoral, depraved, or degrading
act to all the members in a given
society
•Defect, infirmity, fault, iniquity,
offence, wickedness or corruption
FRAUD

•False representation of fact

•Deliberate deceit; trickery; an intentional perversion of
truth for the purpose of inducing another in reliance
upon it to part with some valuable thing belonging to
him, or surrender a legal right
 tampering patient’s medical
record or willfully changes data
in the patient’s record
Signing in a medication
Not returning patients
sheet even if the medication
medication prior to
was not given
discharge
Using another’s account in
accessing patient’s record
 PRIDE
•A feeling of gratification arising from
association with something good or
laudable
•A high or inordinate opinion of one’s own
dignity, importance, merit, or superiority;
conceit; arrogance
•Egoism or vanity and often apply to
offensive characteristics
A nurse supervisor A staff nurse shouting at
reprimanding the staff nurse in her patient because the
front of the other staff nurses patient couldn’t understand
and doctors in the station her instruction
•Comes from the Latin word
avaritia which means avarice or
covetousness
•Excessive desire for wealth or
possessions

Example:
Nurse stealing patient’s
medication for personal use
HABITS
Entitative Habit

Operative Habit
● habits of being;
connatural qualities

● those that arise out of

the nature and structure
of ourselves, that are
necessary parts or
propensities arising from
our constitution
● habits of being;
connatural qualities

(GOOD HABITS)
includes:

- HEALTH
- STRENGTH
- BEAUTY
- habits of acting;
tendencies we have
developed in ourselves
from repeated acts

- those that can be

acquired or relinquished

- It can be a good or bad

habit
Operative habits such as
science or humaneness are
good because they orient
the intellect and will
respectively toward activities
that are desirable;

error and selfishness on the

other hand are bad
dispositions because they
organize mind and will
toward actions that are
negative and undesirable