SASAN, Aubrey Richelle A.

BSN III Nightingale

Exercise 1.9
As a nursing student, it is my responsibility to report to my school about
my health status, even though HIV cannot be transmitted through normal daily
contact it is still important to inform my school because we all know that nursing
students are at a higher risk of being infected through needle pricks as it is part
of our duty to administer medications through syringes with needles which may
infect our colleagues during demo and our client during duties in hospital.
As a future nurse, I think informing my employers about my health status is
a must, and so my HIV status because as I step in the hospital I’ll be working on, I
will be dealing with a bigger number of individuals that may need care that needs
direct contact which includes rapport and administration of medicines orally and
through needles which can infect my clients unintentionally. Informing my future
employers is important so they can decide on where to assign me inside the
hospital wherein there is a lower risk to expose my future clients to my bodily
fluids.
The “I need to know” principle has a greater obligation that takes a lot of
courage before an individual can provide the information in the need to know
than the “I need to tell” which means that you just want to tell them what you
want to tell restricting you from telling the truth to avoid being judged and
discriminated by the community. When someone ask me about what they need to
know I assure that I have the qualities of self-awareness, honesty and risk-taking
because the facts that we will tell them like for example, the HIV status, it may
result to some consequences that we are not expecting but as mentioned in the
book, “those who can do the right thing but unpopular thing and who dare to
stand alone will merge as leaders” not just being a leader but it also shows how
ethical and accountable nurse we are.
The objective that weighted most heavily in my decision is when I
recognize that no matter how careful am I, there is at least a small risk that I can
inadvertently expose patients with my bodily fluids and thus to some risk. I must
choose and act decisively and preventing clients from harm and protecting their
welfare is an objective unlike fearing to be ostracized by the community which
demonstrates subjective thinking.
Exercise 5.9