Teaching About Legal and Ethical Issues

Slide 2: Hello, my name is ___________. Today, I will be discussing the ethical and legal factors to be included in my presentation today. Specifically in nursing education, faculty members pursuing this career should have good knowledge of the different legal and ethical aspects that surround the profession. Let me talk specifically about plagiarism as an element of cheating in this talk. To borrow someone’s written words, thoughts, or materials and failing to acknowledge the source in one’s work or assignment is referred to as plagiarism and is considered unethical and next to impossible to excuse in both academic and corporate worlds (Podgorica et al., 2021). First, it is crucial to maintain the educational process and teach future nurses ethical behaviors; therefore, it is vital to deal with academic dishonesty in nursing school. Apart from applying the academic rigor evaluation of the students to understand the concept of academic honesty promotes ethical nursing professionalism. The implications of these findings for nursing education will be presented in this presentation as well as education and prevention/management strategies.

Legal and Ethical Issue: Plagiarism

Slide 3: According to the information given there are major ethical and legal concerns to the issue of plagiarism in an academic environment for nursing education. Therefore, through the case study, attention is brought to the fact that a lot of times students practice cutting and pasting directly from the internet without proper citations or carrying out real research (Ues et al., 2021). This practice kills off the spirit of academic integrity besides compromising the quality of teaching and the credibility of the aspiring nurses. Due to the concerns about the integrity of academic programs as well as the nursing profession, it is critical that faculty members address this issue effectively and within the shortest time possible.

Necessary Changes in Behaviors

Slide 4: To control or fight plagiarism the following behavioral changes in the academics, staff, and students are necessary. First of all, it is crucial to comprehend in detail what refers to plagiarism and using Web sources without appropriate referencing. I am obliged to act carefully when educating the students on the ethical implications of plagiarism, on including it in the lesson plan, and on providing the students with the necessary help and support to enhance their writing and analytical skills (Nichols et al., 2022). I should also monitor the student’s performance and check whether the works submitted contain any acts of plagiarism; some actions to be taken may include using tools to detect plagiarism and providing clear instructions and examples regarding citation of source materials.

Policy and Procedure Revisions

Slide 5: For the various practices noted above to be effectively addressed, the institutional practices have to be altered. It means updating and enhancing the current guidelines on academic dishonesty, describing the sanctions the participants may face for violating these rules, and establishing the processes of reporting and investigating plagiarism (Klotz et al., 2022). This calls for training and the ability to support the faculty members in applying the above principles of professional fairness and consistency. This way both the academic staff and clinical instructors can teach the students the importance of academic integrity in the academic setting as well as in clinical settings.

Changes in policies and administration and changes in staff, teacher, and learner behavior all form part of an overall onslaught on plagiarism in nursing education. These reforms may be effectively implemented by nursing programs to enhance the nurse’s profession and ensure that aspiring nurses adhere to a culture of high academic standards and moral behavior.

Change Management Approach

Slide 6: Due to the fundamental changes involved when seeking to ensure that reforms that would cut on plagiarism are put in place in the nursing courses, it is only advisable that the entire change management be effectively managed to ensure that the changes are successful in the future as well. To begin with and in first of all necessary steps, it is crucial to justify the changes to all the concerned parties starting from the academic staff members, and students, and going through the administration workers (Nichols et al., 2022). This means stressing the extent to which plagiarism erodes the reputation of the nursing program and the profession of nursing as a whole. 

In addition, their support and cooperation are also required for any change in rules and procedures accepted among the faculty members and to achieve it, training and support should be provided. This can also make the students feel more responsible and ownership of the process by educating them on the ethical consequences of plagiarism and offering them some tips on how to enhance performance in writing. In leveraging an open and cooperative approach to change management, nursing programs can able to handle the issue of plagiarism while at the same time promoting ethical standards among the students.

Synthesizing Resource Information and Addressing Knowledge Gaps

Slide 7: Since the plagiarism problem affects many students, a good synthesis of the existing resources is required to motivate a positive change. This is because, a faculty member should have the college’s policy on academic integrity, and how exactly cases of plagiarism should be reported. It is also important to regularly assess the findings and the materials on plagiarism concerning nursing education while promoting preventative and remedial measures. Students’ academic integrity and their professional ethical behaviors can be well understood and therefore managed by faculty members when they use research-derived approaches and theoretical frameworks  (Klotz et al., 2022).

Secondly, there is always the issue of identifying which areas should be interpreted as obscure or about which current knowledge is insufficient to do justice to address plagiarism efficiently. This is because it may be required for faculty members to be given clear of what constitutes plagiarism or plagiarism both in its intentional and unintentional forms as well as the role played by technological advancement in promoting plagiarism (Klotz et al., 2022). First, there can be confusion about the appropriate consequences of plagiarism, and the task that professors must perform to explain how citation works correctly. Departments can adapt how they deal with plagiarism and be more specific when helping the student by recognizing these areas of knowledge.

Teaching Presentation and Measuring Change

Slide 8: The preparation of an elaborate informative PowerPoint presentation can provide the much-needed wake-up call for change in the nursing program. The talk must start with the definition of plagiarism along with the different types of plagiarism and then continue with the detailing of the outcomes of plagiarism in different areas and fields (Seidlein et al., 2022). The seriousness of the situation must be explained with examples of ordinary piracy, which can be simple copying of the information from the WEB resources without indication of the source. Furthermore, how to avoid plagiarism, citation, and paraphrasing, ought to be explained in a way that participants could be equipped with tools of avoiding compromises to their academic standards.

Incorporating Elements for Measurement

Slide 9: Change measurement procedures should be incorporated to evaluate the success of the presentation and how it influences participants’ perceptions and approach to plagiarism. To be certain, the audience’s knowledge of plagiarism may be tested even before the presentation to determine the level of actual knowledge before the presentation as well as after the presentation to make a comparison  (Hirakawa et al., 2020). In addition, the survey or feedback form can be administered to participants to understand the effectiveness of the presentation, and participant’s intention to adopt the presented information into their academic work. To answer other questions which might have been left unanswered by the set objectives or to continue teaching and training the participants again more talks or workshops might be arranged to repeat the key concepts.

Measuring Change in Attitudes and Behaviors

It is important to search for tangible evidence of development to assess shifts in attitudes and behaviors concerning plagiarism. Using this argument, the extent to which the presentation has served the goal of enhancing compliance with academic integrity standards can be ascertained from the observation of increased reports of academic dishonesty and the readiness of both the teacher and student to embrace preventive measures (Hirakawa et al., 2020). Growth in the ratio of staff-generated reports of plagiarism-related occurrences; or evidence of enhanced citation practices among students could be perceived to mean that the nursing program is tilting towards a culture of responsibility and integrity.

Culturally Sensitive Issues and Evidence-Based Research

Slide 10: There are some sensitive cultural issues, and the lecturer should consider them while addressing this problem to the students in a nursing school regarding the availability of information. It is also likely that some students have been socially raised with cultures of sharing and as expected in social media use, anything available on the internet is freely accessible and thus can be used without references (Podgorica et al., 2021). This cultural outlook means that the culture needs to be taken into consideration and appreciated while acknowledging the differences concerning sharing knowledge while emphasizing academic integrity. Examples include how it has been established that teachers need to ensure that they follow culturally sensitive approaches in their teaching to increase their chances of enhancing the moral behaviors of all youths irrespective of the culture they come from.

Engaging in Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Student understanding and reactions should be gained through cross-cultural dialogue so that when teaching and when encountering culturally sensitive aspects of the matter related to plagiarism the faculty members would also be unknowingly aware of the students’ ideas and perceptions. It is important to establish an environment where the students are comfortable discussing how culture influences their learning in class (Doe, 2022). They can therefore lead the students to reflect on and search for other methodologies that can be employed in the achievement of good results that are ethical, through sensitive discussions and respect for each other. As part of the roles of academic integrity, the work seeks to underscore the importance of cultural sensitivity and understanding in learning institutions to foster the uniqueness of respective student groups.

Integrating Evidence-Based Interventions

Slide 11: Due to cultural differences, there is a need to use recommended strategies that are sensitive to cultural differences concerning plagiarism if the intended ethical behaviors are to be promoted in nursing students. With academic integrity policies in place, there are ways to help students traverse the cultural implications of academic behavior while using educational supports that forcefully suggest the necessity of originality, thinking critically, and responsible use of information (Seidlein et al., 2022). Hearings consisting of case-based presentations and discussions and peer-to-peer mentorship supported by a succession of workshops will facilitate the development of effective cultural understanding as well as the efficient comprehension of ethical concepts. The study proves exactly how successful such measures are in promoting such things as academic integrity as well as ensuring the growth of moral understanding in students in learning institutions.

Action Plans for Continuous Learning

Slide 12: To that effect, it is important to continue engaging in professional development activities if the nursing program is to deal adequately with plagiarism. Thus educators should enroll in workshops, seminars, and online courses mainly focused on teaching the principles of academic integrity and ethical behavior in class (Seidlein et al., 2022). These seminars should present modern information on how to prevent plagiarism, what measures have to be taken to avoid situations when students cheat, and what kind of incentive could be used to make learners more honest in their studies.

Cultivating a Culture of Ongoing Learning and Collaboration

To address plagiarism in its entirety, the nursing program must emphasize, on the part of students and faculty members, continuous learning on the differing modalities of augmenting knowledge (‌Wright et al., 2022). Faculty members can easily assess experiences, licenses, and strategies for handling plagiarism by employing periodic departmental meetings, interdisciplinary collaborations, and peer-to-peer swaps. The brainstorming method encourages the solving of problems among faculty members and the sharing of information among them.

Incorporating Feedback Mechanisms and Evaluation Processes

Slide 13: The continuous learning initiatives need to have forms of checking and evaluation so that the effectiveness of the efforts can be determined and issues that may need enhancement highlighted (Usberg et al., 2021). To evaluate the programs or interventions, the faculty members can give questionnaires or questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions, and peer review systems to receive feedback from students, peers, or outsiders. More often checking of the students’ works with plagiarism-checking software and the use of rubrics also provides useful information on focused intervention and adjustment of teaching approaches.

Conclusion

Slide 14: The approach towards the elimination of plagiarism in nursing education will therefore require a multifaceted, which includes both awareness creation, prevention, as well as continuous learning. In the context of nursing, both the faculty that is involved in the education process and students can propose an honest and accountable culture when they are informed and supplied with the instruments that state the moral disadvantages of plagiarism (LaChance, 2024). In addition, there is an opportunity to refine and enhance the strategies applied by faculty members concerned with effective strategies to manage cases of plagiarism: Firstly, the possibility of participation in continuing professional development programs can be implemented. Such collaborations could help nursing programs maintain the highest levels of professional academic and working standards and, thus, hold the keys to the future professional competence and professional ethicality of the nursing profession.

References

Doe, M. J. (2022). Nursing ethics embedded in nursing theoretical frameworks. Nursing Science Quarterly, 35(2), 270–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/08943184211070579

Hirakawa, Y., Chiang, C., Muraya, T., Andoh, H., & Aoyama, A. (2020). Interprofessional case conferences to bridge perception gaps regarding ethical dilemmas in home-based end-of-life care: a qualitative study. Journal of Rural Medicine: JRM, 15(3), 104–115. https://doi.org/10.2185/jrm.2020-002

Klotz, K., Riedel, A., Lehmeyer, S., & Goldbach, M. (2022). Legal regulations and the anticipation of moral distress of prospective nurses: A comparison of selected undergraduate nursing education programs. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 10(10), 2074. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10102074

LaChance L. S. (2024). The United States constitution: legal literacy and school nursing. NASN School Nurse (Print), 39(4), 198–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1942602X231223534

Nichols, A., Trimble, P., & Stebbings, A. (2020). The use of inter-professional education (IPE) healthcare law and ethics scenario-based learning sessions amongst nursing, midwifery and law students: An evaluation. Nurse Education Today, 91, 104455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104455

Podgorica, N., Pjetri, E., Müller, A. W., & Deufert, D. (2021). Identifying ethical and legal issues in elder care. Nursing Ethics, 28(7-8), 1194–1209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020981761

Seidlein, A. H., Hannich, A., Nowak, A., & Salloch, S. (2022). Interprofessional health-care ethics education for medical and nursing students in Germany: An interprofessional education and practice guide. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 36(1), 144–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2021.1879748

Usberg, G., Uibu, E., Urban, R., & Kangasniemi, M. (2021). Ethical conflicts in nursing: An interview study. Nursing Ethics, 28(2), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020945751

Ues, L. V., Pereira, L. H., Bastos, R. M. A. F. P., Ribeiro, L. C. M., Silva, G. O., Campos, K. O., & Barreto, I. S. (2021). Ethics in nursing: categorization of legal processes, 75(3), e20210099. https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2021-0099

‌Wright, C., Ritter, L. J., & Gonzales, C. (2022). Cultivating a collaborative culture for ensuring sustainable development goals in higher education: An integrative case study. Sustainability, 14(3), 1273. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031273