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DQ1
Servant leaders must be internally consistent with their words and actions (credibility). A credible person will do what they say. Describe a time when you felt free in displaying your integrity at work. Conversely, describe a time when you felt fearful or wary of displaying your integrity at work. What was the determining factor(s) that allowed you to lead by example versus going against your heart? If you never felt free in displaying your integrity at work, describe what conditions would need to exist for you to do so?

emmalee response
ccording to a public opinion survey, Gallup’s 2018 poll assessing ethics and honesty, nurses ranked the highest as the ‘most trusted profession’ in the United States for the twentieth year in a row (Stone, 2019). Why is this? It is because nurses are heart of patient care, acting patient advocates, upholding ethical standards, and work closely to develop a trusting relationships with their patients. Stone makes a great point by saying, “Patients, families, and caregivers know firsthand that nurses are driving patient-centered care. For that very reason, they rank nurses higher than physicians, clergy, police officers, and educators” (Stone, 2019).
Although most nurses have nothing but the best intentions for their patients and work, the high lawsuit rate in the medical field and constant threats of revoking nursing licenses from employers strike fear into nurses who have worked so tirelessly to earn their license. Nurses are often fearful of saying, doing, documenting, or acting in a way that will get their license taken away or potentially sued. As a new nurse, my preceptors would constantly tell me, “document like you are going to defend yourself in court.” It is sad that it comes down to it, but sadly, it is our reality as nurses.
One time as a brand new labor and delivery nurse, I accidentally gave a patient one milliliter instead of one milligram of a certain narcotic medication. Although nothing bad happened from this (patient just fell immediately asleep and baby heart rate looked flat for about ten minutes), I felt bad and filed a patient safety report on myself for not checking my rights of medication administration. Because nobody suspected anything and nothing came out of it, I could have just went on my day without saying or doing anything. However, my concience got the better of me, and I filed a report on myself to remind others not to make the same mistake I did. Doing so reminded me that it is not about me, it is about the safety of my patients and I owe it to them to own up to my mistakes and learn from them.
Reference
Stone, A. (2019). Nurses Ranked ‘Most Trusted Profession in 2018’. Retrieved from https://voice.ons.org/advocacy/nurses-ranked-most-trusted-profession-in-2018

Charlotte response

Integrity is important in healthcare because it is about being truthful and doing the right thing. For instance, working in the operating room and demonstrating integrity is essential because the whole surgical team is acting in as the patient advocate. Just recently, I witnessed a surgical technician contaminate themselves while sterile draping of the robot. The surgical tech accidently bumped the robotic arm on his OR hat and then turned his back to the sterile field. I had to inform him of what happened and have him tear the robotic drape down and break scrub so he can start over. It is easy for someone to ignore this and continue with draping. If integrity was not exhibited, then this action could have put the patient at risk for infection. However, integrity can present in other ways as well that may make an individual fearful of displaying it at work. Such as, I have felt in a past position that I could not speak truthfully to my nurse manager of issues with the charge nurse. She put the charge nurse on a pedestal because she managed the OR so my manager did not have to worry about concerns as much. Then, if I spoke up, she then would confront this charge nurse and then she retaliated in a passive way towards myself and others. She would speak poorly of me and then try to find things to get myself or others in trouble by reporting false information to the manager. Therefore, no one employed integrity.
The determining factor that allowed me to lead by example was moving forward into a leadership position and apply what I learned not to do. I take my personal and work experiences and learn from them and apply them fairly and directly. There are times I feel displaying integrity can be upsetting but as I learn in my role of a manager, I am trying to voice honesty candidly but then try to end it as a positive takeaway in a conversation. As leaders, our behavior is closely examined and modeled by others on our teams; our behavior influences team member behavior and promoting accountability is fundamental (Ridge, 2015).

References
Ridge, R. P. (2015). Putting the I in integrity. Nursing Management, Volume 46, Issue 4, p 52-54.to