Academic Integrity in 1st Year Nursing Students

Subject Name : Medical Sciences

Introduction

As first-year nursing students breaching academic integrity is very easy especially if proper induction is not conducted. It is also noted that most of the first-year nursing students’ academic breaches have not been researched (Harding, Carpenter, Finelli, & Passow, 2020). One of the academic integrity challenges is the use of the internet. With increased technology students are expected to conduct their research using the Internet. However, the internet is a huge market that appeals to anybody just by a click of a button. Meanwhile, Principle 6 of ANMB requires that a nurse provide impartial honest and accurate information when it comes to nursing. One of the most disastrous academic misconducts is the use of online freelancers. Most of the websites have been designed so that they can offer students’ academic help in form of online writing. Most students fall trap to this academic misconduct and the consequences are usually grave. According to (Nursing and Midwifery Board, 2022) Principle 2.2 touches on the ethical decision-making of a nurse. Some of the disadvantages of using such sites are that the purported writers may not have any academic background in nursing or may have not practised nursing (Guerrero-Dib, Portales, & Heredia-Escorza, 2020). Therefore, they may not be able to replicate and incorporate theory and practice in the assignments and quizzes given to students. In addition, such websites are also prone to a lot of data insecurity as they may hack and tamper with students’ important credentials. Such assistance if obtained are also usually of low quality with plagiarized content. Such academic work also fails to adhere to the set standards and requirements as expected by the professors (Eriksson & McGee, 2019). Various institutions have well spelt consequences and penalties for engaging in academic misconduct. It is unfortunate that most of the foreign students are usually caught up in this pitfall probably due to their inability to understand the language used in delivery of content.

References

Eriksson, L., & McGee, T. (2019). Academic dishonesty amongst Australian criminal justice and policing university students: Individual and contextual factors. Int J Educ Integr, 11(5):1–15.

Guerrero-Dib, J., Portales, L., & Heredia-Escorza, Y. (2020). Impact of academic integrity on workplace ethical behaviour. J Educ Integr, 16(2):1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-020-0051-3.

Harding, T., Carpenter, D., Finelli, C., & Passow, H. (2020). Does academic dishonesty relate to unethical behavior in professional practice? An exploratory study. Sci Eng Ethics, 10(2):311–324.

Nursing and Midwifery Board. (2022, 11 13). Registered nurse standards for practice. Retrieved from Nursing and Midwifery Board: https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/codes-guidelines-statements/professional-standards/registered-nurse-standards-for-practice.aspx