Ethical and quality nursing practice begins prior to entering the workforce Academic

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Ethical and quality nursing practice begins prior to entering the workforce. Academic honesty plays a fundamental role in the development of every nursing professional. The choice to be honest during an academic career begins with moral values within the individual student. Practicing as a nurse in the current healthcare system requires a tremendous amount of personal accountability. This responsibility grows even more when becoming an advanced practice nurse. Making the conscious choice to remain honest in an educational setting, will cultivate a professional environment catered to the same honest behavior. Academic dishonesty is a rising problem, due to the continued advancements of technology. Many professional programs are now located primarily online, in order to become flexible for the working professional. Nevertheless, there are several ways to decrease the incidences of academic dishonesty within the educational setting. Establishing an academic integrity policy, or honor code places the responsibility on both the administrator and the student. Providing a clear and decisive policy on the consequences of academic dishonesty sends a concise message that academic dishonesty will not be tolerated (Stonecypher, K., & Willson, P. 2014). Students should be encouraged to limit the number of references used when completing a writing assignment. Limiting the number of sources used based on relevance can reduce the amount of citation and plagiarism mistakes made (Price, B. 2014). Furthermore, using a standardized format for all writing assignments, would prevent confusion on issues such as citation and referencing. Providing encouragement of students to use online software to prevent unintended plagiarism is imperative. Additional techniques to prevent cheating on online examinations could range from using remote proctors to monitor students, requiring students to use a secure browser when taking the exam, or limiting the time students are allowed when answering each question (Stonecypher, K., & Willson, P. 2014). Committing academic fraud contradicts the core standards of the nursing profession. The nurse to patient relationship is often one of the most important relationships in patient care. In order to provide quality patient care, a nurse must create undeniable trust within the nurse-patient relationship. Ideally, making ethically sound decisions concerning academic honesty, will follow a nursing professional in clinical practice (Boykins, A. D., & Gilmore, M. 2012). There is an indisputable growing pressure to succeed in the professional atmosphere. However, choosing to be dishonest when pursuing a professional career will leave the nursing professional severely unprepared to provide holistic and well-rounded care to our growing patient population.