Academic Integrity Procedure

Ethics is an integral part of the foundation of nursing.  Ethics can be defined simply as a discipline that looks at what is good or bad; wrong or right; and also deals with moral obligation and duty (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2011).  It should be apparent the important place ethics has within the discipline of nursing.  Ethics begins for the discipline along the academic path for each and every nursing student.  

Recognition of the importance of ethics to the nursing profession led to the development of a Code of Ethics for Nurses.  One of the purposes of the Code of Ethics for Nurses is to state the “ethical obligations and duties of every individual who enters the nursing profession”; and this means that each nursing student at Northeastern Junior College will be held to this standard.  Provision 5 of the Code of Ethics for Nurses lays the groundwork for academic integrity at NJC in the nursing programs.  

Provision 5: The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to preserve integrity and safety, to maintain competence, and to continue personal and professional growth.  

Nursing students are required to incorporate extremely large amounts of new information into their knowledge base for a successful transition from student to professional nurse.  NJC nursing students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity.  Unless specified otherwise, all work submitted by a student is to be the original creation of that student.  Penalties for plagiarism, cheating, falsifying work or other acts of academic dishonesty may result in academic as well as disciplinary sanctions which include, but are not limited to, verbal or written warning to the student, no credit or reduced credit for an assignment, administrative withdrawal from the course, “F” grade for the course, probation, suspension, or expulsion from the college.  If a student is willing to compromise their personal integrity, thereby the integrity of the profession of nursing by cheating or being dishonest in their completion of their academic coursework, the question arises regarding compromising the safety of the patient, either as a student or in future professional practice and will not be tolerated in the nursing programs at Northeastern Junior College.  

The Academic Integrity Procedure process can be found and reviewed in the NJC College Catalog.

The Code of Ethics for Nurses with interpretive statements can be found at:

http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/CodeofEthicsforNur