Plagiarism is a major ethical concern in both academic and professional/technica
Plagiarism is a major ethical concern in both academic and professional/technical writing. For this week’s concept worksheet, we’ll explore three excerpts on plagiarism related directly to your role as a learner at a nursing college:
First, read Nightingale College’s official catalog statement on plagiarism in its entirety (Nightingale College, 2023, p. 64):
Learners must not deliberately use another person’s ideas, work, evidence, or words and present them as their own original work, including copying text from websites, textbooks, journals, or any other published materials, without proper acknowledgement. Incorporating a student’s own work, previously submitted for other courses, is a special type of plagiarism, known as self-plagiarism, and is a violation of the academic integrity policy. Under special circumstances, learners may cite any of their previously published works or unpublished works (any work that is submitted for publication but has not been published yet, including theses and dissertations). In these rare cases, prior discussion and approval with the course instructor is needed, and the work must be cited according to current APA standards. Previous assignments submitted for coursework completion do not count as published/unpublished works and are not permitted to be reused for any part of a future assignment without prior approval of the course instructor.
Next, read this excerpt from a 2019 scholarly article by Carter et al. called “Plagiarism in Nursing Education and the ethical implications in practice” (para. 14-15).
There are several ways a nurse can plagiarize in the clinical environment and potentially jeopardize his or her reputation as a professional. For example, using generic nursing notes for every patient is a related issue of false documentation. Another example: a nurse tasked to write policies and procedures can easily copy the digital information from other hospitals without adequately citing the material. Plagiarism seen in nursing clinical documentation or paperwork has some inherent concerns for ethical, legal, professional, and/or financial penalties. The consequences could be detrimental not only to the nurse, but to the clinical facility as well. This may include accusations of professional misconduct, job dismissal, removal of licensure, and/or copyright infringement (Smith, 2016a). Considering the detrimental impact that plagiarism can impose on both the nurse and/or facility, echoes the critical topic surrounding plagiarism education in nursing.
The ethical and legal implications of false documentation by using general nursing notes for every patient is a related concern. Electronic health records may also create an environment that lends itself to one size fits all documentation that can be duplicated from patient to patient. Instilling the importance of documenting each patient encounter as true and accurate is critical. Many of the same unintentional acts of plagiarism occurring in the classroom setting can be an issue for students in the clinical setting, involving documentation such as health assessments, health histories, care plans, and concept maps.
Last, read this excerpt from a 2023 article on Intelligent.com, called “Nearly 1 in 3 College Students have used ChatGPT on Written Assignments” (para. 1-3).
Since its launch in November 2022, the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT has caused significant wavesLinks to an external site. in education. The bot can imitate human-level speech and writing uncannily well, causing many educators to question how essay-based learning can continue when students have access to such a free and easy shortcut. In fact, there have already been casesLinks to an external site. of college students caught cheating by using the tool.
In order to shed more light on this issue, in January, Intelligent.com surveyed 1,000 current U.S. 4-year college students to ask them about their knowledge and use of ChatGPT when it comes to schoolwork.
The results:
30% of college students have used ChatGPT on written homework
Of this group, close to 60% use it on more than half of their assignments
3 in 4 ChatGPT users believe it is cheating but use it anyway
As these texts make clear, plagiarism is a serious ethical concern, not only in educational settings but also, crucially, in clinical ones. What’s more, new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT are growing in popularity, especially among college students, making certain kinds of cheating easier to commit and harder to detect.
For this week’s concept worksheet, share your ideas about plagiarism in college and in clinical settings. Address each of the following questions in a separate paragraph:
In your experience, how common is plagiarism in nursing education and how common is it in clinical environments among nurses? (If you have no experience to draw on for this question, conduct some online research and report what you find.)
What specific circumstances do you think lead to plagiarism in each setting?
Is it ethical for learners to use tools like ChatGPT to complete assignments? What kind of use might be ethical, and what kind of use would be unethical?
In your opinion, what are the best ways to help both nursing learners and professional working nurses avoid plagiarism and its consequences? Consider what tools, practices, education, and training might be helpful.
Your document should:
Be 12pt, Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins, double spaced.
Be 4-5 paragraphs long (with a minimum of 5 sentences per paragraph).
Address each of the questions above.
References
Carter, H., Hussey, J., & Forehand, J. W. (2019). Plagiarism in nursing education and the ethical implications in practice. Heliyon, 5(3), e01350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01350Links to an external site.
Intelligent.com. (2023, January 23). Nearly 1 in 3 College Students have used ChatGPT on Written Assignments. Intelligent.com. https://www.intelligent.com/nearly-1-in-3-college-students-have-used-chatgpt-on-written-assignments/Links to an external site.
Nightingale College. (2023). 2022-2023 Nightingale College Catalogue. https://nightingale.edu/college-catalog-2/Links to an external site.