American Nurses Code Of Ethics

Nursing is a career that is governed by a set of ethical principles. The duties of a nurse consist of care and support and its important that nurses are aware of their professional ethics. These principles are put into place to uphold and maintain moral values in healthcare. The American Nurses Association (ANA) code of ethics for nurses consists of nine provisions, outlined in the Code of Ethics for nurses with Interpretive Statements. These provisions are constructed to blueprint the role and responsibilities of a nurse. The chosen provisions being discussed will refer to the three main principles of patient autonomy, patient confidentiality, and patient rights.

The two key differences between medical/ personal ethics and that of public ethics is who they are responsible to and why. Starting with medical ethics, providing needed healthcare services to the individual patient in an ethical and legal manner, operating under a developed and implemented code of ethic guaranteed by a compliance program to help ensure it carries out its operations in a legal and professional manner (Torrens, 2008). Personal ethics are based and conceived from the moral values obtained and influenced by a person's beliefs and expectations, this can vary from person to person (ERC; Ethics Work Center, 2010). These personal ethics can be listed as values, such as integrity, excellence and attitude, and attaching related behaviors to them. They may be influenced by a personal code derived from the culture they were raised in; i.e. small community, church, ethnicity, family. These can have a behavioral

Many studies concluded that children's experience, rather than their age, determines their understanding of illness and disability. When they go through repeated treatment, that treatment experience enables children to understand the value of life and they demonstrate the moral and rational basis of wise decision making. Therefore, to test competence in the abstract without reference to the circumstances may be misleading (Lowden, 2002).

As the nursing profession progresses throughout the years, its nature becomes more complex in meeting the professional standards and codes of ethics that are required by all nurses. The American Nurses Association has a specific code of ethics that each nurse should follow and adopt as their own beliefs. The public and the patients should be the priority when providing care in the healthcare setting. The knowledge and education that nurses’ gain is valuable and allows them to encourage health, avoid illness, restore health, and aid in coping for those who are all ill. (LeMone, pp.192) Given that the code of ethics is put into place, there are many registered nurses who violate these codes in various situations. The following will discuss

One of the many roles of the nurse, in caring for their patient, is to advocate for the patient. The nurses in the clip did not exhibit this professional role, the nurses were hesitant in following the physician’s orders, but none of the nurses spoke up on the patient’s behalf. Nurses are often in the best position to communicate with team members and the patient’s family on behalf of the patient, because in most cases, the nurse provides the most interpersonal contact with the patient.

Today nurses in all roles participate in ethical decision making arising from mortality, relationships, and conduct issues surrounding patient care and families. This is particularly the situation with ethical issues involving pediatrics and those unable to take their own decisions. While the patients’ interests should come first, there are many other factors that come into play when providing pediatric patient care: parents’ knowledge, cultural and religious practices, and the pediatric patient’s knowledge of their disease. Therefore, it is essential for nurses to follow the American Nurses Association (ANA) code of ethics to carry out nursing responsibilities in a manner consistent with quality in nursing care and the ethical obligations of the profession. In this paper I will discuss the ethical issues that deal with a fourteen year old boy with Cystic Fibrosis (C.F.). He has been faced with the proposition from his pulmonologist that he will not survive another acute respiratory distress attack and will have to intubated if his status deteriorated. However, he and his parents are not agreeing on whether or not he should be intubated if his status deteriorated with his next attack. This poses a huge ethical dilemma because as a nurse we are the patient’s advocate and need to do everything we can to make our patient comfortable as well as having the parents understand and accept the patient wants and desires.

Provision 8.1 of the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics denotes that health is a universal right. The provision states, “the nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities” (Lachman, Swanson, & Windland-Brown, 2015, p. 365). From chapter 1, the ethical theory that best fits provision 8.1 is utilitarianism. The ethical theory of utilitarianism theorizes “one should act so as to do the greatest good for the greatest number” (Baillie, McGeehan, Garrett, & Garrett, 2013, p. 4). This theory promotes a universal method because it signifies that even if a decision is made and does not benefit every single person; however, benefits most

According to the American Nursing Association, “ Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (Association, Scope and Standards of Practice, 2010).

Healthcare organizations are committed to providing clients with quality service and experience while promoting safety, health, and healing. Nurses have the biggest impact in providing safe client care and are known for their commitment in improving or increasing client health. However, this ethical commitment may not always be met due to breakdowns in healthcare delivery. Deviations such as adoption of unsafe practices or behaviors can lead to sentinel events. Any disconnects or disruptions can be a detriment to client care. This paper will present recent cases of witnessed breakdowns of facility protocols that have led to adoptions of unsafe nursing practices, discuss its impact to healthcare, and how it has affected my personal perspective on the issue.

Energized by the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the American Nurses Association (ANA) is continuing its wide ranging efforts to ensure that Registered Nurses (RNs) have an even greater role in providing high quality care as implementation of the landmark law progresses. As guiding principles, ANA contends that health care is a basic human right, and that all deserve access to essential health care services. As nurses witness every day, a lack of primary and preventive care can cause people's manageable chronic conditions to spiral, leading to poorer patient outcomes and increased overall health care costs. (Anonymous, 2012). According to Billings and Halstead (2012), nurses are poised to participate in transforming this nation's health care system. Participation requires nurses to possess political advocacy skills so that nursing voice is brought to the policy debates and policy development.

CNA Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses (2008) provides guidance in dealing with cases like this by explaining the core nursing values and responsibilities involved which are: a) providing safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care; b) promoting health and well-being; c) promoting and respecting informed decision-making, and d) Preserving dignity; e) maintaining confidentiality, f) promoting justice and g) being accountable. The first nursing value is always expected to be upheld in any case because it is their duty to provide care using appropriate safety precautions and preventing/minimizing all forms of violence (CNA, 2008). The collaboration of the nurses between the physician and Mr. C’s family has been evident since then. This therefore calls Mr. C’s nurses to be more compassionate about his situation and try to recognize where he is coming from as they build a trust-worthy relationship before judging him or jumping into conclusions like he does not want to live anymore. Even if he decides to withdraw from these potentially life-sustaining treatments, health care providers are still obliged to give him the care he need the best way they can up until the end of his life. The second nursing value, just like the first one, still calls nurses to still aim to promote or at least maintain Mr. C’s health and well-being to the highest possible level regardless of the path he had chosen for his life. This can be achieved by continuing to collaborate well with other

According to Provision 8 of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics, “The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities.” (American Nurses Association, n.d.). Therefore, nurses and other healthcare workers must set aside any preconceived notions about a populace in order to provide equal care amongst all populations. This includes patients who are HIV positive. Nurses and healthcare workers must ignore the stigma surrounding the disease and communicate effectively with these patients in order to assure prompt, compassionate treatment.

I chose to analyze provision three contained in the American Association Code of Ethics. Provision three explores a nurses daily duty as it relates to patient rights as well as safety and patient privacy. In addition to other healthcare related responsibilities a nurse is effectively, a valuable patient advocate who must work to ensure that patients are treated fairly and competently, not only from the nursing staff, but all caregivers. (American Nurses Association). If a situation concerning incompetent care from other healthcare providers should arise, the nurse must assess issue on behalf of the patient and initiate action to have the issue corrected.

Truth-telling is an important issue within the nurse-patient relationship. Nurses make decisions on a daily basis regarding what information to tell patients. The specific issue in question is whether a nurse should abide by the Code of Ethics for Nurses by revealing the truth to the patient or refrain from telling the truth to the patient because they are respecting the wishes of the patient’s family. Nurses and health care professionals should always tell the truth to their patients unless the patient forgoes their rights to autonomy or cannot think for themselves. By providing the patient with the truth, they allow the patient to come to terms with their conditions and give them the options for further treatment.

The nursing code of ethics has a very standard definition. It is the base on how nurses should guide themselves in conduct by making the right decision regarding ethical issues. According to the National Student Nurses Association “students of nursing have a responsibility to society in learning the academic theory and clinical skills needed to provide nursing care” (2003). In the clinical setting nurses have a lot of responsibilities while caring for an ill patient, they have the obligation to practice their profession with compassion, love, and respect the uniqueness of each patient, as nurses we are not supposed to deny care to a patient because of their economic status, their skin color, race, or the nature of health problems, we are