Application Of The Code Of Ethics For Nurses With Interpretative Statements

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.

Active and passive euthanasia has been a controversial topic for many decades. Medicine has become so advanced, even the most ill patients can be kept alive by artificial means. Active euthanasia is a deliberate action taken to end a person’s life, such as lethal dose of medication (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). Passive euthanasia is allowing a person to die by not intervening or stopping a treatment that is keeping them alive (Garrard, 2014). There are three main arguments within this issue; Firstly, in the healthcare setting, it is morally accepted to allow a patient to die but purposely killing a patient is not (Garrard, 2014). Secondly, some people believe there is no moral difference between passive and active euthanasia.

Nursing is not an easy job and those who chose it as their profession are truly special people. Nurses are confronted with ethical decisions that need to be made on a daily basis. Often they know the right thing to do but because of circumstances like institutional structure and conflicts with others, obstacles are created and distress ensues (Jenner, 2001). It is during times like these that nurses must rely on the training that they have received as well as the code of ethics that has been set down for their profession in order to do the right thing.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Critical Care Unit (CCU) nurses showed the strongest support for assisted suicide; in a cross-sectional study of nurses’ attitudes towards assisted suicide, 62% of ICU and CCU nurses supported its legalization, with ICU nurses alone presenting the highest agreement rating at 73% (Tepehan, Ozarka, & Yavuz, 2009). These results are most likely due to the greater amount of exposure that nurses in critical care settings have to terminally-ill and palliative care patients, versus patients in other clinical

It is imperative that nurses, and other healthcare providers, take a professional and personal stance in the debate. Ethical arguments against assisted suicide include pain and suffering, patient autonomy, and the quality of life. Activist for PAD believe it represents empathy since it helps patients end their pain. Pro-assisted suicide supporters claim that this practice can be added to palliative care. But does legalizing assisted suicide undermine efforts to maintain and improve good care for patients nearing the end-of-life? A broad right to physician-assisted suicide could undermine the efforts, and the will, to ensure humane and dignified care for all patients facing terminal illness or severe disability. The doctor-patient relationship

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.

While the nursing profession is fulfilling, it is not without challenges. Nurses are faced with a multitude of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice on a daily basis. According to Fant (2012) no matter where nurses function in their diverse roles, they are faced with ethical decisions that can impact them and their patients. Some examples of moral issues that nurses encounter in contemporary nursing practice and research include but not limited to: refusal of treatment, scarcity of resources, disagreement with caregivers, treating patients with impaired decision-making, futile treatment decisions for cancer patients, end-of-life decisions, advanced treatment directives, and euthanasia (Leuter, Petrucci, Mattei, Tabassi, & Lancia, 2013).

Active euthanasia should be permitted as a medical treatment to allow people the right to die with dignity without pain and in peace. Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide or mercy killing, takes on many different forms. When most Americans think of euthanasia, they think of a specific form that is referred to as “active euthanasia” which means to actively do something that will end a patient’s life with or without that individual’s consent. When euthanasia is performed in an involuntary manner it is usually because the patient is comatose, unconscious, or otherwise unable to communicate whether or not they want to have their life prolonged through artificial means. In such cases, the physician makes an

Active euthanasia is a subject that is raising a lot of concern in today’s society on whether or not it should be legalized and under what circumstances should it be allowed. This is a very tricky subject due to its ability to be misused and abused. There are a wide variety of things that need to be considered when it comes to who should be allowed to request active euthanasia such as, is it an autonomous choice, do they have a terminal illness, is their quality of life dramatically decreased, and are they in pain and suffering. Both James Rachel and Daniel Callahan have very different opinions on active euthanasia and whether or not it should be allowed. However both authors manage to provide a substantial argument on where they stand regarding active euthanasia.

The process of effectively staffing a nursing unit is one that requires great research. As a manager you need to be up to date with current trends and current standards so that you can be assured that your staffing reflects highest quality and safest care available. Not only is best practice vital, as a manager you must also be thinking of the most cost-effective way to run your unit. Joint Commission standards are a benchmark that most hospitals use, if your hospital is not complying with Joint Commission standards it is likely you will risk non-reimbursement for treatment of care. You also want your unit to be practicing according to The Code of Ethics for Nurses “The code of ethics establishes the ethical standard for the profession and provides a guide for nurses to use in ethical analysis and decision-making” (Code of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretive). Having a base knowledge of the Texas Department of States Health Services would also be a huge help in keeping your unit up to current codes and standards.

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

Codes of ethics contain a coherent set of normative principles underlying a nurse’s purpose and associated values (Vanlaere and Gastmans, 2007). Two perspectives of ethics are the ethics of justice and the ethics of care (Botes, 2000). The ethics of justice constitutes an ethical perspective in terms of which ethical decisions are made on the basis of universal principles and rules, and in an impartial and verifiable manner with a view to ensuring the fair and equitable treatment of all people (Botes, 2000). The ethics of care, on the other hand, constitutes an ethical approach in terms of which involvement, harmonious relations and the needs of others play an important part in ethical decision making in each ethical situation (Botes, 2000).

Asch recognised that Euthanasia and assisted suicide was receiving a lot of attention of medial publications, public discussion and legislations. Euthanasia is defined as administering medication or performing an action with the intention of ending a person’s life. It is illegal in America and most of the world. He also recognised that the focus was primarily on physician’s roles in euthanasia and that nurses too could have a major role in this. He mailed surveys to 1600 critical care nurses in the USA and asked them to disclose any requests from patients, their family members or physicians to partake in euthanasia.

Euthanasia is a controversial issue. Many different opinions have been formed. From doctors and nurses to family members dealing with loved ones in the hospital, all of them have different ideas for the way they wish to die. However, there are many different issues affecting the legislation and beliefs of legalizing euthanasia. Taking the following aspects into mind, many may get a different understanding as to why legalization of euthanasia is necessary. Some of these include: misunderstanding of what euthanasia really is, doctors and nurses code of ethics, legal cases and laws, religious and personal beliefs, and economics in end-of-life care.

Euthanasia, deriving from Greek eu- “good or well” + Thanatos- “death” = good death, is the practice of intentionally ending a life of a patient suffering from an incurable or painful disease or condition. It has created an uproar around the world and caused debates over the morality of this practice. Only physicians and other medical professionals can induce euthanasia with a lethal injection of a patient; that is if the patient requested to do so. Although, if death is not intended, then it is not an act of euthanasia. Euthanasia is illegal in most of the United States and other countries, and are only physician assisted death in California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Washington DC, and Montana. It is legal in six of the states by state law while Montana is legal under court ruling. Euthanasia, a form of “good death,” seen through its history, pro-supporters, and anti-supporters, can either be considered a blessing or a misfortune.