Caring With Poor Pain Management And Barriers Towards Proper Care

The topic of ethics is prevalent in health care and addresses a broad range of topics in nursing. In almost every interaction with a patient there could be a situation that may bring up the question of ethics. Fortunately, there is the realization that placing the nurse in the care of a patient, may put the medical personnel in an environment where the ethics are questioned. There are whole departments dedicated to advising nurses in these situations. There are also ethic committees to help guide you when you find yourself in a situation that may question your practice or circumstances.

A nurse owes a duty to her profession's own code of ethics. Patient autonomy, justice, and respect for patients' dignity are central to nursing practice. The Canadian Nurses' Association (CNA), through the publication of the codes of ethics for nurses, calls upon nurses to

Healthcare professionals have an ethical obligation to respect patient’s wishes. Consequently, many legal and ethical dilemmas arise in healthcare in response to clinical decisions related to the needs, beliefs, and preferences of patients and families. Other dilemmas result over concerns about the integrity, competence, or actions of other healthcare professionals. Preserving human dignity, relieving suffering, equality, integrity, and accountability are essential nursing values (Kangasniemi, Pakkanen, & Korhonen, 2015). Nurse leaders have an

According to American Nurses Association (ANA), (2010) “the nurse promotes, advocates for and strives to protect the heath, safety and right of the patient” (p. 6). Nursing responsibilities should be acted at the highest standard and must be based on legal and ethical obligations.

An ethical dilemma is defined as a mental state when the nurse has to make a choice between the options and choices that he or she has at her disposal. The choice is a crucial task as the opting of the step will subsequently determine the health status of the concerned patient, hence it requires a great deal of wisdom along with proper medical and health training before any such step is opted as it is a matter of life and death. Strong emphasis should therefore be on the acquisition of proper knowledge and skills so that nurses do posses the autonomy to interact with patients regarding ethical issues involved in health care affairs and address them efficiently. It is normally argued that nurses are not provided sufficient

I learned that as a nurse it is my duty to always consider my own well being, along with my patient’s. I must keep a high moral character both in the workplace and in my personal life. I must continue to educate myself and keep myself up to date with all the latest nursing practices and research. I must subject myself to peer review and evaluation. I must never let my personal feelings about a patient’s lifestyle affect my care for them. When met with a tough choice that places me in an ethical crisis I must keep a good head on my shoulders and always have my patient’s best interests in mind. If I feel that a situation at work is in direct conflict with my personal values or my oath to be an ethical nurse I must go through the proper channels to work through the problem.

The definition of patient abuse is the mistreatment or neglect of individuals who are under the care of a health care organization (Pozgar, 2013). In the United States, the vulnerable populations for this abuse are the elderly and children. Patient abuse is not only in an institutional setting, but also at home. The rise of elderly patients has increased in recent years due to the aging of the baby boomers. Currently, 13% of the population is over the age of 65 (NCEA, 2014). Many cases of elder abuse is caused by their own family (NCEA, 2014), this in turn reflects underreporting and insufficient data. The elderly also experience higher levels of physical and mental disability, which impair their abilities to report (CDC, 2014). Children are at high risk as well due to their vulnerability because of age and mental age (CDC, 2014). Health care workers are required by law to report suspected abuse (Pozgar, 2013). There is a strong ethical duty to acknowledge abuse of any patient. There are also legal ramifications compelling health care workers to be aware of suspected abuse. Each state has enacted laws to report abused patients as well as protect and at times penalize the reporter.

Ohio, long-term care facilities, had several incidences of abuse not adequately investigated by the facility or reported to the Ohio Department of Health within 24 hours. Therefore, the subsequent reports due within five days were not completed (Ohio Health Care Association, 2016c). The staff members involved in the alleged abuse were not removed from patient care immediately and were permitted to work one week past the incident. The primary reason for not properly reporting these issues was that the nurse was “so busy that she did not think about it” (Ohio Health Care Association, 2016b, p. 2). “

Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice

Ethical issues in nursing will always be an ongoing learning process. Nurses are taught in nursing school what should be done and how. Scenarios are given on tests with one right answer. However, there are situations that nurses may encounter that may have multiple answers and it is hard to choose one. “Ethical directives are not always clearly evident and people sometimes disagree about what is right and wrong” (Butts & Rich, 2016). When an ethical decision is made by a nurse, there must be a logical justification and not just emotions.

Nurses are obligated to care for all patients; however, in certain situations the risks of harm might outweigh a nurse's moral obligation or duty to care for a given patient. There are limits to the personal risk of harm nurses can be expected to accept. Accepting personal risk exceeding the limits of duty is not a moral obligation; it is a moral option. (Medscape.com. n.d.)

In practice, nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas on a daily basis that test their knowledge (Boggs, 2010). The Canadian Nurses Association code of ethics helps guide these moral dilemmas. It is the foundation for nurse’s practice, and nurses must be commited to following the values outlined in it. One of the values that must be followed is to “provide safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care” (Ecker & Bouchal, 2010, p. 91). Although the code of ethics helps guide a nurse’s practice, it does not distinguish appropriate behaviour in every circumstance; a situation can be unique in the environment.

Everyday, healthcare professionals are faced with ethical dilemmas in their workplace. These ethical dilemmas need to be addressed in order to provide the best care for the patient. Healthcare professionals have to weigh their own personal beliefs, professional beliefs, ethical understandings, and several other factors to decide what the best care for their patient might be. This is illustrated in Mrs. Smith’s case. Mrs. Smith is an 85 year old who has suffered from a large stroke that extends to both of her brains hemispheres which has left her unconscious. She only has some brain stem reflexes and requires a ventilator for support. She is unable to communicate how she wishes to proceed with her healthcare. Mrs. Smith’s children, Sara and Frank have different views regarding their mother’s plan of care. The decision that needs to be made is whether to prolong Mrs. Smith’s life, as Sara would like to do, or stop all treatments and care, as Frank feels his mother would want. In the healthcare field, there are situations similar to this case that happen daily where moral and ethical judgment is necessary to guide the decision that would be best for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss, compare and contrast the personal and professional values, ethical principles, and legal issues regarding Mrs. Smith’s quality of life and further plan of care.

The Code of Ethics for Nurses is a tool that guides nurses in their responsibilities, so that they may provide quality care in an ethical and professional manner. The code consists nine provisions, and provision two really influences my nursing practice, and it states that, “The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community, or population.” Another provision that influences my nursing practice is provision seven which states that, “The nurse, in all roles and settings, advances the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy.” As a correctional nurse, provision two of the Code of Ethics for Nurses influences my nursing practice in several ways. For instance, while other clinicians might view my patients as criminals, am always aware that it is my responsibility

The ultimate aim of nursing profession is to promote healthy lifestyle to individual and communities (World Health Organization 2012). Effective communication networks, clearly delineated staff roles and responsibility are important strategies in promoting the quality and safety of patient care (Crisp & Taylor, 2008). Nurses plays a critical role in the quality and safety of clinical care, adverse events could lead to death and injury. Nurses should identify and respond effectively is also an ethics of nursing. Nurses voice are among the strongest assets in our current health care system says Dr Ulrich, 2012. Crisp and Taylor states that the patients should be given an opportunity to state weather the expectation has been met regarding the care for them. If not then nurses need to work on that and if still can met the expectation than need to get other medical team. The overall purpose of professional ethics is to guide how nurses contribute to the development of healthy