Common Ethical Dilemmas Faced in Nursing

Ethical issues have always affected the role of the professional nurse. Efforts to enact this standard may cause conflict in health care settings in which the traditional roles of the nurse are delineated within a bureaucratic structure. Nurses have more direct contact with patients than one can even imagine, which plays a huge role in protecting the patients’ rights, and creating ethical issues for the nurses caring for the various patients they are assigned to. In this paper I will discuss some of the ethical and legal issues that nurses are faced with each and every day.

Nurses face ethical dilemmas every day, and although there are no right or wrong answers, there are ethical principles nurses use to base their ethical decision. The American Nursing Association (ANA) offers a Code of Ethics for Nurses that provides a framework to help support nurses with their ethical dilemmas they encounter at work. One common ethical dilemma nurses are faced with is patient’s reproductive rights. Pro-choice versus pro-life is an argument that may never be resolved. If the nurse is pro-life will he/she be able to support the patient’s right for an abortion? And if the nurse is pro-choice can he/she support the patient’s decision to continue a pregnancy that threatens the patient’s life? It’s difficult to separate your own bias with your nursing practice on issues this personal. The nurses should understand their own beliefs, knowledge and behavior regarding the subject before they can help the patient. Watson’s Theory of Human Caring can be applied in this situation by having the nurse assist the patient in defining the range of possible responses to the situation so the patient can develop the best answer for themselves. The nurse should provide support regardless of the patient’s decision and the nurses beliefs. A nurse who tries to attempt persuade a patient in their decision based on the nurse’s beliefs

As The role of the neonatal intensive care nurse in decision-making: Advocacy, involvement in ethical decisions and communication defines an ethical dilemma, “An ethical dilemma exists when some evidence indicates that an act is morally right and some evidence indicates that the same act is morally wrong, but the evidence on both sides is inconclusive… Thus, an ethical dilemma is not between the good aspects and bad aspects of a situation or between what can be done and what one wishes could be done, but among two or more morally right, but inconsistent, alternatives” (International Journal of Nursing Practice, 109). West Park Hospital states on their tree of ethics that compassion and respect, commitment, advocacy, competency, accountability/ responsibility, professional growth, knowledge, collaboration, and integrity are the roots and branches of a healthy nurse-patient relationship. Not only do nurses have to deal with everyday ethics, but they are also given the responsibility of making life-and-death decisions for patients who don’t have the ability to advocate for themselves. Within the domain of nursing, ethical decisions of all types occur within the job, but the level of education and responsibility that you have acquired determines many of the ethical decisions that one is required to make on a daily basis. Over the years, technological advances have changed the ethical decisions that occur within the job and the way that we handle those decisions. Technology has changed our world in many ways, especially within the medical field- some for the better and some for the worse, and this is very noticeable within a nurse’s daily life. Nurses have a lot of responsibility when it comes to making ethical decisions, but they are not the only ones that are involved in those decisions when it comes to vulnerable

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.

To start off, lets cover exactly what an abortion is before go in depth on why pro-choice, is the logical choice. An abortion is defined as,” The termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus”

Cost of the end of life medical care is too expensive to continue at the rate it is going. The fiscal year 2016 saw 672.1 billion dollars spent on Medicare participants with just 5% using 49% of those monies ("NHE Fact Sheet," n.d., p. 1). The ANA provides a code of ethics that nurses should use to help guide them in clinical practice decision making. There are four fundamental responsibilities for nurses to adhere too they are: promote health, prevent illness, restore health and alleviate suffering. Ethical Principals for nurses are; respect & autonomy, beneficence, justice, veracity, and fidelity ("Code of Ethics for Nurses," 2012). Attempting to keep ethical responsibilities and principals in mind, while conducting a cost-benefit analysis to determine resource allocation for an aging population and end of life care causes many ethical dilemmas.

There are basically two ideologies: pro-choice and pro-life. The former supports a woman’s right to make a decision to have the baby or ability to have an abortion. Furthermore, pro-choice roots stem from a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling ROE V. WADE, 410 U.S. 113 that supports a woman’s right to have an abortion legally. In the decision, it states: “the unborn have never been recognized in the law as persons in the whole sense.” (410 U.S. 113, 162) Ultimately, a group was formed called National Abortion Rights Action League that takes on legal action in order to preserve woman’s right to abortion. Contrastingly, another ideology was formed: the pro-life movement. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision a group emerged called National Right to Life Committee. Unlike the former, they are

Nurses face ethical decisions frequently when giving patient care. These dilemmas can result from deciding how to allocate resources such as time or materials. Caring for patients from diverse backgrounds complicates decision-making when faced with dilemmas, because organizations that depend on standards of patient care that may not by culturally congruent. In these situations, the nurse must consider the patient’s beliefs and values along with the organization’s care expectations and bridge the gap between the two (Andrews and Boyle, 2016-a). In this post, I will describe ethical dilemmas with the current state of population health and health disparities, discuss the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act, and explain how social justice

Ethical, Bioethical, and Legal Issues in Nursing Chio Thung Arizona State University  Ethical, Bioethical, and Legal Issues in Nursing Ethical, bioethical, and legal issues are all concerns that affect professional nursing practice. Nurses should be aware about why and how these issues affect their profession. A case scenario that questions these boundaries is a homeless person without any health care insurance being provided substandard care by a medical team (Maville & Huerta, 2008). There are many components that affect nursing such as ethical principles, bioethical dilemmas, moral values, and statutes, which I will discuss how they would influence my actions in this case scenario.

Time, cost, and efficiency. Those three barriers are the challenges within Bellin’s current refill team covering six clinics. Beginning with medications not being filled at office visits. Patient’s changing pharmacy’s. Refills remain that the pharmacy and patients reading their medication bottles that state Refills remaining:0 and that is only due to the last older script being pulled from the pharmacy file. A new script has been often sent in but doesn’t register when a patient picks up a new script bringing the patient to call the clinic for a refill. When really a new script is on hand at the pharmacy already. So, then I research and verify with the pharmacy. Then there is the common scenario of the patient calling the clinic requesting

The role of ethics in organizational behavior is the underlying factor to the success and longevity of any organization. A set of rules and guidelines focusing on promoting safety, trust, and responsible practice within the workplace must be established internally. Organizations develop code of ethics that center upon the promotion of good. Ethics are vital in developing trusting relationships between employees and administration within.

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.

Ethical dilemmas are a common issue in the health care setting. Since many sensitive topics have no clear right or wrong answer, it is important for nurses to properly understand how to approach these matters. Typically, nurses are the ones who get to know patients on a more personal level by developing a therapeutic relationship with them overtime. Therefore, nurses recognize these complex situations and are required to intervene when it’s necessary. Two principals within the ANA Code of Ethics that pertain to the ethical dilemma I saw are; “The nurse’s primary commitment is to the person, whether an individual or part of a family, group, or community.” and “The nurse promotes, advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety, and rights of the person.” (American Nurses Association (ANA), 2008).

Picture your loved one in an independent senior residence, where they can do mostly everything on their own. This sounds great until they have an emergency medical issues and the nurses that are on staff refuse to help based on their interpretation of the company policy. As a nurse, they should be trained how to handle emergencies, but in this instance the person lost their life because the nurse did not take any action. This happened to 87-year-old Lorraine Bayless, who stopped breathing and the nurse at Brookdale Senior Living Center refused to do anything or allow anyone else to do anything based on what she read in the company policy. Since state or federal departments of health license or regulate independent or assisted living centers it can

Brittany, your posting displayed the significance of incorporating different styles of leadership in dealing with ethical dilemmas in healthcare. Ethical dilemmas play a pivotal role in nurse managers making decisions that are related to “nursing quality, patient satisfaction, finance allocation, ethical climate, and professional dignity” (Zydziunaite & Suominen, 2014). Transformational leadership and the application of other leadership styles identified by Zydziunaite and Suominen (2014) contribute to the enhancement of nurse managers constructing ethical dilemmas in decision making issues. Therefore, it is essential for nurse leaders to obtain skills in the various leadership styles in relation to their “strengths and weaknesses”. Marquis