Ethic: The Foundation Of Nursing

As a registered nurse practicing in the state of California I am responsible for practicing within my states legal regulations and nursing scope of practice. My concern for the welfare of the sick and injured allows me to practice ethical provisions of nursing. These are required if I am to carry out competent and effective nursing care. Nursing encompasses the prevention of illness, the alleviation of suffering, and the protection, promotion, and restoration of health in the care of individuals. Therefore, as health care professionals we must be familiar with the different philosophical forces, ethical principles, theories and values that influence nursing. At the same time, we must be respectful to our patient’s

In Josh Barro’s article, he mainly discusses the theme of Social Security. He explains how if we raise the age for people to access Social Security, that will harm poorer Americans who have a lower life expectancy due to the type of work they do or because of lack of other proper benefits. In the video, Coming of Age in and Aging America, they discuss the main theme of aging in America and the difficulties and obstacles these individuals face on a daily basis, especially in terms of Social Security. The video covers a variety of situations that the elderly face and how America can work to make the lives easier especially in a world where our elderly population in growing. One example was in a hospital where they were able to integrate new techniques and systems to make it easier for people to work longer into their lives. The main themes of Sharon Kaufman’s journal article were health care and the reform of current plans, and discussion of life-prolonging procedures. She discusses the three main procedures used in the U.S. which are organ transplantation, cardiac procedures, and cancer treatments. Finally, Segal’s text covers the themes and policies related to aging and elderly population. She discusses the acts and programs that have been put into place such as the Older Americans Act of 1965, social security, pensions, and Medicare/Medicaid, along with a variety of others.

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.

The issue of elder abuse and neglect is a significant health care issue, that need to be brought to the attention of society. Seniors who stay at home or in nursing homes are at more risk. Nurses should be aware of the signs and symptoms as well as resources in the community. By having a better understanding of these issues, nurses can recognize problems and help prevent the devastating effects of elderly abuse.

I was eagerly waiting for my first placement to start because I knew very well that this is going to be a life changing experience for me both personally as well as a prominent stepping stone to my career as a nurse. I had many unforgettable experiences during this placement which provided me new knowledge and opportunities for self learning. But the experience described in this reflection was the most shocking and disappointing. This reflection is written on the basis of ethical values of maintaining commitments to clients and maintaining commitments to the nursing profession. The ethical value of maintaining commitments to clients is further explained by CNO (2009) as “,Nurses, as self-regulated professionals, implicitly promise to provide safe, effective and ethical care. Because of their commitment to clients, nurses try to act in the best interest of clients according to clients ’ wishes and the standards of practice. Nurses are obliged to refrain from abandoning, abusing or neglecting clients, and to provide empathic and knowledgeable care. The commitment to client also includes a commitment to respect family members and/or significant other(s), some of whose needs may conflict with those of clients.” CNO (2009) also suggest some behavioural directives to follow the value of maintaining commitments with client , such as putting needs and wishes of clients first ,advocating for maintaining quality client care and making all reasonable efforts to ensure that client safety and well-being is maintained during any job action.

After reading The Age of Dignity by Ai-Jen Poo, I realize that she brings out many good concerns and information about where our country is heading in the upcoming years. Throughout her book we discuss our golden years and the care that we should be able to receive and how crucial it is for our personal wellbeing, independence, and securing our own futures. The 85 plus age group is one of the fastest growing demographics in the US and Poo talks about the possible solutions that need to be created in our infrastructure before we have an even bigger crisis on our hands. It’s a fact that the elderly baby boomers cohort is growing faster than we can care for them, this shows that we need to implement a new system that will be able to care and support our many elders in their life, and how we can do it with financial competency and dignity.

According to Doane and Varcoe (2015) ethical inquiry is essential about the question, what is good, right and just that nurse must incorporate into their nursing practice to afford ethical problem. This form of inquiry emphasizes that every moment of nursing interaction involve ethics and that ethics is a “deeply personal process that is lived in the complexity and ambiguity of everyday nursing work” (Doane & Varcoe, 2015). When complexity and ambiguity of nursing practice is apparent to nurses through the involvement in caring for patient, then ethic of care can be brought forward as a compass to guide moral decision making and ethical care. As stated by Doane and Varcoe that research has shown that when staff and other resources are scarce,

This week, the lecture and additional articles were about the growing number of people reaching late adulthood and the problems that will be created for society. Society is not ready for the influx of elderly individuals needing assistance. In addition to discussing the amount of people reaching late adulthood, this week also touched on several models and theories in regards to aging. This week provided sufficient background information and vital knowledge for the introduction

While these aspects of society certainly do impact a nation with a growing older population, they are not the most problematic. Financial instability of the country should not be the spotlight of concern, but as people are living longer, people should be more concerned with that the typical life should look different in the future. With this in mind, the article proposes other areas of concern: lack of incentive for volunteering, little to no new education for older adults, and massive technological change with no way for older generations to learn how to use it. If these areas are not provided with change, it will ultimately lead to economic hardship for the elderly, due to the lack of new education and technological knowledge, which would, in turn, able them to work longer. If older generations were able to stay in the workforce longer, our aging society, which people believe may eventually not have a large enough work force, would be able to avoid this presumed

In the medical field, the workers are highly trained to be able to make a distinction between what is right and what is wrong. Elder abuse is becoming a serious issue in the health environment. As defined in the website, MedicineNet.com, elder abuse is: “the physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of an elderly person, usually one who is disabled or frail”. The older population consists of people over sixty-five years old. They are very fragile and sometimes they are forgotten or abused. The elderly can be victims of mistreatment in nursing homes, hospitals, or even in their own house. Nursing is the act of promoting health for others, and of providing care and security with the skills nurses have acquired. However, those who are nursing

Recently, Statistic Canada has point out “Seniors are projected to become more numerous than children in Canada by 2017 --- a milestone in the country’s history.” (Statistics Canada, 2016) To discuss more in depth, according to the data collected from Statistic Canada, there is a post-war baby boom in 1950s, afterwards, there has been a steady decline in fertility. The median age in Canada was 27.2 in 1956 and climbed to 39.5 in 2006 (Statistics Canada, 2016). With the decrease in fertility and mortality, the problem of aging population in Canada occurs. In present time, those great number of baby boomers are now leave to workforce and begin to retire. It results in the rise of Canada’s elderly dependency ration. (National Seniors Council(Canada), 2011) For elders, the performance in many physical and mental tasks tend to decline with age, which

care. Nursing care for any individual should not be compromised because of ethnicity, gender, spiritual values, disability, age, economic, social or health status, or any other grounds. Respect for an individual’s needs includes recognition of the individual’s place in a family and the community. For this reason, others should be included in the individual’s care. Respect for an individual’s needs, beliefs and values includes culturally sensitive care, and the need

The issue of elder abuse is clearly an ethical concern. As a caregiver, the nurse has the responsibility to ensure that the environment of the patient is safe and supportive of health and wellness. In the case of an elderly patient who is too frail to engage in effective self-care, the demands upon the nurse increase as the nurse must

Because of advancements in health, individuals are living longer. As a result, we find a growing population of people in late adulthood that is greater than decades before. These individual have varying degrees of health, but the majority of which are still capable of leading active lives. Berger (2011) describes there are 3 categories of old: young-old, old-old, and oldest-old. In the United States, young-old account for 70 percent of the late adult population and are “healthy, active, financially secure, and independent” (Berger, 2011, p.499). The groupings are not based upon an age, but rather on their health, vigor and financial security. Of the three groups, only the oldest-old are dependent on others for care. Even though there are varying

Nowadays, nurses not only need to know how to care of their patients, but they also must be able to care of patients from other cultures with many beliefs and values. Cultural views of individual influence the patient’s perception and decision of health and health care (Creasia & Parker, 2007). In order to care for people across different languages and cultures, nurses need to develop cultural sensitivity, knowledge, and skills.