Ethical Principles Of Nursing Practice

Studies have shown that many factors have been contributing to influence patient’s care in an ethical manner. What factors could affects one decision for their medical care? Does it also included the nurse’s individual views or should consider their moral obligations? But what is ethics really is? Based on the book Nursing Ethics by Butts & Rich, “Ethics is a systematic approach to understand, analyze, and distinguish matters of right and wrong, good and bad, and admirable and deplorable as they relate to the well-being”. Ethics should follow the current AMA guidelines.

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.

Ethical practice is another component of the social contract of nursing which is a reflection of the values, beliefs and moral principles of the nursing profession. The American Nurses Association (ANA) has established the “Code of Ethics for Nurses” which serves as a “guideline” for the nursing profession in which clinical judgements and

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.

Butts and Rich (1-26) point out that effective nursing requires both broad knowledge and a set of well developed abilities and skills. The required tasks, are many and varied and in order to do them properly, care must be taken to respect each patient's rights and sensitivities. This is why, according to the authors, nursing care must be guided by a code of ethics. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and discussion of the "Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements" developed by the American Association of Nurses (ANA 1-2).

There are many different careers which entail much more than just a particular degree from some type of post-secondary education program. Typically, all careers have a specific code and level of ethics which are incorporated into the daily responsibilities one is expected to perform in their chosen field. For the basis of this paper, I have chosen to write about the nursing code of ethics. Nursing has a professional code along with the level/employee behavior usually being currently attainable, which means that the behavior expected is normally exhibited by individuals. (Manias 508). However, although nursing seems to require behavior that is “normally” exhibited and tends to be one of the most popular medical fields, there are numerous amounts of ethical issues which have emerged in this field of work since the few being noted in Florence Nightingale’s Notes on Nursing. (Ulrich et al. 2).

As nurses we are often expected to abide by a certain set of professional rules and obligations, as well as performing duties that we must follow. The field of ethics influences how we should treat each other, how we should act, what we should do, and why. The ANA code of ethics is a useful tool that helps guide nurses in everyday life and practice. When we are faced with an ethical dilemma the nursing code of ethics will aide us in making an appropriate ethical decision as well as caring for our patients effectively. The code of ethics for nurses consists of nine provisions and the accompanying interpretive statements. “It emphasizes the important qualities and responsibilities of a nurse (Provisions 1-3), distinguishes the limits of obligation

Code of Ethics in nursing it is important to make sure the staff and patients are being respected and treated with dignity. The study of ethics has lead to basic concept such as justice and fidelity, autonomy, beneficence and nonmaleficence. It is very important to understand these concepts, because they assist the nurse with making decisions during difficult situations (ANA, 2001, p 6).

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.

Ethics is an essential aspect of health care practice and those working in the nursing profession are often subject to frequent ethical dilemmas. It is essential for all nurses to be aware of the importance of ethics in health care and to practice within the ethico-legal parameters that govern the profession. However, while this is relatively easy in theory, ethics is not a black and white subject and often one’s culture, upbringing, attitudes and beliefs can influence what one views as ethical and this can therefore influence practice. This report will discuss the importance of ethics in nursing practice. The definition of ethics will firstly be presented followed

Ethics and Morals play an important role in the nursing profession; nurses are confronted with choices to make every day, and some of them more challenging than others. Ethics are affirmations between what it can be right or erroneous. For our society ethics is presented as a complex system of principles and beliefs. This system serves as an approach with the purpose of ensuring the protection of each individual within the society. On the other hand, morals are basic standards between what is right or wrong; each individual learns to identify these standards during the early stages of human development (Catalano, 2009). A person with morals is usually somebody who recognizes how to respond to the needs of another individual by giving care and keeping a level of responsibility while giving this care (Catalano, 2009).

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).

Ethics can be defined as a moral decision of what it is, and what it ought to be. Ethical issues in nursing have been dramatic and political due to different ideologies and rising technology in healthcare. The American Association of Nursing has provided guiding principles where nurses base their decisions. These principles include;

The conceptual framework of ethics, moral and legal standards guide us in our daily practice as nurses. They help to influence some of the decisions we make during times of distress like moral indifference, uncertainty, and conflict (Marquis&Huston 2015). Ethics principles, on the other hand, guide us during decision making using autonomy, beneficence, Nonmaleficence, utility, justice, confidentiality (Marquis&Huston 2015). However, legal standards give us a path to walk through and treat everyone according to a standard. The legal decision is either following the role or not following (Dolan, 2017). As nurses, we all have our own ethical believe and practice that shapes our practice, which intends influences how we interact with the patient. In this paper, the writer will attempt to introduce the conceptual framework of ethics, moral, and legal standards that guide us as a nurse in our practice, an ethical dilemma that and how it was handled, and how our self-assessment influences our decisions.

Many careers may have a code of ethics that the individual within the career has to follow and of course, nursing as a career has its own code of ethics. In the Code of Ethics for Nurses, it has a total of 9 provisions that Nurses need to follow and understand when working within their career with patients. Provision 1 states the nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person. Provision 2 states the nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community, or population. Provision 3 states the nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient. Provision 4 states the nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care. The four provisions tell about the relationship between a nurse and the patient and principles each individual has that should be respected and regarded during the decision making of a medical treatment. All decisions are based on a combination of known facts and personal values. In health care, treatment decisions relate to medical information and personal evaluation of this information. For people to make appropriate decisions, they must have the pertinent information, be able to understand how it applies to themselves, and then make a voluntary, or non-coerced, decision.