Ethical Issues In Nursing Essay

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.

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

This concept is taken from module 1 of block 6 entitled “Ethical Issues in Nursing Practice”.

This essay will consider ethics in nursing, discuss values and morals and how dignity and respect in patient care is influenced; considering the importance of reflection and the implications it has on effective practice from the perspective of a student nurse. The scenario “Call Me Joe” provided by Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2010a) highlights concerning issues and bad practice that are happening in modern day nursing practice, and using the Driscoll and Teh (2001) reflective model: What, Now What and So What, to consider the care that Joe is receiving; considering how the nursing practice affects him directly and the implications of the nature of knowledge in nursing practice. Part of the way in which nursing practice is

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 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.

Ethics and values play a major role in nursing professionalism. Nursing professionalism is the way that nurses interact with other professionals and apply knowledge from the basic principles of nursing to better care for their patients. The professional values of nursing include altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, and social justice (“Essentials,” 2008). These values provide guidelines that accurately describe a compassionate and ethical nurse. One of the values that relates to me as well as my future professional nursing role is human dignity. Protecting human dignity means that the nursing professional will respect all individuals or communities they are working with and show them that they are important and are being cared for (“Essentials,” 2008).

If the doctor won’t pass any information to patient’s carers and families they won’t be in the loop. So if the person is confused they can’t ask them to repeat the information for them and they would feel helpless. In turn this means if the patients have got personal things to say about the carer the carer won’t find out and get hurt with emotional pain. Overall the advantage outweigh the disadvantage, the doctors should protect both individuals and should talk to the carer if the patient can’t make decisions for themselves and disoriented. Further on if the patients says hurtful things about the carer the doctor should NOT discuss that matter with the carer as it would cause further distress for them. When a doctor discuss what happens at the appointments it helps the cares how they can help the patient such as has the patient might need to take a medication the carer know when to take the medication how much and when. This would support the individual knowing the carer is there to help and this would help the carer to feel supported and very

The doctor is at a difficult position, because knowing that the pilot only has one month to retire, if she withholds the information, which to her, may seem like the right thing to do, the pilot can continue with his normal life for just one more month until he retires. But in reality, that would be the wrong thing to do, because of the consequences I just mentioned above. She is in a difficult position distinguishing the right vs. the wrong. The right thing to do is to tell the pilot of his condition, and allow him to make his own decisions as far as what he will do from that moment on.

Disclosing patient information to a third party, without a patient’s consent or a court order is considered a breach of confidentiality. Legal liability for a breach of confidentiality covers a broader spectrum than ethical guidelines, which lend to doing what is morally right. Confidentiality in nursing comes with an ethical need for creating rapport with patients. Trust established facilitates increased communication and comfort for discussing personal information. There are some exceptions in terms of patient confidentiality; they are ethically and legally justified as a result of social considerations that are overriding. For example, exceptions are made upon

In order to become a nurse I think it is important to be a virtuous person, because many situations will arise when working as a healthcare professional and nurses should be able to know what they find is morally the right thing to do. Everyone does not have the same definition of morality, since everyone is different and has a right to their opinion, but in regards to nursing, morality should be kept at a constant. Morals are hard to define and do not contain the same meaning to everyone, but as nurses we need to do what we think is the best for the patient. The four cardinal virtues include temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice, which are integrated frequently in the healthcare profession, especially at a Catholic institution. Being virtuous is what makes a nurse unique among other roles of professionalism.

Also, the nurses have a moral obligation to alert and inform the physician on the medical progress of the patient or any change of the patient’s health. One of the hardest things for healthcare professionals to accept is the fact that not everything that they do is in the best interest of their patients. As a result, upholding ethical principles

`Ethics' is defined as ."..the basis on which people...decide that certain actions are right or wrong and whether one ought to do something or has a right to something"(Rumbold, 1986). In relating `ethics' to nursing care, "Nursing decisions affect people... nurses have the power to good or harm to their patients" (Bandman et al, 2002). In this essay, the author will also identify the most important ethical principles and concepts of Evan's case, will outline the different stages of one's approach to ethical decision-making by utilising the "DECIDE Model for Ethical Decision-Making" founded by Thompson et al (2000) and will make a decision on the best course of action to take as a nurse in this

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.

All nurses including Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) presents with ethical challenges in their profession. Nursing ethics is based on beneficence, nonmaleficence, and respect for autonomy. nursing ethics focuses on relationships, collaborative care, and human dignity. With the constant changes occurring in healthcare, it is important for nurses to have a good understanding of ethics. A lot of questions about DNP ethical issues in nursing have stemmed from Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Position Statement on the Practice Doctorate in Nursing. (American Nurses Association., 2001). The ethical principle of social responsibility focuses on social issues that affect the greater good of society. American Nurses Association’s (ANA) explains the ethical principle of social responsibility. Society has given nursing the authority to practice and creating a social binding whereby nursing is a commitment to society in relation to health and the public good. Even when policies are in place, there are times when situation occur and nurses are faced