Nursing Ethical Issues Essay

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.

“Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.” Nursing is more than just doing assessments and giving medications; it is going beyond that to know what is right or wrong, what can and cannot be done, and what is considered harming the patients rather than doing them good. In nursing, there is a fine line between what is considered to be negligence and beneficence. According to Marquis (2017), “Ethics is the systemic study of what a person’s conduct and actions should be with regard to self, others human beings, and the environment (pg. 83), on the other hand, it does not necessarily mean that their

Deontology is an ethical theory concerned with duties and rights. The founder of deontological ethics was a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant. Kant’s deontological perspective implies people are sensitive to moral duties that require or prohibit certain behaviors, irrespective of the consequences (Tanner, Medin, & Iliev, 2008). The main focus of deontology is duty: deontology is derived from the Greek word deon, meaning duty. A duty is morally mandated action, for instance, the duty never to lie and always to keep your word. Based on Kant, even when individuals do not want to act on duty they are ethically obligated to do so (Rich, 2008).

Nurses are facing many legal or ethical dilemmas in their career. Nurses should combine knowledge of ethical and legal aspects of health care and professional values into nursing practice. It is very essential to know what kind of dilemmas nurses may face during their profession and how they have been dealt with in the past.

Nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas on a daily basis, each situation being unique and requiring the nurse to set aside their own values and beliefs in order to properly care for their patients. Situations requiring nurses to make an ethical decision are diverse and dynamic; the values set out by the College of Nurses of Ontario code of ethics remains the same. Therefore, all decision based on these vales regardless of the setting and circumstances ensure consistent solutions. The scenario involves a woman who was admitted to the NICU due to complications during her sixth month of pregnancy. The patient indicated that no extraordinary measures should be made to save her baby; she became further detached when the baby developed a bleed

The topics that will be discussed in this paper will be the ethical decisions that have to be made by Dr. F and the RN in regards to disclosing information to Dr. J. Also, according to the NANDA nursing diagnosis for ethical consideration, Dr. F and the RN also have to consider if Mrs. Z has some knowledge deficits in regards to her prognosis and if due to her culture, she feels powerlessness towards her diagnosis. Ethical theories are important to justifying and relating situations in nursing. In this paper, there will be discussions relating ethical theories to nursing, as well as, ethical decision making models that will relate to the delivery of healthcare.

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.

Ethics, the rules and principles that guide right behaviors or conduct, are foundational to the field of bioethics, which focuses on ethical issues in healthcare (Mclennon, Uhrich, Lasiter, Chamnes, & Helft, 2013). Nurses are faced with ethical decision making principles daily when caring for their patients, some days more than others. According to Yoder-Wise (2011), ethics may be distinguished from the law because ethics is internal to an individual, looks to the ultimate “good” of an individual rather than society as a whole, and concerns the “why” of one’s actions (p. 91). In this particular situation, the nurse has to decide if she will respect the wishes of the patient’s family members or be upfront and honest with her patient and

Conducting quality research requires the researcher to perform within both ethical and legal guidelines. “Ethics is the study of right and wrong” (Houser, J., 2012, pg.50). Ethics provide the avenue for decision making and are guided by the researcher’s integrity. Legal guidelines provide direction to the researcher by specifying what is required by law to conduct research. As a nurse researcher, it is an ethical duty to advocate for patients when incompetent, unethical or illegal practices are observed.

There are five principles to ethical nursing. The first principle, nonmaleficence, or do no harm, it is directly tied to a nurse's duty to protect the patient's safety. This principle dictates that we do not cause injury to our patients. A way that harm can occur to patients is through communication failures. These failures can be intentional or as a result of electronic or human error. Failing to convey accurate information, giving wrong messages, and breaking down of equipment, can cause harm to patients. Some of these communication problems may certainly occur whether a patient is at a neighborhood clinic or 500 miles away, but distance and high reliance on electronic technology make close examination of communication and ethical

`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.

The sequencing of the human genome has a new approach to health care in regards to promotion, maintenance, and treatment. Genetic research is defined as a new approach to a better understanding of the genetic components of common diseases: Cancer, diabetes, stroke, and creating new gene-based technologies for screening, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of both rare and common diseases. Nurses are a main aspect within the first line of care, and therefore will contribute fully in genetic-based and genomic-based practice activities such as collecting family history, obtaining informed consent for genetic testing, and administering gene-based therapies. Lea, D, (January 31, 2008). My paper is based on an article Genomics in the public

As an individual’s ethics will play a large part in their practice, there are specific guidelines and legislation that exist to ensure that nurses, as well as other health professionals, practice in a way that is ethical (Avery, 2013). These laws further exists to attempt to simplify the ethical issues that sometimes present in nursing practice and to attempt to guide one’s actions. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) provides guidance to nurses by providing a number of professional codes and guidelines (Avery, 2013). The NMBA has developed a code of ethics for nurses comprising of eight codes (Avery, 2013). These are as follows; 1) Nurses value quality nursing care for all people; 2) Nurses value respect and kindness for self and others;

Nurses are face with numerous ethical dilemmas each day and if theses ethical situation are not handled in a professional and ethical manner there can be severe consequences for both the nurse and the patient. When nurses are face with theses ethical dilemmas, they have a decision to make. Therefore, what does the nurse do when decision-making involves ethical dilemmas? So, has a nursing student, I have chosen to put myself in the role of a health care provider such as a nurse. It was my first day of clinical rotation and the client that I was assigned to, was due for a bath. I was not comfortable giving the patient a bath a lone, so I ask for assistance from one of my colleagues. The client was a male who was shy and soft spoken.