Nursing Ethics, Law and Professional Code of Practice

Standard 1.5 outlines that the nurse follows the ethical framework both in practice and when making decisions (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia,

The nursing and midwifery code of conduct makes sure that staff are properly trained to do their job properly and that people can trust them doing their job, and that they trust them with their health and wellbeing, and it makes sure that staff are trustworthy and that they can treat people with respect. The nursing and midwifery code of conduct makes sure that: staff treat people as individuals so that their privacy and dignity is protected, and that they are not discriminated against, peoples confidentiality must be respected, you must disclose information if it is believed that someone is in danger. And it makes sure that consent is gained, such as when providing care or treatment. This affects patient care as the Code of Conduct ensures that people are treated correctly and that boundaries are not being broken, such as patients being abused. It makes sure that people are dealt with properly and that records are kept, and that they are securely

An underlining principle that forms all nursing practice is respect for the inherent dignity, worth, unique attributes, and human rights of all individuals. (Jimenez-Lopez, Roales-Nieto, Seco, Preciado, 2016) Nurses are to always treat all patients with dignity. For example, closing doors before you start providing patient care. It’s also essential as a nurse to respect patients regardless of their background, race, culture, value system, or spiritual belief. (Jimenez-Lopez, et al., 2016)

Truth-telling is an important issue within the nurse-patient relationship. Nurses make decisions on a daily basis regarding what information to tell patients. The specific issue in question is whether a nurse should abide by the Code of Ethics for Nurses by revealing the truth to the patient or refrain from telling the truth to the patient because they are respecting the wishes of the patient’s family. Nurses and health care professionals should always tell the truth to their patients unless the patient forgoes their rights to autonomy or cannot think for themselves. By providing the patient with the truth, they allow the patient to come to terms with their conditions and give them the options for further treatment.

The nursing profession is a very intricate and comprehensive vocation that brings forth many situations that every nurse ought to be prepared to resolve ethically. These situations may be easily settled or may be quite complex. There are four main principles of health care ethics that are pertinent within the management of each client to assist with circumstances brought forth by each individual. The American Nurses Association (ANA) defines a difference between the meaning of client and patient. A client is one who takes advice from a practitioner whereas a patient is one who is “undergoing medical treatment” (American Nurses Association, 2015). It is the obligation of the medical professional to ensure each client receives a) respect for autonomy, b) nonmaleficence, c) beneficence and d) justice. These four principles, although listed, are not in any particular order and one does not take precedence over the other. Every client has a basic human right to assume these principles upon each meeting with a health care professional as a prima facie duty of the practitioner.

Nursing practice implicates taking a person centred approach to provide effective care, which promotes all aspects of an individuals needs. Several issues influence nursing practice such as communication, consent, dignity, safeguarding and confidentiality. Consent is chosen as the choice of topic as it is to applied all fields of nursing practice. Consent is giving healthcare practitioners the approval to provide treatment. Consent is important in nursing practice as it forms the basis of care and recognises human rights

There is no doubt about the importance of ethics in our life as well as in our clinical area as nurses to protect ourselves, our patients, and their families. There are nine provisions in code of ethics. What I am interested to examine is provision number 3” the nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient”. This provision consists of 6 statements, which are protection of “the rights of privacy and confidentiality, protection of human participants in research, performance standards and review mechanisms, professional responsibility in promoting a culture of safety, protection of patient’s health and safety by acting on questionable practice, and patient protection and impaired practice”

As nursing health care professional, there legal and ethical issues, in which are presented with the patients on a daily basis. Sometimes it can become quite challenging because the nurse has to learn to separate their personal belief or feeling in order to respect the patient’s wishes. The challenge being faced by the nurse with their daily nursing care goes back to the term autonomy. “Autonomy is closely linked to the notion of respect for persons, and is an important principle in cultures where all individuals are considered to be unique and valuable members of society” (Burkhardt and Nathaniel, 2007, pg. 53). Each patient has the right to make a choice about things in which affects their health. This paper

The definition and scope of practice in nursing has evolved through time. In order to safeguard the public health and to regulate the profession, the Nursing ad Midwifery Council was created. Furthermore, the NMC Code of Conduct, popularly known as “the Code” itemizes regulations as the baseline of good nursing and midwifery practice, and serves as a primary tool in protecting the health and wellbeing of the public (NMC,2008). This essay will discuss three issues mentioned in the code as well as examples of how one could adhere to these as a Registered Nurse. Moreover, it provides an overview on how a Registered Nurse could raise and escalate concerns and legislations that protect them when doing so.

This assignment demonstrates why nurses who are working in the healthcare profession must work legally and ethically, describes some of the legislations and Tort laws that are directly associated with the nursing profession and also the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s (NMBA) Code of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct. Failure to provide care within these parameters could lead to serious consequences for the patient and nurse themselves.

In addition, implementation of code of ethics for nurses is important in guiding nurses about their roles and responsibilities towards individuals, patients, families, groups, populations, and communities as well as with students, colleagues and other health-care professionals. Also, the code of ethics helps build trust between the nurse and the client. Canadian registered nurses’ ethical responsibilities are expressed through seven primary values: providing safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care; promoting health and

The case study shows that the code of ethics is very important to this nurse. There are issues in staffing cuts, which can results in decrease time for patient care. The nurse in this case study appears to be committed to patient care. The nurse is stressed, frustrated and believes that she is taking her frustration home to her children. She considers quitting her job, but has seniority, great benefits and two children to support. The nurse has spent the last ten years dedicated to this hospital and is facing the dilemma of quitting and losing her benefits or staying to keep her livelihood.

In the nursing profession, nurses often find ethical reasoning that not only evaluates actions and their results, but also questions why we perceive certain incidences to be paramount for us as humans. Ethics attempts to decide how actions are deemed right or wrong. The Code of ethics, which is a set of guidelines published by the International Council of Nurses, helps direct nurses in everyday decisions and it defends their refusal to take part in events that disagree with caring and healing. The code of ethics can also aid in increasing the confidence in a healthcare organization by showing others that members of the organization are dedicated to following the guidelines while taking care of their patients. The International Council of Nurses code of ethics demonstrates the ethical concepts confidentiality, autonomy, and denunciations.

The importance of an ethical basis for nursing practice has been emphasized in recent years. The importance of having ethics programs that work with VBP improves patient outcomes as cited in by (Bailes et al., 2014). Ethical values of many can affect any single care decision. Confidentiality is an important element of respect for patients. When providing communication to the patients, nurses should make sure to maintain confidential information. Nurses must also practice fidelity in not sharing any information they know about the patient with anyone else without the patient’s authorization. In medical practice, Autonomy is usually conveyed as the right of competent adults to make their own medical care decision. Nurses can offer and discuss

abide by the Standards of Clinical Nursing and the Code of Ethics for Nurses. Within the Code