Nursing Process : Ethical Decision Making

Ethical issues have always affected the role of the professional nurse. Efforts to enact this standard may cause conflict in health care settings in which the traditional roles of the nurse are delineated within a bureaucratic structure. Nurses have more direct contact with patients than one can even imagine, which plays a huge role in protecting the patients’ rights, and creating ethical issues for the nurses caring for the various patients they are assigned to. In this paper I will discuss some of the ethical and legal issues that nurses are faced with each and every day.

#1. According to Nursing Leadership and management ATI ethics is defined as an expected behavior of a certain group in relation to what is considered right or wrong. (Henery, McMichael, Johnson, DiStasi, Ball, & Holman, 2016) There are six ethical principles they are autonomy which is the ability of the client to make personal decisions, even when those decisions might not be in the client’s own best interest. The second principle is beneficence which is care in the best interest of the client. Third is fidelity which is keeping ones promise to the client about care that was offered. The next principle is justice which is fair treatment in matters related to physical and psychological care and use of resources. Then there is non-maleficence which is the nurse’s obligation to avoid causing harm to the client. The last principle is veracity which is the nurse’s duty to tell the truth. (Henery, McMichael, Johnson, DiStasi, Ball, & Holman, 2016)

Running head: FUTILE CARE 1 Futile Care Priscilla M. Leger Central New Mexico Community College FUTILE CARE 2 Futile Care Nursing is an ever - changing field that oftentimes overlaps with other areas of professional performance. The ethical dilemmas nurses are forced to face when delivering care to their patients are just an example of this situation. Several important questions must be answered concerning the ethical decisi ons involved in providing end of life care to patients when this care has become futile. Identify Both Sides of the Issue

Cost of the end of life medical care is too expensive to continue at the rate it is going. The fiscal year 2016 saw 672.1 billion dollars spent on Medicare participants with just 5% using 49% of those monies ("NHE Fact Sheet," n.d., p. 1). The ANA provides a code of ethics that nurses should use to help guide them in clinical practice decision making. There are four fundamental responsibilities for nurses to adhere too they are: promote health, prevent illness, restore health and alleviate suffering. Ethical Principals for nurses are; respect & autonomy, beneficence, justice, veracity, and fidelity ("Code of Ethics for Nurses," 2012). Attempting to keep ethical responsibilities and principals in mind, while conducting a cost-benefit analysis to determine resource allocation for an aging population and end of life care causes many ethical dilemmas.

Throughout the course of their career, nurses will constantly face the reality of death and dying patients. Disparate from medical physicians, nurses are almost always on duty to treat and hand out medication. Therefore, a situation where it is not possible for their patient to completely heal can ultimately put the nurse in a high amount of stress. Such feelings can lead to discomfort with aiding hospice patients and a decrease in nurses in that area (Peters, et al., 2013). The quality of end of life health care is also jeopardized due to the nurse facing ethical issues and death anxiety (Hold, 2017, p. 13). The impact of a patient death can incite more stress in the health care worker, according to Bickham, "Nurses often experience

Autonomy is the concept of making a rational decision that is informed and un-coerced. Respect for autonomy is whereby the patient is allowed to act in any way they would like. It means that the patient has the capacity to act in their own intention with their own understanding and without the control of any influences that would prevent them from taking a voluntary and free action ADDIN EN.CITE Hickman20081382(Hickman, Cartwright, & Young, 2008)1382138217Hickman, Susan E.Cartwright, Juliana C.Young, Heather M.Administrators' Perspectives on Ethical Issues in Long-Term Care ResearchJournal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics: An International JournalJournal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics: An International Journal69-78312008University of California Press15562646http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jer.2008.3.1.69( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_5" o "Hickman, 2008 #1382" Hickman, Cartwright, & Young, 2008). Its corresponding virtue is that of being respectful ADDIN EN.CITE Beauchamp20091384(Beauchamp & Childress, 2009)138413846Beauchamp, T.L.Childress, J.F.Principles of Biomedical Ethics2009New York, NYOxford University Press9780195143317http://books.google.com/books?id=_14H7MOw1o4C( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_1" o "Beauchamp, 2009 #1384" Beauchamp & Childress, 2009).

Nurses face ethical decisions frequently when giving patient care. These dilemmas can result from deciding how to allocate resources such as time or materials. Caring for patients from diverse backgrounds complicates decision-making when faced with dilemmas, because organizations that depend on standards of patient care that may not by culturally congruent. In these situations, the nurse must consider the patient’s beliefs and values along with the organization’s care expectations and bridge the gap between the two (Andrews and Boyle, 2016-a). In this post, I will describe ethical dilemmas with the current state of population health and health disparities, discuss the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act, and explain how social justice

Describe the ethical dilemma that the nurse is facing? Please be specific. What makes it an ethical dilemma?

Relaxation is a necessity in life. The way someone chooses to relax is up to that person. Some people run, some people exercise, some people read a book. Being in a hospital setting can be stressful and some outlets were not possible. A mediation room gives the nurses an outlet.

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.

Engulfed by a cloud of grey, there are many situations that are not unblemished in the profession of nursing. Ethical dilemmas are often the most challenging to handle as they are interlinked with our own personal values and morals, requiring knowledge and attention to many factors (Burkhardt, Nathaniel, & Walton, 2014). Ethical predicaments will cross our paths daily and we need to utilize ethical frameworks, codes and our personal decision making to come to a well-informed conclusion. When we are in the vicinity of an uncertain quandary our human nature is tested, and we thoroughly scrutinise who we are ethically and morally. I am going to work through an ethical decision making model

Nurses are faced with many ethical and legal issues, such as protecting and maintaining the patient privacy and confidentiality. “A dilemma can arise when confidential information is requested by family members or friends of the patient” (McGowan, 2012, p. 61). As nurses during our pinning ceremony we took the “the Nightingale Pledge promised to do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affair” (McGowan, 2012, p. 61). Protecting and maintaining patient confidentiality is a serious matter and you can be fined and faced with federal charges, if you are found guilty.

On September 27th, 2016, during my clinical experience we were discussing CNO nursing practice standards regarding care within the therapeutic nurse-client relationship, more specifically, types of ethical concerns. I read that when an ethical concern occurs it can be difficult to make the right decision.

Picture your loved one in an independent senior residence, where they can do mostly everything on their own. This sounds great until they have an emergency medical issues and the nurses that are on staff refuse to help based on their interpretation of the company policy. As a nurse, they should be trained how to handle emergencies, but in this instance the person lost their life because the nurse did not take any action. This happened to 87-year-old Lorraine Bayless, who stopped breathing and the nurse at Brookdale Senior Living Center refused to do anything or allow anyone else to do anything based on what she read in the company policy. Since state or federal departments of health license or regulate independent or assisted living centers it can

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.