Social Justice: Patients Who Receive Nursing Interventions

From Chicago’s 77 neighborhood areas, North Lawndale occupies 3rd for violent crime reports, in the past 30 days, being robbery the most frequent one, it ranks 20th for property crime, with thefts as the most common offense, and 4th for quality of life, with criminal damage being the highest one. As big plants and other factories moved out of the neighborhood, several liquor stores replaced the empty spaces and crime became the norm. Abraham Burgo, 35 year-old, was shot in the neck on January 23, and on February 1 he died. The victim lived in the 1500 block of South Trumbull Avenue. The register of murders available also shows the case of 21 year-old man Jaquille Reams. He was inside of a store in West Ogden Avenue when he was shot multiple

As the society acknowledges the importance of human rights and dignity, the issues among the poverty, homeless, violence victims are now more considered. Although there are difference in roles between nurses from acute care, intensive care, and emergency settings nurses, community nurses engage those issues to become advocates for social justice. Health care nurses collaborate to identify strategies for incorporating social justice aims into their work environment (Johnstone, 2011). As a public nurses, there has been many researches to address vulnerability, diversity, health literacy, health care access, health care disparities and issues of particular populations such as ethnic and racial minority health, gay and lesbian health and the health of children, women and older adults (Johnstone, 2011). For example, affordable health care 2010 was implied for equitable delivery of healthcare for all individuals in United States. Although there are pro and cons on success of the system, it was aimed to promote the justice of human need to have least of health care when necessary. Among with the issues of inequality and unfairness of worldwide insurance system, this act was to provide fair access to health care. To achieve the aims of a just, accessible, affordable health care system for all, public health nurses make an effort to engage the professional advocacy.

All individuals should have equal access to check-u, medical health treatment and also should fully have an understanding of their legal rights. Practitioners have to make sure that relevant legislation is put into practice. The children Act 1989, for example, states the local authorities must act in the ‘best interests’ of all children, and that each child has a fundamental to housing, health care and education.

A basic part of modern age humanity is dignity. It is self-imposed pride that is susceptible to damage through the verbal and physical actions of others. Hospital and clinical settings can leave a client’s dignity vulnerable. It is where people, now clients, are weak and in some cases unable to function like they once did. This can wound their dignity, but it is the duty of nurses to preserve it. Through respect, support, and by relieving pain and suffering, nurses work to preserve the dignity of their clients. Likewise, nurses are able to easily damage the dignity and integrity of their clients through inappropriate behaviour, a lack of respect, and being irresponsible while on the job. A passage published by a hearing tribunal from the College

I feel this concept closely parallels Bekemeier and Butterfield’s analyzation of institutionalization of nursing limits in that the control and decision making power over healthcare is often times given to companies and investors in an effort to optimize financial profits (Bekemeier and Butterfield, 2005). I agree that investors are important in the decision making process of some aspects of healthcare, because healthcare is a business, but they should not be the majority. Healthcare decisions and policy making should reside primarily with those persons that are educated in and devoted to the aspects of patient care and research. For-profit organizational control of healthcare can result primarily in the maintenance of a disease process, not the cure or termination of disease. As nurses, it is our duty and obligation to act in carrying out the treatments for the diseases. Disease maintenance can be quite expensive; therefore, in many instances only the wealthy or well-to-do are able to afford treatment and the underprivileged are left to suffer. Does this imply that nurses may be contributing to social injustice (Bekemeier and Butterfield,

The social contract of nursing is important because it reflects the nursing's code of ethics, which is to provide care to all who are in need, regardless of their cultural, social, or economic standing. The social contract exists because we rely on a guideline to continue to provide ethical care that is within our scope of practice. Unfortunately, in Rebecca Skloot’s (2010) book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” there were many ethical violations throughout the whole process about the Henrietta Lacks’ cells (HeLa). The author reveals the story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman who was diagnosed with a fast-growing cervical cancer at a young age. The cells retrieved from her cervical tumor became the first immortal cell that could survive in the lab and replicate continuously without dying. Without the consent of Henrietta Lacks and her family, these cells later became key components to the development of many groundbreaking inventions such as the polio vaccine and in vitro fertilization. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the social covenant of nursing in relation to the ethical issues behind the use of the HeLa cells without the patient’s and her family’s consent.

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Social justice refers to fairness (Potter & Griffin-Perry, 2009). In the health care field it is the fair distribution of health care resources regardless of socioeconomic background. As nurses it is our responsibility to identify and minimize social barriers; making it easy for any member of society to gain access. To promote social justice, systems have to be implemented so that the resources are fairly distributed. For example, placing organ recipient on a list and selecting them through a lottery system. This ensures that the organ been donated is not going to someone who is more financially stable. Nursing students can take advantage of the resources available to them through their

In health and social care sector, health care professionals take into account four key ethical principles when providing service to the service users. The key ethical principles are justice, autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence. In health and social care settings people must be treated fairly without being judgemental regardless of who they are or where they come from. Health care professionals must allow their service users choose the type of services or treatment they want and the professional should support them in getting quality care that will benefit their service users. Also, health care professional must not

“Dignity is a state of physical, emotional and spiritual comfort, with each individual valued for his or her uniqueness and his or her individuality celebrated. Dignity is promoted when individuals are enabled to do the best within their capabilities, exercise control, make choices and feel involved in the decision-making that underpins their care.”

Another example is when a doctor just transcribed a lot of new orders and the patient doesn’t know what some of the tests are and the nurse doesn’t know why the doctor ordered them. The nurse then needs to hunt down the doctor and advocate for their patient. Once the nurse speaks to the doctor and they ask them to come and explain the tests and reasoning to the patient that is the first step of advocating for their patient. When the doctor goes to talk to the patient, the patient asks many questions and agrees to have the tests done. This was a problem but once the problem was identified, the patient understood what was going on and felt like they had a say in it. The second core attribute is acting on behalf of the patient that includes representing patients’ values, benefits, and rights. (Bu & Jezewski, 2006) Since it is the patients right to know why certain things are being done, it was appropriate for the nurse to ask the doctor to go speak to the patient. The last core attribute championing social justice in the provisional of health care is ethics of justice where in this case it doesn’t apply. Basically what it is though is nurses becoming social activists and standing up for what is right. Since the healthcare team and the patient worked together, the problem was solved almost instantly and the patient was happy with the outcome.

Nurses rely on personal knowledge and their professional skills to provide ethical care (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). In everyday practice, nurses must balance the needs of their patients against those of the organization, society and themselves. They strive to deliver the highest level of care for patients, but adjusting for limited organizational and personal resources often requires difficult decisions. This paper explores the following scenario suggested by Maville and Huerta: “You are a nurse providing home care to a mother, and you suspect child abuse after observing the mother’s reaction to her child” (as cited by Arizona State University, 2014). When faced with a moral dilemma, a competent nurse incorporates ethical, bioethical and legal considerations. In the proposed story, incorporating the nursing ethics of advocacy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and collaboration will guide the nurse towards an appropriate and legal course of action.

Health professionals have obligations in regards of protection, promotion and optimization of health abilities to prevent from illness. It helps to guide in focusing the normal principals of care and justice and also motivates certain civic action. Social responsibility is “strongly linked to the values of professions in general and nursing in particular” and that “the underlying constructs of social responsibility, communication and teamwork are woven into the fabric of nursing 's history and its code of ethics”(Kelley,2008). Communication, social responsibility and teamwork, are an integral part of the nursing profession. These three attributes of the profession comes through citizenship. This essay will

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

Health justice is a broad term. For me it means that everyone is able to receive health care despite where they are, what their background is, and how much money they have. Although this is the case, the current world health system isn’t like this. Health care is not as accessible as it should be. Many poorer, developing countries are still facing shortages of health care clinics in their area. The people in the world who do have health care, on the other hand, are the ones who are well off and have more money. Thankfully, due to the efforts of many different individuals and organizations, the healthcare system is slowly shifting over to where we want it to be. Not saying that it is perfect, we still have a long ways to go before we are able to create total health justice, but we are on our way for a world with health care that everyone is able to access and get the proper care they deserve.