The, And Caregiver Moral Distress

Nurses face numerous challenges in their daily advocacy duties. Some physicians may not respond to nurses in a timely manner as they prioritize their task differently (Mendes & Ventura,2016). Additionally, institutional limitation frequently makes barrier for nursing to be able to advocate for patients (Mendes & Ventura,2016). Some professional who support nursing advocacy believe nurses should have higher autonomy to protect the patient in better way (Mendes & Ventura,2016). Nursing ethics constantly deals with challenges to freedom of practice, especially in hospital settings.

In addition to technical support provided to patients, nurses must address the psychosocial challenges and ethical conflicts associated with caring for critically ill patients and their families. More often Nurses are left with dilemmas when it comes to decision making and trying to up holds the ethics of autonomy, who to listen to, the client or the family? Ethically the patient has the right to choose what’s best for self, but is powerlessness when one is brought to hospital in a critical condition.

Healthcare professionals have an ethical obligation to respect patient’s wishes. Consequently, many legal and ethical dilemmas arise in healthcare in response to clinical decisions related to the needs, beliefs, and preferences of patients and families. Other dilemmas result over concerns about the integrity, competence, or actions of other healthcare professionals. Preserving human dignity, relieving suffering, equality, integrity, and accountability are essential nursing values (Kangasniemi, Pakkanen, & Korhonen, 2015). Nurse leaders have an

Informed consent stands for self-determination and respect for autonomy. Autonomy is the most influential ethical principle and the main focal point in health care. It is a major concept in relation to informed consent and its simplest form can be seen as the patient’s right to determine what will or will not be done to his or her body. Expanding societal values and evolving patient centred healthcare system influences nursing practice greatly. In Canada, physicians are legally responsible for obtaining informed consent but nurses are also involved in every aspect of the informed consent process. For e.g. Nurses can perform this role when they notice that patients

In medical ethics, there is a strong value placed upon patient autonomy and the role it ought to have within the healthcare profession. Autonomy can be defined as a means of self-governance and self-determination when making decisions about oneself (Varelius, 2006). An autonomous person believes they are in the best position to determine what is good or bad for themselves (Summer, 1996). However, the interpretation of autonomy by the patient is a controversial topic within philosophy and the health care field. Advocates for absolute patient autonomy believe it has value "over and beyond its instrumental value in enhancing patients wellbeing" (Varelius, 2006). This means that a patient believes that their autonomy is the most important

While the nursing profession is fulfilling, it is not without challenges. Nurses are faced with a multitude of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice on a daily basis. According to Fant (2012) no matter where nurses function in their diverse roles, they are faced with ethical decisions that can impact them and their patients. Some examples of moral issues that nurses encounter in contemporary nursing practice and research include but not limited to: refusal of treatment, scarcity of resources, disagreement with caregivers, treating patients with impaired decision-making, futile treatment decisions for cancer patients, end-of-life decisions, advanced treatment directives, and euthanasia (Leuter, Petrucci, Mattei, Tabassi, & Lancia, 2013).

Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice

Nursing is an all encompassing profession in which practitioners are not only proficient in technical medical functionality, they also have the obligation to remain compassionate and respectful of patients and as such are expected to adhere to pre established codes of ethics. Of these ethics, autonomy is of extreme importance as it offers patients a sense of personal authority during a time where they may feel as if their lives, or at the very least their health, is no longer under their control. Autonomy in the context of nursing allocates the patient and often their family with the final word on the course of treatment. The concept of patient autonomy is a highly variable subject in all fields of health care. It is a universal concept that varies widely in its meaning and interpretation. Autonomy in its simplest form can be defined as a state of independence or self governing (Atkins, 2006). Patient autonomy can also be defined as the ability to make once own decisions, based on one’s sound judgment. It is defined by the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2011) as the "agreement to respect another 's right to self determine a course of action; support of independent decision making." This seemingly straight forward ethical concept is rife with difficulties when one considers potential disagreements that may arise even when informed consent is provided, particularly among children or vulnerable people. Relevant research and

Each of the seven primary values encompassed within the code of ethics were involved in this case include, providing safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care, promoting health and well-being, promoting and respecting informed decision-making, preserving dignity, maintaining privacy and confidentiality, promoting justice and being accountable (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008). I am going to thoroughly examine providing safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care, as well as preserving dignity. The code of ethics states under providing safe compassionate, competent and ethical care that nurses’ ethical responsibilities are to follow their practice standards, participate in compassionate care exhibited through actions, behaviours and body language, build trustworthy relationships, be able to fully place oneself in the individuals shoes to fully comprehend their situations, admit to mistakes, and prevent and minimize all forms of harm and violence (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008). This ethical quandary displays how this ethical value was not implemented, the health care aids did not place themselves in their shoes and try to understand their thoughts and feelings or how abandoned and meaningless they felt when they were not even acknowledged. No one

Nurses are subject to a plethora of legal, ethical, and professional duties which can be very challenging on a day to day basis. Some of these duties include respecting a patient 's confidentiality and autonomy, and to recognize the duty of care that is owed to all patients. As nurses our duties are always professional; however there are legal implications if these duties are breached. We also must consider when it is okay as nurses to breach these duties and therefore ethical issues arise. As nurses one of our main priorities is to advocate for our patients, without our own personal feelings on the matter taking over.

This paper will critique a qualitative research study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2004, By Dr Helen Aveyard, about how nurses manage patients who refuse nursing care procedures. The article explains how nurses view informed consent as not being essential to nursing care procedures.

Autonomy, as defined by Mary Ellen Grohar-Murray and Joanne C. Langan (2011), is the “capacity of persons to freely make decisions in light of their own understanding, beliefs, and goals” (p.102). Nurses adopt the ethical principle of autonomy by respecting the patient’s wishes, and allow patients to express their freedom to make their own choices revolving around their own health. Although patients are constantly provided with information on their best option of treatments and procedures, ultimately, they decide whether or not to follow through. For example, a cancer patient may be told that his best option is chemotherapy, but he may refuse treatment because he knows the side effects of them. As patient advocates, nurses may try to encourage him to take the treatment, but in the end, they will listen to his wishes and respect his right to refuse treatment.

When a patient is autonomous an individual has the right to make decisions on his own without the consent of outsiders such as nurses, doctors, or other caregivers. Outsiders may attempt to influence the decisions of an autonomous person; it is essential that patients are allowed to make well informed decisions without approval from others. Although autonomy means having freedom of choice, there are limits to those choices. For example, if a patient is requesting anything illegal or unsafe, caregivers do not have to honor his request. Decisions relating to a patient should not be made without the patient’s consent and interests in mind. The only way that a caregiver may deviate from this requirement is if the patient is deemed as incompetent or if there is an emergency situation. However, even if a patient is incompetent this does not mean he is incompetent entirely. Just because a patient is incompetent in one area of decision making, this is not necessarily true for all areas. The competence of a patient may be assessed in terms of high and low risks.

Autonomy applies to the profession of nursing because the patient should always be allowed to make decisions regarding their care while being treated with respect and dignity; however, autonomy can serve as a limiting agent when the patient decides to refuse care that would be of benefit to them. Autonomy is a sensitive issue because it allows the patient to choose to die and all health care can do from that point is allow the patient to do so comfortably. With healthcare always being one step ahead, it allows a surrogate to serve as a voice piece for that patient when they are unable to make decisions. However, that surrogate can end up making decisions they think is best for the patient ignoring the patients’ will. The responsibility of the nurse and interdisciplinary team is to inform and educate the patient and patient’s surrogate on all aspects of care to include medical diagnosis, treatment, and care plan so that the patient and

There are numerous principles of medical ethics that are important to consider in ethical arguments and situations. In the theory of principilism, health care professionals base their ethical practice on four principles: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. These are all thought to be important principles that should be considered when examining a case involving medical ethics. While it is of the greatest benefit for components of each of these principles to play a part in deciding what is ethically appropriate, I believe that autonomy is the principle that holds the utmost importance. The purpose of this paper is to develop an argument in favour of the statement that autonomy is the most important point to consider when