The Legal And Ethical Obligations Of The Healthcare Profession Essay

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.

As the nursing profession progresses throughout the years, its nature becomes more complex in meeting the professional standards and codes of ethics that are required by all nurses. The American Nurses Association has a specific code of ethics that each nurse should follow and adopt as their own beliefs. The public and the patients should be the priority when providing care in the healthcare setting. The knowledge and education that nurses’ gain is valuable and allows them to encourage health, avoid illness, restore health, and aid in coping for those who are all ill. (LeMone, pp.192) Given that the code of ethics is put into place, there are many registered nurses who violate these codes in various situations. The following will discuss

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

Nurses have a professional responsibility to ensure that safe boundaries are kept in the relationship between patient and Nurse. It is these boundaries that provide the nursing profession with integrity, and according to Baca (2010, pp.195) it is essential these boundaries be maintained because of the difference in power between the nurse and patient. However, boundary violations can occur, when a nurse crosses from the zone of helpfulness to over involved, the ANMC (2011 pp.3) believes that when a violation occurs a nurse is behaving unprofessional manner and misusing their power in the patient nurse relationship. This misuse of power can be categorized into 3 types; boundary crossing, boundary violation and the extreme form of sexual misconduct. Often by mistake a nurse could cross the boundary without thought, a

This paper will an analysis one of the nine provisions found in the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics and compare it with the provision of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Code of Ethics. Both codes of conduct serve as guidelines for ethical and moral dilemmas registered nurses may face. They both offer vague statements allowing for interpretation which will ensure “merit the trust, confidence, and respect of healthcare professionals and the general public (American college, 2016).” This is why Americans view the nursing profession as one of the most honest (Winland-Brown, Lachman,& O’Connor Swanson, 2015).

There are many different careers which entail much more than just a particular degree from some type of post-secondary education program. Typically, all careers have a specific code and level of ethics which are incorporated into the daily responsibilities one is expected to perform in their chosen field. For the basis of this paper, I have chosen to write about the nursing code of ethics. Nursing has a professional code along with the level/employee behavior usually being currently attainable, which means that the behavior expected is normally exhibited by individuals. (Manias 508). However, although nursing seems to require behavior that is “normally” exhibited and tends to be one of the most popular medical fields, there are numerous amounts of ethical issues which have emerged in this field of work since the few being noted in Florence Nightingale’s Notes on Nursing. (Ulrich et al. 2).

Nurses strive on providing ethical quality care to their patients. The foundation of nursing is built on two main terms, nonmalificence and beneficence. Nonmalificence is when a nurse acts and cares in a manner that prevents patients from harm. Beneficence is when nurses provide care that benefits the patient (Martin, 2015). Not only do nurses morally act in this manner but legally as well. There is a direct link between inadequate nurse staffing and negative patient outcomes (Martin, 2015). When nurses are faced with short staffing and/or inadequate staffing, nurses are not able to carry out these principles and practice ethically resulting in patient safety and quality of care being

“If you don’t have integrity, you have nothing. You can’t buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing”. –Henry Kravis - The American healthcare system delivers some of the finest care in the world. However, despite the high level of achievement delivered from the American healthcare system, it is afflicted with problems. Ethical issues that occur in the healthcare delivery system are indeed common. Almost every decision that is made in a healthcare organization has ethical implications. These ethical implications are towards the patient, provider and the leader of the organization. Ethics tend to determine which actions will contribute to an individual fulfillment of happiness. Ethics are very powerful and tend to presuppose freedom and responsibility in the organization. In my current place of employment the care of patients is integrated with medical research, which in return allows for the healthcare practices to continuously be studied and improved. As a healthcare leader or worker, decisions will be made when the common good of both the patients and organization must be taken into consideration. As an effective healthcare leader one must practice adhering to the ethical standards and codes of conduct for his or her individual place of employment. According to Rae (2009), there are 7 steps in making moral decisions. The seven

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

Ethics play a key role in most facets of life. In health care, every patient interaction can be judged based on an ethical code. Each and every workplace has their own version of a nursing code of ethics for their employees to follow. It is designed as a guide in all aspects of patient care. If, when treating a patient, a decision is made that goes against the established code, that decision needs to be revisited and adjusted to fall within the ethical code. Each individual facility bases their code of ethics off of the of the American Nurses Association (ANA) code. This paper will explore the ANA’s code of ethics and its nine provisions.

Nurse-patient relationship is a dynamic process, it is goal-oriented, and it is patient-centered. It is designed to meet patient’s needs. In this relationship, nurses establish trust with the patient while respecting patients’ dignity, autonomy, and privacy. To provide the safest care to the patient, nurses must understand the concepts of professional boundaries (Letterio, 2016). With advanced prevention and preparation, further research, and consistent self-awareness, nurses can create a safe and therapeutic environment. It is clear to me that I am now more aware of this issue of professional boundaries than I was before I took the legal course. Before the course, nursing was just giving care to the patient. One has to do one’s best to make sure that the patient can get the best quality care they can. I never thought of any inappropriate actions or behaviors that could arise in the workplace. After the course, however, I realized that even a small overreaction could lead to a violation of professional boundaries. I have to be more cautious with my behaviors and other

If the nurse is found guilty of breaking a major violation in the Patient’s Bill of Rights, he or she can be terminated for the job or, even worse, brought to court to fight legal battles. Dunn, a writer on nursing and ethics explains the situation stating, “In making these ethical decisions, nurses rely on systematic problem solving, legal advice, ANA Code of Ethics, Nurse Practice Acts, Patient Bill of Rights, clergy, colleagues, and hospital protocols, along with the examination of their own ideals and morals. Ethics is a complex field, and one must look beyond the surface to examine the incidents in the order in which they occurred” (Dunn, 1994). As Dunn mentions, nurses utilize an array of tools including the Patient’s Bill of Rights in order to ensure care is provided within the ethical and legal boundaries. It is important for a nurse to know the foundational material for ethical and legal treatment in order to avoid termination from their job and court

Nurses face many ethical issues every day. Making ethical decisions is challenging for nurses because the decisions can impact not only patient but also nurses. In Hickox’s case, she was subjected to restrictions. The ethical

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.

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.