Ethical Issues Of Collaboration In Nursing

One of the issues that comes to mind is an ethical situation in regards to a patient that I cared for on my last two shifts. The patient was a frail and malnourished, fifty year old, eighty-pound female who was admitted to Regional Hospital towards the end of February for acute cholecystitis. She underwent a laparoscopic surgery, which was eventually converted to an open cholecystectomy. The patient had several serious comorbidities, some of which included lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and hypertension. The patient also had a condition called CREST syndrome, which is an acronym for calcinosis, Raynaud’s phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia (Yoon & Raugi, 2016). Although, the disorder

Collaboration in nursing is the concept of “development of partnerships to achieve best possible outcomes that reflect the particular needs of the patient, family, or community, requiring an understanding of what others have to offer” (Giddens, 2013, p. 425). Collaboration occurred multiple ways throughout this situation; through patient to nurse, nurse to nurse, and interprofessionally, such as, with the doctor and pharmacy. The patient to nurse collaboration was the immediate care between my preceptor and I with the patient. We would tell her what we were doing while in the room and ask her what we could do to make her more comfortable. Nurse to nurse collaboration occurred between my nurse and I and the charge nurse. The charge nurse would frequently ask for updates regarding the patient situation and we kept her up to date. We also collaborated with pharmacy throughout the shift by calling the pharmacy and clarifying if the fluid the patient was receiving was compatible with the IV antibiotic ordered, since Micromedex was uncertain on the combination of the two IV solutions and we only had one IV access since we were waiting on a midline to be placed. Working both night shifts, we did not collaborate directly with the physician, however, the day nurse did directly collaborate with the physician and talked the physician out of stopping the dilaudid

Aside from what the other nurses and I believed was best for this patient, it will always be up to the patient and family to decide the most appropriate decision for the patient situation. Therefore, no matter what the patient and family decides they want to do for this patient, whether it be to continue invasive life sustaining measures or have the patient begin palliative care, we have a duty to provide respect and compassion for our patients. I think this experience helped me to realize that no matter where I decide to work, there will always be ethical situations or dilemmas that I am faced with and the best thing I can do when faced with these issues is to support my patient and advocate for their wishes. This event will help shape my practice because it made me realize that we have to continue to have empathy for our patients because we never truly know the amount of pain or discomfort they are in. This patient had a long list of serious disorders and I am thankful I was able to be by her side throughout some of the weakest points of her life. She continued to thank me for providing oral cares and moisturizing her lips, or repositioning the pillow where it felt right and minimized the pressure on her sore. I also realized that we may be the patients only form of support throughout a certain point in their life and so it’s best to stay as supportive as possible. I