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Ethical principles in nursing practice
Maintaining confidentiality in nursing practice
Ethical principles in nursing practice
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According to the ANA, nurses are constantly caught between conflicting value systems. A nurse’s day-to-day practice involves ethical influences which determines how a nurse handles the patient. In order for a nurse to be committed to their patients or community, they have to be able to speak out in case a patient isn’t being cared for right or if the other nurses aren’t doing what they are supposed to. One major ethical dilemma for nurses is informed consent. Informed consent is when a patient or the patient’s family is able to completely understand and know what is being done to treat the patient. Informed consent poses a dilemma because it is a major concern for nurses if patients and their families are not fully informed about their treatments. …show more content…
Since patients feel more comfortable asking the nurse questions and to explain what the doctor said, nurses have the ethical issue about how much they should really say, because what if the doctor left something out on purpose? (Wood). This is where communication has to come in between the nurse and the doctor, to ensure that the patient is getting the right information. Another ethical dilemma is disclosing medical conditions. This dilemma is telling the truth to a patient versus being deceptive (Wood). What is meant by that is, all patients should be told the truth about what is going on with their life, but that doesn’t mean their family needs to know too. Nurses have an obligation to the patient and the ethical principles of non-maleficence and fidelity, which is the obligation to prevent harm and keep a patient’s safety confidential
Nurses everywhere face problems and challenges in practice. Most of the challenges occur due to a struggle with the use of ethical principles in patient care. Ethical principles are “basic and obvious moral truths that guide deliberation and action,” (Burkhardt, Nathaniel, 2014). Ethical principles that are used in nursing practice include autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, veracity, confidentiality, justice, and fidelity. These challenges not only affect them, but the quality of care they provide as well. According to the article, some of the most frequently occurring and most stressful ethical issues were protecting patient rights, autonomy and informed consent to treatment, staffing problems, advanced care planning, and surrogate decision making (Ulrich et. al, 2013). The ethical issue of inadequate staffing conflicts with the principle of non-maleficence.
The first provision of the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) “Code of Ethics” states, “ The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.” The second provision states, “The nurse’s primary commitment is the patient, whether the patient is an individual, family, group, or community” (Fowler, 2010). As nurses we need to respect the autonomy and allow for the patient to express their choices and concerns. We also need to provide them with support by giving them knowledge and understanding so they
In the medical profession, doctors and nurses run into ethical dilemmas every day whether it be a mother who wants to abort her baby or a patient who has decided they want to stop cancer treatment. It is important for the nurse to know where they stand with their own moral code, but to make sure they are not being biased when educating the patient. Nurses are patient advocates, it is in the job description, so although the nurse may not agree with the patient on their decisions, the nurse to needs to advocate for the patient regardless.
Ethics has been a popular topic in nursing for a long time. Nurses are expected to demonstrate ethical decision-making as well as professionalism. I believe that in order to accomplish this, they need to use the ANA Code of Ethics as framework for their decision-making. It is also imperative for nurses to have a strong understanding of ethics, because they will be faced with many difficult ethical decisions that do not always have a straightforward solution.
Informed consent does not simply mean to have a patient sign a white piece of paper with a list of information prior to any type of medical treatment or procedures. Informed consent requires a lot of education and advocacy for the patient. Although informed consent is provided by a health care provider, it the nurse’s duty to act on the patient’s behalf by protecting patient’s right to autonomy (Cook, 2014). There are four key elements of informed consent for nurses (Judkins-Cohn, 2014). First, nurses must make sure the patient is in the right state of mind to comprehend the activities that will happen. Second, the patient should be educated about all the possible risks and benefits before agreeing
According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), (2010) “the nurse promotes, advocates for and strives to protect the health, safety and rights of the patient” (p. 6). Nursing responsibilities should be acted upon at the highest standard and must be based on legal and ethical obligations. Healthcare provider’s perception and judgment of the patient’s well being, as well as taking into account the rights of the patient in every action, is one of the key elements in nursing practice. International Council of Nurses (ICN) (2006) states “The nurse at all times maintains standards of personal conduct which reflect well on the profession and enhance public confidence” (p. 3).
Recent developments in standard of care and professional relationship with patients have made law fundamental to the study and practice of nursing. At every stage of patients care, law helps bring up to date nursing practice and it is essential that nurses understand the legal and ethical implications of law in their nursing profession (Griffith and Tengrah, 2011). The purpose of this essay is to discuss the concept of consent in relation to the role of the nurse. This will aim at demonstrate ethical and legal implication of consent on nursing practice and professional working. In the Code (2008, cited in Griffith and Tengrah, 2011) the Nursing and Midwifery Council set standards for nursing professional to follow. Among the rules is the requirement of nurses to obtain consent before care is given.
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 authority to consult and address their patients on a more communicative or interactive level as a result of which they are often trapped in predicaments where their treatments of action and their personal beliefs create a conflict with the health interests of the patient. (Timby, 2008)
Section 5.4, which is the preservation of integrity, suggests that nurses will inevitably have to deal with threats to their moral or professional integrity at some point in their careers. Nurses should do their best to maintain professional integrity when met with adversity, weather it be from uncooperative issuance companies, an unsound work environment, or from the patients themselves. When working in an unsound or unsafe work environment that violates law or the ANA code of ethics nurses must go through the proper channels to fix the problem. If a nurse feels that a procedure or treatment their patient is having conflicts with his or her own moral integrity and they cannot participate, the nurse must report they unwilling to tr...
By gaining consent Jean's autonomy will be respected and maintained. It is important that all nurses and other health care professions uphold the professional standard when providing direct care to individual, community and groups. Gallagher and Hodge (2012) states reinforce a person's right to exercise choice in relation to personal and bodily integrity and to have that choice respected. Before administrating the medication to Jean the nurse and student nurse made sure that she was given a choice by obtaining consent from Jean first. According to the NMC Code (2015) make sure that you get properly informed consent and document it before carrying out any action.
Which is very important for nurses or any medical professional to do in the healthcare profession. Nurses are receiving these patients in their most vulnerable state, nurses are exposed and trusted with the patients’ information to further assist them on providing optimum treatment. Keeping patient’s information private goes back to not just doing what’s morally right but also it also builds that nurse – patient relationship as well. We also have provision three that specifically taps on this issue as well, as it states: “The nurse seeks to protect the health, safety, and rights of patient.” (Nurses Code of Ethics,
Nurses have a professional duty and legal obligation to provide ethical nursing care. There may be situations of contrasting values and beliefs between the client and the nurse about what actions are beneficial or harmful, which leads to an ethical dilemma. An ethical dilemma that challenges two or more values, “values that support diverging courses of action” and weighs individual judgment (CNO, 2009, p.5). The solution to the ethical dilemma often leads to dissatisfy either one or both ends of the nurse-client relationship. Regardless of the solution, the primary goal is to improve resident’s well being. As a nursing student, she should collaborate with experienced nurses; seek knowledge and guidance on how to handle an ethical dilemma.
The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses has five elements that pertain to the Principle of Autonomy. Each individual element applies to “respect individual persons” (Baillie, McGeehan, Garrett T, M., Garrett R. M., 2013, p.33). In Chapter 2 of the Health Care ethics: Principles and problems text, it discusses thouroghly the consent of an individual to make their own decisions regarding their health and future requests of care. As a nurse or within all heath care professions, we must treat each individual patient with care, respect, and to remain mindful to the patient regarding any aspect of their lives. In the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses, it explains ways of maintaining the empathy required in the health field. It further discusses that the respect for human dignity must be a priority, relationships to patients must remain neutral, the severity of the situation, the right to self-rule, and the professionalism that must be upheld by the nurse and their associates.
In conclusion, there are numerous legal and ethical issues apparent in the nursing practice. Nurses should study and be as informed as they can with ethics and legality within their field in order to ensure no mistakes occur. Ethical issues vary based on patient’s views, religion, and environment. Nurses are influenced by these same views, but most of the time they are not the same as the patients. As a nurse we must learn to put the care of our patients and their beliefs, rights, and wishes before our own personal
The specific issue in questions is whether a nurse should keep the truth from their patient about their illness by respecting the wishes of the patient family or abiding by The Code of Ethics for Nurses and revealing the truth to the patient. The Code of Ethics for Nurses expresses the values and ethics of the nursing profession by stating that: Patients have the moral and legal right to determine what will be done with their own person; to be given accurate, complete, and understandable information in a manner that facilitates an informed judgment; to be assisted with weighing the benefits, burdens, and available options in their treatment, including the choice of no treatment; to accept, refuse, or terminate treatment without deceit, undue influence, pressure, intimidation, or penalty; and to be given necessary support throughout the decision-making and treatment process (The American Nurses Association, 2011). Unfortunately, truth telling to any type of patient is a common ethical dilemma: to tell the truth or to not tell the truth is the main question. Nurses have the closet relationship with patients and therefore are the ones put in a difficulty situation between their patient and the patient’s family. Who should they satisfy? Should they leave their patient in the