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Nursing ethics and professionalism
Nursing ethics and professionalism
Ethics and the ethical principles in Nursing
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The ethical principle of confidentiality demands nondisclosure of private or secret information about another person with which one is entrusted. In hospital settings, nurses have the responsibility to maintain patient’s private information confidential and sharing only those information that are necessary to provide patient care. According to the ICN Code of Ethics for
Nurses (2006), “The nurse holds in confidence personal information and uses judgment in sharing this information.” Maintaining confidentiality of patients is an expression of respect of persons and, in many ways, is essential to the nurse-patient relationship (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2008, p. 67-68). It is essential for nurses to understand how to approach ethical issues in a manner that least affects the patient confidentiality.
The purpose is to identify the possible reasons why confidentiality may be broken in some cases. In the article “Bioethics on NBC’s ER: Betraying Trust or Providing Good Care? When is it okay to Break Confidentiality?”(Nathanson, 2000), the author is discussing an ethical issue that brings ethical conflict for an ER nurse. This ER nurse promised to keep their confidentiality information to two young girls who are reluctant to seek medical advice for suspected sexually transmitted diseases. Unfortunately, one 14 year old girl is diagnosed with not only Human papillomavirus but also with cervical cancer due to participating in “sex parties” with multiple partners. The diagnosis of cervical cancer for a minor put the nurse Hathaway in ethical dilemma. In this case, Nurse Hathaway has to decide whether to keep the patient confidentiality or to inform the parents and school officials in order to ensure proper treatment for all individ...
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...n. Ethical dilemmas arise in hospital setting on a daily basis. Nurses should be educated about the nursing code of ethics and to seek help from ethics committee in resolving the ethical dilemmas. It is nurses responsibility to gain trust from patients by providing adequate information about how confidentiality is maintained in hospital settings.
References
American Nurses Association. (2010). Code of Ethics for Nurses. Retrieved October 09, 2011, from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/CodeofEthicsforNurses/Code-of-Ethics.aspx
Burkhardt, M. A., & Nathaniel, A. K. (2008). Ethics &Issues in Contemporary Nursing (3rd ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.
Nathanson, P. G. (2000). Betraying Trust or Providing Good Care? When is it okay to break confidentiality? Retrieved from http://www.bioethics.net/articles.php?viewCat=7&articleId=133
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.
A code of ethics provides a standard by which nurses conduct themselves and their practice, observing ethical obligations of the profession and providing quality care. To achieve its purpose, a code of ethics must be understood, internalized, and used by nurses in all aspects of their work” (Aliakvari, 2015, p. 494).
The Code of Ethics for Nurses was created to be a guide for nurses to perform their duties in a way that is abiding with the ethical responsibilities of the nursing profession and quality in nursing care. The Code of Ethics has excellent guidelines for how nurses should behave, however; these parameters are not specific. They do not identify what is right and wrong, leaving nurses having to ultimately make that decision. Ethics in nursing involves individual interpretation based on personal morals and values. Nursing professionals have the ethical accountability to be altruistic, meaning a nurse who cares for patients without self-interest. This results in a nurse functioning as a patient advocate, making decisions that are in the best interest of the patient and practicing sound nursing ethics.
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).
The Canadian Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses plays a key role in the life of many individuals in healthcare, whether it is the physician, the nurse, the patient, or other workers in the healthcare environment. The Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses serves as a guide in performing nursing responsibilities as well as the ethical obligations related to the profession, (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to recognize the Code of Ethics and how it impacts the way in which healthcare workers carry out their practice. This can be examined through three key factors. The first factor involves providing safe, compassionate, competent care. The second factor regards helping nurses to be accountable
Fowler, M. D., & American Nurses Association (2008). Guide to the code of ethics for nurses: Interpretation and application. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.
Nursing surrounds the concept of patient care physically, mentally and ethically. The therapeutic relationship that is created is built on the knowledge and skills of the nurse and relies on patient and nurse trusting one another. The use of nursing skills can ensure these boundaries are maintained, it allows for safe patient care. Professional boundaries are the line that nurses cannot cross, involving aspects such as patient confidentiality and privacy, ensuring legal aspects of nursing and the boundaries put in place are not breached. However, nurses accepting financial or personal gain from patient can also cross these professional boundaries. It is only through education in this area that the rights of patients can be preserved, as well as the nursing standards. Through education in areas such as confidentiality, boundaries can remain in tact and the patient care can remain within the zone of helpfulness.
Privacy is the right of individuals to keep information about themselves from being disclosed; that is, people (our patients) are in control of others access to themselves or information about themselves. Patients decide who, when, and where to share their health information. On the other hand, confidentiality is how we, as nurses, treat private information once it has been disclosed to others or ourselves. This disclosure of information
Nursing code of ethics was developed as a guide in carrying out nursing responsibilities in a matter consistent with quality in nursing care and the ethical obligations of the profession (ANA, 2010). The term ethics refers to the study of philosophical ideals of right and wrong behavior (Olin, 2012). There is a total of nine provisions however, throughout this paper I will discuss provisions one through four. These provisions would include, personal relationships, primary care, nurse commitment, safety, patient rights, responsibility and accountability of the patient.
As health care providers, nurses strive to instill confidence in their patients and their loved ones. A nurse is respectful to their colleagues as well as their patients. Nurses promote patients’ independence, patients can be confident in the knowledge that a nurse will do what is best for them, respecting their privacy and dignity. This means that a nurse does not share the patient information for personal reasons nor does the nurse get involved in a patients personal relationship if it is not medically relevant (NCSBN, 2011).
As a nurse, it is within your role to safeguard the right to privacy for individuals. To ensure that nurses are adhering to this, ethical strategies have been proposed and implemented from a legal and regulatory body.
Thompson, I. E., Melia, K. M., & Boyd, K. M. (2006). Nursing Ethics: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier.
The American Nurses Association created guidelines for the profession including, a set clear rules to be followed by individuals within the profession, Code of Ethics for Nurses. Written in 1893, by Lystra Gretter, and adopted by the ANA in 1926, The Code of Ethics for Nurses details the role metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics have within the field (ANA, 2015). Moral obligation for an individual differs within professions than it does within an individual’s personal life, so the code of ethics was written to establish rules within the profession. The moral obligation to provide quality care include the fundamental principles of respect for persons, integrity, autonomy, advocacy, accountability, beneficence, and non-maleficence. The document itself contains nine provisions with subtext, all of which cannot be addressed within this paper however, core principals related to the ethical responsibilities nurses have will be
The nursing code of ethics has a very standard definition. It is the base on how nurses should guide themselves in conduct by making the right decision regarding ethical issues. According to the National Student Nurses Association “students of nursing have a responsibility to society in learning the academic theory and clinical skills needed to provide nursing care” (2003). In the clinical setting nurses have a lot of responsibilities while caring for an ill patient, they have the obligation to practice their profession with compassion, love, and respect the uniqueness of each patient, as nurses we are not supposed to deny care to a patient because of their economic status, their skin color, race, or the nature of health problems, we are here to help the people in need in particular those of susceptible populations. The NSNA states that the code of conduct is based on an understanding that to practice nursing as a student is an agreement that trust and honesty is depended on us by society. The announcement of the code provided direction for the nursing student in the personal development of an ethical foundation and not limited to the academic or clinical environment but can assist in the holistic development of a person. (National Student Nurses Association, 2003)
Ethics asses the values, morals, and principles of nurses. Legal codes or laws are rules established by our government. It’s important that nurses have a clear and comprehensive understanding of ethical and legal codes within their career. The understanding of these codes is essential for nurses to safely practice and to protect their patients. Nurses must abide by these principles or face the consequences of legal action. These principles include autonomy, utilitarianism, confidentiality, and many others. Autonomy is the agreement to respect ones right to determine a course of action, while utilitarianism is what is best for most people as defined in American Nurses Association. In order to give you a