Nursing Ethical Dilemmas

568 Words2 Pages

Although a career in nursing or Allied health is very satisfying, it has many challenges along the way. Many will face a countless amount of ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. An ethical dilemma is frequently a problem that has no right or wrong answer and every so often there is no solution to the problem. Three of the most common ethical issues i will discuss that I foresee occurring in my nursing profession in the future are Patient choice versus nurse control, Pro-choice versus Pro-life, Patient beliefs versus medical treatment. While these ethical dilemmas occur every day in the healthcare field, nearly all of the choices are up to the patients’ because they have the right to make the decisions when it comes to their own quality of life. …show more content…

It was hard for all of us to see how small she was and her denying her food but we can’t force her to eat the food as much as we want to. We know the results are bad when someone stops eating but that is the patient’s decision and all we can do is encourage them.

Pro-choice versus Pro-life for example, I am strongly against abortion but that is my personal belief and when it comes to my patients I have to be open to the choices they make and do my best to assist them with their wants and needs. We all have different beliefs and as a nurse, we are not there to decide the choices for them but to cater to their choices as best as I can. I have to be able to put my beliefs aside in this career field.

Patients beliefs versus medical treatment for example, Some religions are against taking medicine and believe that they will heal naturally but some diagnosis require medicine and that medicine could be what they need to survive. I could try to convince them, talk to the doctor about it and see if they can convince them or find an alternative for the medication. In the end they have the right to make these decisions for their

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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.
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Every nurse will be faced with a decision making dilemma at some point in his or her career. Being familiar with the nursing code of ethics, what is ethically and morally expected in society and how to approach the situations can help make dilemmas less of a nightmare. “The purpose of nursing ethics is to inspire questions and examine what would be the ethically right action in health care situations demanding a choice between at least two undesirable alternatives” (Toren & Wagner, 2010, p. 394). There are many different ways one can approach a situation to reach a resolution, finding a method that works best with the situation at hand is ideal.
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1053 Words | 3 Pages
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1211 Words | 3 Pages
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899 Words | 2 Pages
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3244 Words | 7 Pages
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733 Words | 2 Pages
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Nursing Ethical Dilemmas

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