ethics in nursing

What is the meaning of ethics? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, ethics is that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. It answers the question, “What should one do in a given situation?” In the medical field there are daily ethical practices to be made by respecting the inherit dignity, worth and uniqueness of every individual as well as moral and cultural beliefs. Some out of many issues for example, the most religious ethical issue currently ongoing, determining the weather it is right to terminate an unborn fetus, abortion. Other ethical dilemmas as well as patients’ rights, death, quality of life, right to die, and right to healthcare also arise on a daily basis in medical facilities. As a future nursing professional, it is up to the individual to determine what is best for patients’ health and lives. It is their obligation to be mentally, emotionally, and spiritually prepared for difficult situations with choices to be made that will occur within oneself, the environment, and of course patients. The question however, is how we will make choices. What will one base them off and why? How does one know the difference right from wrong, harming and non-harming and how we come to knowing this.

Meet Mrs. Davis, a 68 year old retired college professor. One afternoon Mrs. Davis began complaining to her husband about having dizzy spells. Thinking nothing of it, she went on with her daily routines. One day, while eating dinner, her husband noticed she started to mumble. Then, the food that she was chewing began to drip from the right corner of her mouth and the righ...

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...professionals. Decision-making will involve analyzing what will be the right thing to do in their eyes, they patients and their professional code of ethics. However, the final outcome they need to always aim for is the health and happiness for every individual patient. Having compassion, being honest and respecting patients autonomy will be musts. Every situation will be different because different cultures have different beliefs and views in which where we as the nurses will have to respect even if we cannot agree with their opinions or decisions regarding the health of their lives. Each individual’s philosophy is different. As an individual an ethical decision will be based off of diverse things, one of them is the most common, moral. The way we think and why we think the way we think will vary among others as well as what we feel may be harmful and what may not.