In today’s society, individuals face various ethical dilemmas every day, whether it is deciding to lend a hand to a stranger who has fallen or getting involved in a bullying scenario. We consistently make decisions that correspondence with our morals and values. Ethical dilemmas follow the nursing profession where nurses have to decide what options will benefit and provide their patient’s the absolute best care. The question of honesty comes into play when the nurse has to convey unsettling news of cancer to his/her patients. Is honesty the best policy, should a patient know everything about his/her conditions in spite of how severe it may be? There are many factors to consider when making an astute decision. The patient, family members, physician and nurse viewpoints are to consider for the most appropriate solution. Patient Perspective Patients seek healthcare professionals for assistance, treatment, guidance, and for quality of care. There is an emphasis on the trust patients place in the hands of health care professionals. Because every patient differs, not all would want their information released to them regarding the conditions. However, the majority of the patients …show more content…
Moral support from family members is extremely crucial and benefits the patient in every possible way. The family would want to reveal the truth in order to proceed to treatment before the cancer spreads to other regions of the body. Additionally, if children are present the family would want to begin treatment so that their loved one can be there for their children in the future. However, if the cancer is untreatable, the family members can accommodate so that the patient can live the remainder of their time comfortably and grant his or her wishes. When the circumstances deem the loved one is incompetent and cannot make their own decisions, family members can choose to come to the most appropriate
One of the most complex, ever-changing careers is the medical field. Physicians are not only faced with medical challenges, but also with ethical ones. In “Respect for Patients, Physicians, and the Truth”, by Susan Cullen and Margaret Klein, they discuss to great extent the complicated dilemmas physicians encounter during their practice. In their publication, Cullen and Klein discuss the pros and cons of disclosing the medical diagnosis (identifying the nature or cause of the disease), and the prognosis (the end result after treating the condition). But this subject is not easily regulated nor are there guidelines to follow. One example that clearly illustrates the ambiguity of the subject is when a patient is diagnosed with a serious, life-threatening
During week 4, we became familiar with the application of ethics in the nursing practice settings. We learned about ethical theories and principles, which are crucial when practicing in any clinical settings during ethical decision-making and while facing one or multiple ethical dilemmas. Also, we were introduced to the MORAL model used in ethical decision – making progress. The MORAL model is the easiest model to use in the everyday clinical practice, for instance at bedside nursing. This model can be applyed in any clinical settings and its acronyms assist
Planning included reaching out to other health organizations, objectives, and goals of health fair were established. The implementation includes getting volunteers, set up for the health fair. The evaluation of the process occurred throughout the implementation and changes were made as needed. The evaluation will be completed by gathering information from health booth to determine the number of participants. Review vendor and participant evaluations about the health fair including how they heard about the health fair, ratings of booths and suggestions for improvements. Record everything to determine changes. Reflection on past experiences and what worked and did not work.
In the nursing profession, practitioners are faced with complex situations that necessitate a scuffle between conforming the essentials of ethics while contravening the other. As such, nurses are required to learn cases and design plans to face the morals issues for ethical decision-making. Ethics guide health care professionals on what should be done based on principles. The two common models of clinical decision making include intuitive-humanist model and information-processing model although a third model, multidimensional model exists to guide nurses in resolving dilemmas when they arise.
The advanced nurse practice role of a family nurse practitioner in the primary care setting has many ethical dilemmas. “Ethical principles include beneficence, nonmaleficence, respect for autonomy, fairness, truthfulness” and justice (Advanced Nursing Practice Toolkit, 2012, para. 1). One ethical issue that I was faced with in the clinical setting was that of a ninety-two year old man whom in my opinion, clearly needed palliative care due to his chronic congestive heart failure and the fact that his lungs were consistently filling up with fluid which inevitably always needed a thoracentesis and hospitalization. He had a poor quality of life and had been placed into a nursing home some time ago. Within the past two to three weeks he had needed
However, it has been reported that telling a patient the truth may significantly improve their wellbeing as they approach the end of their life. One study revealed that truth telling may reduce terminal cancer patients’ uncertainty and anxiety, as indicated by lower scores on a Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, and higher scores on a Spiritual Well-being scale (Kao et al. 2013). Furthermore, while there is no explicit principle regarding lying within the Hippocratic Oath, honesty is a virtue that is closely associated with physicians and health care providers. In fact, honesty can be closely related to respect for persons, which implies that it is necessary for the maintenance of the physician-patient relationship. Honesty about all relevant aspects of a patient’s diagnosis, prognosis and treatment are necessary to build trust, and to obtain informed consent.
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 are face with numerous ethical dilemmas each day and if theses ethical situation are not handled in a professional and ethical manner there can be severe consequences for both the nurse and the patient. When nurses are face with theses ethical dilemmas, they have a decision to make. Therefore, what does the nurse do when decision-making involves ethical dilemmas? So, has a nursing student, I have chosen to put myself in the role of a health care provider such as a nurse. It was my first day of clinical rotation and the client that I was assigned to, was due for a bath. I was not comfortable giving the patient a bath a lone, so I ask for assistance from one of my colleagues. The client was a male who was shy and soft spoken. While undressing the client, I overheard a patient and her family arguing. She wants to refuses life support and the family says they want everything done. She is competent individual, who as cancer breast and had gone through many round of chemotherapy and radiation therapy and yet the cancer is still spreading. She is experiencing side effect from the treatment, like vomiting, loss of appetite, weakness and fatigue. The nurse who was in the room with the client and her family, just said he will give them some time to converse the situation, then come back later to see what they had agreed on.
Nurse professionals face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis, and more often than the average professional. Ethical dilemmas can arise from many aspects of the nursing profession. Although, one person thinks one thing is right, someone else can think it is wrong. The primary issue in this scenario is whether I should inform my superiors of what I witnessed, or should I keep quiet. The Code of Ethics in Nurses and Ethical Principles are what Nurses use to tackle dilemmas.
An ethical dilemma is a position where there is conflict between two options due to the value for each option being different but similarly important and morally correct (Ethics for Nurses, 2013). It is possible that is an ethical dilemma might arise in health care. For example, when the patient, family members and/ or medical team have different understanding of situation because they use different ethical principles. Ethical dilemmas are not easy to resolve possible to produce a simple, suitable solution because the ethical values are of equal important (Narrigan, 2004). Nurses must have the necessary skills to be able to deal with ethical dilemmas. They must be able to identify ethical dilemmas when they present as well as to consider relevant principles involved in the ethical dilemma and to identify the conflict between these principles. The nurse should be able to resolve the ethical dilemma in the best interest of the patient by making a decision that is legal and within the professional standards and instructions related to their nursing
When Mrs. Bennett was admitted to hospital, it was clear that extra help would be needed to care for her once she was discharged. Since the nursing staff had problems answering all of the questions Mrs. Bennett’s children had, the siblings decided that one of them should become the disseminator of information. This was agreed to be Maureen as she lived the closest to their mother. This allowed all of the siblings to discuss their thoughts and concerns, then have Maureen bring them to the health care staff and relay the information back to her siblings. Creating process that ensures that the health care professionals gain all of the information they need and all of the siblings gets their questions answered without overwhelming the staff. Mrs.
According to Porter-O’Grady and Malloch (2013), a nurse has ethical responsibilities that are streamlined by the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses. The incorporation of the patient’s and family’s needs as the primary obligation to delivering optimal care is a standard that a nurse should uphold to. Other characteristics attributed to delivering adequate patient care are executing with compassion, respect, and dignity for the patient and the family. The nurse’s role is to advocate for the well-being of the patient, their safety, and to have the ability to implement their rights (p.10).
In health care settings nurses are continuously dealing with various ethical problems and dilemmas. Ethical dilemma arises when there are equal moral obligations for or against two or more possible courses of action (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2008). Very often, there are not only simple ethical problems but rather complex issues involved many participants and multiple decisions. According to Wilson-Barnett (1986), nurses are more aware of its participation in decision making involving ethical issues. In ethical decision making, the nurse must be able to have the knowledge and skills about the entire scenario of a patient before making any possible interventions. Parker (2007) emphasized that the patients and their families along with other
Imagine having the responsibility to choose the “right course of action” in a situation that presents with many different “right actions”. Nurses are faced with this responsibility often; and most times it is not an easy decision process. This situation is known as an ethical dilemma (CNA, 2008). Ethical dilemmas arise in a situation when there are equally compelling reasons for and against two or more possible courses of action, and where choosing one course of action means that something else is relinquished or let go (CNA, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to use the Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics (2008), and consider how my own personal morals and values can help guide me through solving ethical dilemmas and also how I, as a future nurse can deal with the negative effects that may arise after an ethical decision is made. Strengthening your moral agency and moral courage as a nurse is also important in the ethical decision making process in order to successfully solve and continue to be able
Upon first reading the article Unreconciled Inconsistencies by Bekemeier and Butterfield (2005), I was initially given the impression the authors felt critically toward the structure of modern nursing. The article at times seemed to down play the importance of placing emphasis on individualized care; the authors went as far as to accuse some contemporary code of ethics which do highlight individual care as “thinking small” (Bekemeier & Butterfield, 2005). However after completing the article and taking some time to digest its subject, I have to agree with the authors’ point that nursing has lost a portion of its drive toward social justice (Bekemeier & Butterfield, 2005).