Distributing Resources in an Ethical Manner

Ethical Distribution of Access to Health Care Resources Right to Health Care Resources Role of Nurses Right to Health Care Resources While the concept of 'right to health' is applicable in many of the socialist countries, most of the modern societies lay emphasis on the concept of 'right to health care." This is the concept that has been evolving over the years with the aim of providing equal health care resources to keep every individual healthy and to promote "quality of life" for their citizens.

However the concerns are about what the governments and the authorities related to health care can do what considerations, especially the ethical ones, which need to be considered while preparing a policy for equitable distribution of health care for the citizens (Flak & Chong, 2008). These attempts of ethical policy formation help to open access to proper health care for people who had been previously left out of the adequate services.

Such policies of assuring equity essentially include the locally-based private and governmental health entities so that aim of equitable distribution of health care is achieved. The ethical equitable distribution of health care for citizens often based on the utilitarianism theory of justice which entails that to ensure equitable distribution of health care, the policies need and the norms be designed in the way that the society morally justifies distribution of benefits and burdens for the citizens (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001).

The utilitarian theory of moral and ethics suggests that all actions should be attempted to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Best, 2006). Hence in the case of ethical issues for equitable distribution of health care, the policies and norms as well as personal decision should be directed to enable greatest and equitable distribution of health care services to the largest number of patients and individuals possible.

Ethical Considerations The ethical considerations in achieving equitable distribution of health care services include: Justice and equity: principles of justice are the primary ethical considerations while deciding on the equitable distribution of health care services. One taking the decision for the distribution of the resources should ensure that every individual -- to the largest number of individuals, are benefitted by the distribution in a justified manner.

Autonomy: this ethical consideration should be taken to ensure that as individuals, patients have the right to control individually and as a community, to the greatest extent possible, their health care and treatment. This involves the ethical issues of providing the correct information to the people so that they are able to take informed decisions for their own benefits with regards to health care or treatment (Flak & Chong, 2008).

This also encompasses the rights of the medical practitioners to be able to utilize their skills and expertise according to the standards of good health care. Role of Nurses Nurses play a very important role in the delivery of equal health care resources for the society.

They are often the ones who make or help make critical decisions about allocation of health care resources and hence they should undergo taught ethical training either at the learning level or on the job, about how to equitably distribute and allocate medical care resources, especially in situations where there is a lack of resources.