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Ethics
Nursing Ethics
Professional Nursing Ethics
It is not a good idea, but it is possible to become a nurse today without knowing what the Nightingale Pledge is and more important, what it represents. The reason it is not a good idea is simple; nursing is a field that carries with it a great social, moral and ethical responsibility. This accountability is now guided by the Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements; however, the original blueprint was the Nightingale Pledge. We could consider that original pledge as nursing's equivalent to the physicians' Hippocratic Oath. In other words, the modern version of the Nightingale Pledge, the Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements, is a thorough guide that helps both new and old nurse's alike carry out their responsibilities in a way that also meets all ethical duties required by the profession. The Nightingale Pledge has evolved for more than a century and over that time; the healthcare industry has obviously changed in countless ways. But, so have the responsibilities of nurses. Along each step of the way, the code of ethics has been there to provide goals, values and obligations for those practicing the art of nursing. The code's ethical commitments have been updated as needed and this paper will attempt to describe some of these ethical promises.
Social Responsibility
The Nightingale Pledge moved from its original principles that it was built on and it has now evolved into the Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements which incorporate more modern social and ethical virtues. For example, the code points out that the nursing community should collaborate with other health professions and citizens in order to promote community and national efforts to promote better societal health. President Obama has...
Behind the scenes, nurses have also been working hard to meet their own social and ethical obligations to help the cause. "This has been an historic week of events for advocates of health care reform. The House passed H.R. 3962, 'The Affordable Health Care for America Act.' I wanted to take the opportunity to thank nurses across the country for their help and support in advancing meaningful health care reform. Whether you took part in town halls, wrote letters to the editor, or contacted your own representatives to voice your opinion -- your actions had an impact." (Patton) This can be considered to be a prime example of how the nursing community's ethical obligation helps direct its members in all aspects of their lives.
Legal and ethical issues
The healthcare industry, just like any other industry, understands that if an organization as whole is to provide a quality product or service, then that organization needs a commitment from top to bottom from all of its employees. Nursing meets their role by filling two ethical duties. The first is to respect independence and the second is to meet the needs of the patient. Through these duties, nurses must act to safeguard clients' and the public from incompetent, unethical or illegal acts of any person. With this idea understood, it is also important to distinguish the ideas of legal and ethical obligations.
Consider the notion of committing healthcare fraud and its impact on the duties of autonomy. Who has not heard of a ghost prescription or a phantom patient? If a nurse knowingly updates an official medical record of a real or imaginary patient with real or imaginary information such as claiming that a medicine was administered when in fact it…
An area where being a nurse can become difficult in regard to ethics is in the area of personal values vs. professional ethics. Nurses must maintain their competence even if they do not live by the same values of their patients. A client's race, sex, or religion, for example, must not interfere with the understood obligations of the nursing community. Everyone should be treated equally. What comes to mind about this ethical obligation is the poor judgment that was shown by some healthcare workers throughout the nation immediately following September 11, 2001. This date is famous for the terrorist attacks that were perpetrated on the nation by individuals of the Muslim faith and of Middle Eastern decent.
For several weeks after that tragic day, however, many Muslim and Middle Eastern families, and anyone who looked like they could be of Middle Eastern decent, became the victims of blatant profiling and racism. What was worst about this news is that in some of these cases of obvious hate crimes, the racism was performed by hospital emergency room staffs because they refused to treat potential terrorists (as they were considered). When performing nursing duties, nurses must have a blind eye to the differences of the client's life values. A homosexual male should not be treated poorly because of his sexual orientation. A black woman who has been raped must not be judged to be immoral anymore than a white woman. Nurses must exercise sound ethical judgment and accept the responsibilities of the profession.
Nurses provide services that include respect for human dignity and they should not change their responsibility to the patient because of some social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of the medical condition. This scenario of personal values and professional ethics then can also be tested when it comes to working in an extremely hazardous environment. Nurses are exposed to communicable diseases on a daily basis and there are often patients who are violent or show other ideals of noncompliance. "It was an opportunity to learn about the challenges nurses encounter in their everyday practice -- health and social inequalities, HIV / AIDS, TB, poverty and compromised
Nursing Ethics In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, medical technology has advanced enough to provide certain measures to keep the body "alive," but not necessarily the brain or the cognitive functions that make up quality of life (O'Keefe-McCarthy, 2009). Despite the fact that death is a cyclical part of life, humans still have a very difficult time dealing with issues surrounding terminal illness: hospice, do not resuscitate, costs for
Nursing Ethics Ethical Dilemma Ethics Identify the potential ethical dilemma A nurse accused of stealing. She is a good nurse but cannot be allowed to continue stealing and breaking the law while she is performing her duties. Collect, analyze, and interpret data Nurses must protect clients' well-being, even while they strive to support other nurses. The case study is presented in such a manner which suggests that the nurse manager is fairly certain, given the evidence
In terms of underage drinking, a nurse can act in a public health manner that identifies circumstances and situations that make a population vulnerable, and take steps to either mitigate those circumstances or educate to prevent them in the first place. Colleagues -- Nursing is never a field in isolation. Instead, it works with a number of colleagues in various disciplines to support health issues. This would include teachers, school
Would the advance(s) keep the patient alive just to keep her/him alive, or would the patient be capable of a productive and enjoyable way of living? These questions lead right into the code of ethics and the very first one deals with the respect for human dignity. Human dignity can encompass a variety of components and it must be considered when applying bioethics or ethics in general to prolonging someone's life
This is more complicated by the prevalence of other mental disorders like dementia and drug induced mood swings. Nurses need to be well trained in pattern recognition and logical assessment of the condition and take suitable action to solve these problems. [Steve Lliffe, 107] The failure to manage these symptoms would result in increased suffering and poor quality of life in the end stage. In a 1993 study conducted on
Ethics and Morality Ethical Analysis: A Nursing Situation Ethical Analysis Identify the nursing issue In ancient times, nurses used to take orders from other senior professionals where they were then permitted to initiate routine procedures. Their intellectual skills and reasoning were not valued or fostered. The approach to nursing made any decision regarding medical and ethical issues at the discretion of the doctors. However, nurses in modern settings have realized the therapeutic potential where