Florence Nightingale once said, “apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion.” Nurses face ethical dilemmas daily while caring for patients and patients’ families, and while working in a multidisciplinary environment. Many ethical dilemmas faced by a nurse are often difficult to resolve, which often times, leads nurses to withhold care due to the conflicting values of self, of patients’ values, and employers values and expectations of its employees. It is of the essence that nurses recognize this dilemma and resolve it without delay to preclude compromise of patient’s care and wellbeing. But this is not always an easy fix as in the case study of nurse PT and her ethical dilemma during the H1N1 pandemic in Ontario (CNA, August 2008)
Ontarians had one thing on their minds back in April 2009....the influenza A virus subtype H1N1, or swine flu. On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) affirmed a global pandemic, with over 8000 confirmed cases in Ontario alone, and 95 confirmed deaths by November 26, 2009 (Wikipedia, 2011). A pandemic is an astonishing event that sometimes compels nurses to go above and beyond their duty to provide care to their ailing patients. With their duty to provide care, many nurses were faced with grappling ethical dilemmas, as in the case of nurse PT who was ambivalent between her need to work for financial means, her accountability to her patient and employer, and her uncertainties that she may become infected and will than transmit the disease to her children.
Nurse PT cared for many patients infected with the H1N1 virus, but most memorable was a four year old girl name CR. CR was brought to the ER by her parents in July 2009. CR...
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http://www.cna-aiic.ca/CNA/documents/pdf/publications/Code_of_Ethics_2008_e.pdf
College of Nurses of Ontario. (2009). Practice Standard: Ethics. Retrieved on November 11, 2011, from http://www.cno.org/Global/docs/prac/41034_Ethics.pdf?epslanguage=en
Thinkexist.com. (1999-2011). Florence Nightingale quotes. Retrieved on November 11, 2011, from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/florence_nightingale/
Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. (2010, June 2). The H1N1 Pandemic-How Ontario Fared: A Report by Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. Retrieved on November 11, 2011, from http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/publications/ministry_reports/cmoh_h1n1/cmoh_h1n1_20100602.aspx
Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. (2011, November 8). Influenza A virus subtype H1N1. Retrieved on November 11, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1N1
VanderBent, S. D. (2009, September). Home Care and Pandemic Flu. In Ontario Home Care Association Bringing Health Care Home. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from https://www.homecareontario.ca/public/docs/publications/position%20papers/2009/Home-Care-and-Pandemic-Flu.pdf
American Nurses Association (ANA), (2001), Code of Ethics for Nurses, American Nurses Association, Washington, D.C.
A code of ethics provides a standard by which nurses conduct themselves and their practice, observing ethical obligations of the profession and providing quality care. To achieve its purpose, a code of ethics must be understood, internalized, and used by nurses in all aspects of their work” (Aliakvari, 2015, p. 494).
In the medical profession, doctors and nurses run into ethical dilemmas every day whether it be a mother who wants to abort her baby or a patient who has decided they want to stop cancer treatment. It is important for the nurse to know where they stand with their own moral code, but to make sure they are not being biased when educating the patient. Nurses are patient advocates, it is in the job description, so although the nurse may not agree with the patient on their decisions, the nurse to needs to advocate for the patient regardless.
Health care professionals want to promote health and relieve human suffering. When people go to a hospital they are expecting to get the best care possible. Patients put their trust in the employees of any medical facility as they seeking help from you. Nurses like Justin is not giving the best care to his patients by forgetting to give medications and not following through on orders. When Justin forgets such things he is putting the patients’ health
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.
Thompson, I. E., Melia, K. M., & Boyd, K. M. (2006). Nursing Ethics: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier.
This paper will focus on two BNUR leaner outcomes (University of Calgary, 2013) relevant to my learned understanding of nurses as ethical decision makers. I will outline the ways that I have seen ethics used and not used in practice, what I learned about ethics and its use in my theory courses and throughout my practicums, and I will reflect on how this understanding will translate into my professional practice moving forward.
Burkhardt, M. A., & Nathaniel, A. K. (2014). Ethics & issues in contemporary nursing (4th ed.). Stephan Helbra.
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 had a major effect on the public health in America at the time. Coordination between different levels and branches of government improved communication regarding the spread of influenza, improved the amount of people in hospitals, increased the spread of vaccines, and led to improvements in infection control and containment of the flu. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1997248/).
Influenza or flu is caused by RNA viruses of the family orthomyxoviridae, that affects the nose, throat, and lungs- the respiratory system. The common symptoms are: fever and respiratory problems, such as cough, sore throat,stuffy nose, as well as headaches and muscle aches. Influenza viruses are spread mainly by droplets made from people coughing, sneezing or talking while having the flu. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people or can inhaled into the lungs. It is least common for the virus to spread by touching an infected surface then their mouth or nose. Flu viruses are divided into 3 categories, A, B, C. A and B are responsible for problems in the respiratory system that typically occurs during the winter. Influenza types C is quite different from A and B. Type C only cause mild respiratory symptom or none at all.
In every nurse's career, he or she will face with legal and ethical dilemmas. One of the professional competencies for nursing states that nurses should "integrate knowledge of ethical and legal aspects of health care and professional values into nursing practice". It is important to know what types of dilemmas nurses may face
In conclusion, there are numerous legal and ethical issues apparent in the nursing practice. Nurses should study and be as informed as they can with ethics and legality within their field in order to ensure no mistakes occur. Ethical issues vary based on patient’s views, religion, and environment. Nurses are influenced by these same views, but most of the time they are not the same as the patients. As a nurse we must learn to put the care of our patients and their beliefs, rights, and wishes before our own personal
NSNA (2003). Code of ethics for nursing students Part I: Code of professional conduct. Retrieved June26, 2011, from: http//www.nsnsa.orgpdf/pubs_CodeofProfessionalConduct.pdf
The American Nurses Association created guidelines for the profession including, a set clear rules to be followed by individuals within the profession, Code of Ethics for Nurses. Written in 1893, by Lystra Gretter, and adopted by the ANA in 1926, The Code of Ethics for Nurses details the role metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics have within the field (ANA, 2015). Moral obligation for an individual differs within professions than it does within an individual’s personal life, so the code of ethics was written to establish rules within the profession. The moral obligation to provide quality care include the fundamental principles of respect for persons, integrity, autonomy, advocacy, accountability, beneficence, and non-maleficence. The document itself contains nine provisions with subtext, all of which cannot be addressed within this paper however, core principals related to the ethical responsibilities nurses have will be