Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Nurses role in maintaining confidentiality
Nurses role in maintaining confidentiality
Ethical issues in healthcare
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Nurses role in maintaining confidentiality
Considering carer’s participation in patient’s management and recovery, there is always a debate on the question of how health specialists balance between sharing patient information and confidentiality with carer. Professional persons in health care have legal and ethical obligations to maintain the privacy of information considering the clients in their care. Hence, Professional Codes of Ethics back up laws and deliver direction to health care practitioners regarding practice dilemmas and concerns. In Australia, nurses have legal and ethical policies and legislation to follow in regards to disclosure of patient wellbeing info. The Code of Ethics in Australia has been established like primary moral benchmarks for nursing profession. Moreover, in this code, value statement seven,” Nurses value ethical management of information” describes that nurses need to manage the ethical …show more content…
This conduct describes that nurses have moral and lawful accountabilities to safeguard the dignity and confidentiality of persons requiring and receiving care. Though, it is very tough for nurses to make decision about what sort of information can be shared with the carers. Carers could be individual’s family members or friends who play an important part in providing personal care, assistance and support to the patient (Australian Law Reform Commission, 2013). For instance, people those who suffering from critical illness or unable to make decision for themselves, their carers could put a noteworthy contribution to enhance their good health. To provide physical, economical and psychological support to carers, there are few legal acts and organizations in Australia (ComLaw, 2010) but there is no such legal stated evidence which shows carers rights to access patient’s
One cannot fake being a nurse, one must be extremely genuine in order to perfect being a nurse; therefore, explaining why nurses enforce and value their code of ethics. The purpose of the code of ethics is to ensure patient safety and implement standard of care by following the nine provisions of ethics. The nine provisions explain the nurses’ responsibility while caring for a patient; for example, maintaining the rights and autonomy of a patient. Another point that the provisions highlight is being the patient advocate, nurses are in the front line of patient care and they must protect their patients. An important guideline that the nine provision emphasize is the need and requirement for nurses to continue with their education to promote beneficent and to avoid maleficent. The National Nursing Association (ANA) states that the nursing code of ethics “reiterates the fundamental and the commitment of the nurse” (Lachman, Swanson, & Windland-brown, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to highlight the obligations and duty of a nurse and why it is important when attempting to maintain standard of care.
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).
Which is very important for nurses or any medical professional to do in the healthcare profession. Nurses are receiving these patients in their most vulnerable state, nurses are exposed and trusted with the patients’ information to further assist them on providing optimum treatment. Keeping patient’s information private goes back to not just doing what’s morally right but also it also builds that nurse – patient relationship as well. We also have provision three that specifically taps on this issue as well, as it states: “The nurse seeks to protect the health, safety, and rights of patient.” (Nurses Code of Ethics,
Ethical issues arise daily in the healthcare world. The manor in which issues are addressed vary. “There are, it might be said, as many histories of nursing ethics as there are individual ethicists and professional or cultural contexts” (Guildford 2010, p.1). “A code of ethics is a fundamental document for any profession. It provides a social contract with the society served, as well as ethical and legal guidance to all members of the profession” (Lachman 2009, p.55). According to Lachman, since the original ANA Code from 1950, the significance of service to others has been consistent. Two changes in the code have occurred since the original. First, not only the patient is being treated, but the family and community where they live are also considered.
There are questions about transplant allocation in regards to the four major ethical principles in medical ethics: beneficence, autonomy, nonmaleficence and justice. Beneficence is the “obligation of healthcare providers to help people” that are in need, autonomy is the “right of patients to make choices” in regards to their healthcare, nonmaleficence, is the “duty of the healthcare providers to do no harm”, and justice is the “concept of treating everyone in a fair manner” ("Medical Ethics & the Rationing of Health Care: Introduction", n.d., p. 1).
Providing the steps to ethically sound excellent care, healthcare providers must acknowledge first the legal and ethical matters involved with proper investigation and then devise a plan for best possible action recognizing the rights of the patient and its benefits followed by the application of the chosen intervention with positive outcome in mind (Wells, 2007). Delivery of excellent and quality of care at a constant level (NMC, 2008) must be marked in any responsibilities and duties of the care provider to promote exceptional nursing practice. Codes of nursing ethics and legal legislation have addressed almost all the necessary actions in making decisions in consideration to the best interest of the patient. Nurses must make sure that they are all guided by the set standard to lead their action and produce desirable and ethically sound outcomes.
The nursing code of ethics is a formal statement of the ideals and values of nursing and ethical principles that serve as standards for nurses‟ actions. Jurisprudence is the scientific study of law and law is defined as those rules made by humans, which regulate social conduct in a formally prescribed and legally binding manner. Nursing ethics and law are very important because they are concerned with the provision of services that have an impact on human health and life which can cause dilemma during practice and if not handled adequately can lead to negative impact on the client and all the people concerned with the care the client. Therefore Standards must be set to guide the conduct of the nurse in making proper and adequate decisions for the safety and protection of the client, by so doing the nurse protects herself or himself from litigation (Burke, K. 2000).
Nursing surrounds the concept of patient care physically, mentally and ethically. The therapeutic relationship that is created is built on the knowledge and skills of the nurse and relies on patient and nurse trusting one another. The use of nursing skills can ensure these boundaries are maintained, it allows for safe patient care. Professional boundaries are the line that nurses cannot cross, involving aspects such as patient confidentiality and privacy, ensuring legal aspects of nursing and the boundaries put in place are not breached. However, nurses accepting financial or personal gain from patient can also cross these professional boundaries. It is only through education in this area that the rights of patients can be preserved, as well as the nursing standards. Through education in areas such as confidentiality, boundaries can remain in tact and the patient care can remain within the zone of helpfulness.
Nursing code of ethics was developed as a guide in carrying out nursing responsibilities in a matter consistent with quality in nursing care and the ethical obligations of the profession (ANA, 2010). The term ethics refers to the study of philosophical ideals of right and wrong behavior (Olin, 2012). There is a total of nine provisions however, throughout this paper I will discuss provisions one through four. These provisions would include, personal relationships, primary care, nurse commitment, safety, patient rights, responsibility and accountability of the patient.
As a nurse, it is within your role to safeguard the right to privacy for individuals. To ensure that nurses are adhering to this, ethical strategies have been proposed and implemented from a legal and regulatory body.
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
The nursing code of ethics has a very standard definition. It is the base on how nurses should guide themselves in conduct by making the right decision regarding ethical issues. According to the National Student Nurses Association “students of nursing have a responsibility to society in learning the academic theory and clinical skills needed to provide nursing care” (2003). In the clinical setting nurses have a lot of responsibilities while caring for an ill patient, they have the obligation to practice their profession with compassion, love, and respect the uniqueness of each patient, as nurses we are not supposed to deny care to a patient because of their economic status, their skin color, race, or the nature of health problems, we are here to help the people in need in particular those of susceptible populations. The NSNA states that the code of conduct is based on an understanding that to practice nursing as a student is an agreement that trust and honesty is depended on us by society. The announcement of the code provided direction for the nursing student in the personal development of an ethical foundation and not limited to the academic or clinical environment but can assist in the holistic development of a person. (National Student Nurses Association, 2003)
The four fundamental nursing responsibilities of promoting health, preventing illness, optimizing health and alleviating the ill are represented in the code of ethics. (Arnold & Boggs, 2016) One can say that the code of ethics are rules that a nurse needs to follow in order to effectively communicate and protect the patients. The American Nurse Association provided the code of ethics to guide nurses to ensure that patient’s care, safety, rights and health are well cared for and well managed. Models like Utilitarian, deontological, and the human rights-based all contribute in answering dilemmas that can arise with a patient. Thus, explaining what some of the code of ethics are, and how the code of ethics influence our responsibilities as a nurse will impact the overall care of the
Patient confidentiality is one of the foundations to the medical practice. Patients arrive at hospitals seeking treatment believing that all personal information will remain between themselves and the medical staff. In order to assure patients privacy, confidentiality policies were established. However, a confidentiality policy may be broken only in the case the medical staff believes that the patient is a danger to themselves or to others in society. Thesis Statement: The ethics underlying patient confidentiality is periodically questioned in our society due to circumstances that abruptly occur leaving health professionals to decide between right and wrong.
Integrity, respect for persons, justice, non-maleficence, and responsibility are all identified within the code, however compassion is not directly stated but is implied. To show compassion for others during suffering is an almost automatic response in nursing. When nurses decide to act either beneficently or non-maleficently they are doing a service to those being cared for. When dealing with human lives moral value becomes especially important, and is not situationally dependent. Ethical neutrality does not have a place in professional ethics, and an obligation to respect the moral values is necessary. The code deals with specific issues related to the nursing profession, and ensures standards are upheld. Creation of code of ethics within a profession limits misconduct, create safeguards, promote trust for the profession within society, and preserves the integrity of the profession (Soskolne, 1984) It is important for me to emphasize the difference between the nurse’s code of ethics and the Hippocratic Oath. The nurses ethical code is tailored toward the care provided to the patient, and not the involved science and diagnostic aspect of the