Nursing Ethical Dilemmas

According to (American Nurses Association, 2015), the Code of Ethics for Nurses was developed as a guide for carrying out nursing responsibilities in a manner consistent with quality in nursing care and the ethical obligations of the profession. Nurses are the front line of the health care system and face different types of ethical dilemma in their practice. A great example of the ethical dilemma faced in the nursing practice is what is presented in this case study. Ethical dilemmas are complex in certain situations without a satisfactory resolution. Nurse Amelia is faced with an ethical dilemma of providing quality of care to her patient within her scope of practice. The patient is asking the nurse to interpret her laboratory results. As nurses, we are obligated to practice within our scope of practice. Discussing the patient’s laboratory results without any guidelines from the physician, would place the nurse out of the established guidelines. The scope of practice clearly limits nurses from diagnosing a patient and therefore the nurse should not discuss the results

The nurse’s refusal to discuss the results is based on the fact that she is not qualified to interpret results without specific directions from the physician. The physician is more qualified and has more in depth and better understanding to explain all the details of the results to the patient. The physician will be able to discuss the treatment options with the patient, including all the benefits and risk involved in the treatment. The nurse is therefore guided by the nursing code of ethics to refrain from discussing laboratory results that have not been reviewed by a qualified physician for interpretation. The nurse refusing to discuss the laboratory results can also be seen in a legal aspect of safe practice due to the possibility of wrongful