Ethics in Nursing Notes

Ethics in Nursing

Ethics and Values Objectives

  • Define and describe the concept of ethics and values.
  • Discuss the role of ethics in nursing.
  • Identify ethical issues that nurses face.
  • Discuss some ways to resolve ethical dilemmas.

Definitions

  • Ethics: The study of what is right and wrong in our conduct.
  • Values: A personal belief about the worth of a given idea, attitude, custom, or object that sets standards that influence behavior.

Influences on Values

  • Personal Experiences
  • Profession
  • Family
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Peers
  • Religion

Values Examples

  • Addressing someone by their first name:
    • Shows friendliness.
    • Is disrespectful.
  • When in severe pain:
    • It is important to remain strong and not complain much.
    • It is better to talk about the discomfort and express frustration.
  • Direct eye contact:
    • Shows interest.
    • Is intrusive.
  • Individual vs. Family needs:
    • The independence of the individual must come before the need of the family.
    • The needs of the individual are always less important than the needs of the family.

Ethical Principles

  • Autonomy: Commitment to include patients in decisions.
  • Beneficence: Taking positive actions to help others.
  • Nonmaleficence: Avoidance of harm or hurt.
  • Justice: Being fair.
  • Fidelity: Agreement to keep promises.
  • Respect for Persons: Treat with great value, dignity, and respect.

Ethical Issues in Nursing

  • Protecting patients’ rights and human dignity.
  • Not respecting informed consent treatment.
  • Providing care with risk to the health of the nurse.
  • Using or not using chemical or physical restraints.
  • Understaffing.
  • Prolonging the living and dying process with inappropriate measures.
  • Policies that could threaten the quality of care.
  • Working with unethical or impaired colleagues.

Resolution of an Ethical Dilemma

  • Ask: Is this an ethical problem?
  • Gather information relevant to the case (Patient, family, institutional, and social perspectives are important sources of relevant information).
  • Identify the ethical elements in the situation by clarifying values and recognizing the principles involved.
  • Name the problem.
  • Identify possible courses of action.
  • Create and implement a plan.
  • Evaluate the plan to determine whether further action is needed.

Institutional Resources

  • Ethics committees are usually multidisciplinary and serve several purposes: education, policy recommendation, and case consultation.
  • Any person involved in an ethical dilemma, including nurses, physicians, health care providers, patients, and family members, can request access to an ethics committee.

Issues in Health Care Ethics

  • Social Media
  • Quality of Life
  • Care at end of Life
  • Access to Health Care

Moral Distress

  • Occurs when unable to take the believed appropriate moral action.
  • Recurrence increases negative effects.

ANA Code of Ethics

  1. The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person.
  2. The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community, or population.
  3. The nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient.
  4. The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care.
  5. The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety, preserve wholeness of character and integrity, maintain competence, and continue personal and professional growth.
  6. The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains, and improves the ethical environment of the work setting and conditions of employment that are conducive to safe, quality health care.
  7. The nurse, in all roles and settings, advances the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy.
  8. The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities.
  9. The profession of nursing, collectively through its professional organizations, must articulate nursing values, maintain the integrity of the profession, and integrate principle of social justice into nursing and health policy.