Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Autonomy and health care
Autonomy and health care
Autonomy and health care
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Ethics is very important in nursing practice and involves respect and advocacy for the needs of the patient. Both, ethics and honesty have major impact on patient safety. Another core value is autonomy. Autonomy is demonstrated when the nurse supports independent decision making and respects the patient`s right to self-determine the course of action. Human dignity is another core value in nursing practice.
The ANA Code of Ethics addresses these issues throughout the entire document, but specifically focuses on it in provision eight. Provision eight states that nurses must get involved in educating the public about illness, injury, or disease. They must also discuss and address issues that become barriers to health through institutional and public conversation, education, and legislation. Nurses involvement in helping end these disparities is at the forefront of the ANA Code of Ethics; however, it may not be specific enough goal to meet the Healthy People 2020 goals (Nursing Science Quarterly (NSQ), 2013). The ICN Code of Ethics is very similar to the ANA Code of Ethics in that it says that nurses should collaborate with their coworkers and other nurses to address nursing issues.
Advanced Nurse Practitioner play a role as an Advocate by acting or interceding on behalf on their patients’ health care. The ANA addresses the importance of advocacy in its Code of Ethics, including Provision 3: “The nurse promotes, advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient.” Also from it ANA define three core values that form the basis of nursing advocacy which are preserving human dignity; patient equality; and freedom from suffering. The role of APN as advocate require a nurse to act as a communicator, liaison, educator, interpreter and caregiver. When someone chose a career in nursing means that he/she accepts to fill the role while providing care for all
(Elliot & Olver, 2008). The principles in acting with the best interest of the other person in mind, showing compassion and taking positive action to help others which relates to the second main principle being beneficence. Likewise, I will discuss non-maleficence, the core of medical oath nursing ethics the principle that “above all do no harm”.
Ethical principles implement a foundation for nursing care. They are defined as a base for nurse’s judgment on a consideration of consequences and on worldwide moral principles when composing clinical conclusion. The purpose of this discussion is to discuss the ethical dilemma that nurse faces in the case study about Lora, a young girl who is physically abused by her father and had been sexually abused by her stepfather. According to Nathaniel and Burkhardt ethical principles include autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, veracity, confidentiality, justice, and fidelity (pg. 77). In the case study: Making the Best Choice (Nathaniel and Burkhardt, 2014), I believe that all ethical principles were involved.
Another very important ethical principle is beneficence. Beneficence as described in the article, ‘Ethics and Pain Management in Hospitalized Patients’ by Bernhofer (2012), is the principle of doing good. What this principle means is that care must be provided in an appropriate and timely manner. Nurses must provide pain relief on time and at the right dose for effective pain relief. Based on research pain is best treated before it becomes severe.
The four principles of ethics provides an accessible and culturally neutral approach to thinking about ethical issues in healthcare(1). This approach is based on the four prima facie moral commitments of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice(1, 2). It offers a moral, analytical framework for healthcare professionals to aid decisions, when moral issues arise(2). This approach was developed by Beauchamp and Childress in the 1980s to provide a common, moral language for clinicians(1). The term prima facie indicates that a principle is binding unless it conflicts with another moral principle(2, 3).
Nursing has never been simple or easy, nor is serving as a patient advocate. However, it is important to include advocacy as a part of nursing. Advocacy is standing up for the rights of all individuals and must include interpersonal relationships between nurses, patients, professional colleagues, and the public. Nightingale’s experiences in nursing demonstrated to her the value of advocating for nurses and patients.
Deconstructing Mythical Advocacy: The Integration of Religion in the Pious Leviathan Religious worship is a subject of ingenuity and acute controversy in Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan. In the construction of his commonwealth, his treatment of religion not only serves as an anthropological analysis for the civil sovereign to internalize, but a harbinger as to why it is necessary for religion to be hewn into the living rock of society. What some may deem as sanctimonious or heretical reasoning, Hobbes perceives as sobering truths of human nature; truths that must be illuminated for the sake of social order. The way in which religion is embraced is easier to explain than it is to accomplish.
Pozgar (2010) mentioned that the principle of ethics are 4; autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. While Grace (2014) mentioned that the ethical principle consist of autonomy, vulnerability, altruism, beneficence, and justice. Porter and Rai (2009) concluded that there are only four widely accepted general principle of ethics, namely autonomy, justice, beneficence and non-maleficence. The aspect of autonomy refers to the right of an individual to make one’s own decision including to decide whether they want to get involve or not in a particular research activity (Pozgar, 2010).
The concept of nurses as advocates within the healthcare system has not changed but the techniques and practices associated with patient advocacy are continuously advancing; there is already an extensive range of existing nursing definitions of patient advocacy (Wellard, 2014). In general, the nurse in the healthcare team is the member with the greatest therapeutic communication, contact and relationship with patients; putting them in an optimal position to utilize their advocacy skills to facilitate contact between the patient and family members and other health care professionals and departments (University Alliance, 2015). Additionally, by pursuing a career in nursing it means fulfilling many roles, such as educator, caregiver, interpreter,
All nurses should take positive actions to help their patients and to have the desire to do good. On the other hand, nonmaleficence is the core of the nursing ethics and it revolves around the idea that nurses have to remain competent in their field as to avoid causing injury or harm to patients. Nonmaleficence also requires all health care professionals to report any suspected abuse. The last ethical principle is justice. This ethical principle revolves around the idea that all patients must be treated equally and fairly.
Utilitarianism and Deontology are two major ethical theories that influence nursing practice. Utilitarian principles of promoting the greatest good for the greatest amount of people parallels the nursing tenet of beneficence. Deontological principles of treating individuals with dignity, and promoting the well-being of the individual parallels the nursing tenet of non-maleficence. Utilitarian and Deontological principles can be utilized to resolve ethical dilemmas that arise in the nursing profession. The purpose of this paper is to define utilitarianism and deontology, discuss the similarities and differences between the two, and to address an ethical dilemma utilizing utilitarian and deontological principles.
This assignment is a reflection of ethical dilemmas in nursing practice as a registered nurse; this paper is based on the group assignment which was completed for NURS3004. This reflection will include an explanation of the role that I portrayed in the group, the preparation that I did for the role, what could have been done differently, how this group assignment has impacted me in terms of working in a team and finally explain how this assignment will assist me in my future clinical practice as a newly registered nurse. The role that I played in the group was a patient who has a mental health disorder and I didn’t want his mother to know about the illness, as a front it seemed as though we had a close relationship. When my mother leaves the room I asked the nurse to keep my illness confidential as she does not really understand it.
A nurse must keep up to date on education and new processes in health-care, so they can provide the best care. As a nurse, you have promised to give each of your patients the best care that can possibly be given. Nurses must follow a code of ethics, to act safely, provide ethical care no matter how they feel about the patient or the reason they are in your care. Following this code of ethics shows your commitment to caring for people and society, it is a guide of ethics and standards to follow to keep everyone safe. Nursing is also a wonderful opportunity to meet hundreds of people from almost every nationality and every walk of life.