Ethical Decision Making In Nursing Case Study
Running head: MY NURSING ETHIC
Grand Canyon University
Ethical Decision Making in Health Care
NRS-437V
My Nursing Ethic
Nursing, ethics, and morals all, which are necessary for a nurse to provide, care in a diverse population of individual patients. Nurses deal with individuals with complex needs that encompass physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial issues that the average person cannot comprehend let alone that these things can happen to a man, women, child or family. As a case manager my role requires that I not only look at the illness of a patient but their overall wholeness as an individual. This is a challenge as there are some many complex issues that individuals deal with in life from domestic …show more content…
violence, drug and alcohol, untreated mental illness, poverty, lack of responsibility in health maintenance, and the illness itself whether chronic or acute. The challenges in the role of a case manager is being nonjudgmental and provide support to individuals in their moment of crisis. This nonjudgmental role requires me to consider the individuals worldview since this contributes to their view of reality and their view of what they consider health and happiness against my own personal worldview.
PASSION: Why am I here?
My mother and father had a major impact on my moral values as a child and an adult.
Growing up in a Marine Corp family that included members of our military family going to combat in Viet Nam some never to return shaped my moral compass and helped develop my ethical behavior. Not only was I taught to do the right thing but respect authority and to question it if it conflicted with my moral value. This provided me with a sense to do the right thing in all my endeavors though not always perfect it does provide me with a foundation in dealing with complex issues in nursing. Additionally, this author was taught to help where help is needed. A classic example is as a sixth grader stepping up to the school bully as he picks on one of my classmates. The idea that someone can pick on someone or something and ruin their day has always troubled this writer. I was drawn to the nursing profession in my mid twenties after being a stockbroker for five years and witnessed the “bug guys” taking advantage of the small investors after the 1997 October market crash. Nursing provided this writer to be engaged in a life that to me offered high standards of morally and ethical behavior in providing care to individuals during …show more content…
crisis.
MOTIVATION: What moves me to act?
Motivation for this writer lies in the fact that the profession of nursing has high standards that are designed to help people whether to regain their health, maintain their current health, or in cases of terminal illness relieve their suffering.
This motivator is ingrained in this writer through the ANA code of ethics that make the patient the core of our profession. The principles of beneficence- compassion are taking positive actions to help others, the desire to do well are the core principle of our patient advocacy (Beauchamp, 2009) is a guiding principle for this writer. This means that even in cases of terminal illness being truthful and compassionate provides the patient with the ability to make the best choice for themselves and their support system. Morally, it is wrong to lie to a patient and ethically it interferes with ability to make consistent and logical decision-making opportunities for the
patient.
INSPIRATION: What keeps me in motion?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, inspiration is “the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions”(Marriam-Webster, 2013). Interacting with patients and their families in both positive and negative settings inspires this writer. I see that my role as educator and advocate for the individuals during there moments of crisis. A recent example highlights this interaction. Recently, I had the pleasure of working with an individual who was originally seen as an observation patient for an automated implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (AICD). Further investigation of the patient indicated he had a forty-pound unintentional weight loss three months post open-heart surgery. The patient had a devastating diagnosis of widely metastatic pancreatic cancer, which would be fatal in one to two months per the oncologist’s prognosis. My role was to work with the patient in discussing treatment options that revolved around palliative versus curative treatment. When discussing treatment goals a connection between the patient and the author, which was based upon trust and honesty. The patient sensed my compassion for his situation and in the end made the decision to enroll in inpatient hospice for symptom control and stabilization. This author was inspired by the patient’s genuine thankfulness in being truthful about his diagnosis and treatment options.
LOYALTY: Whom do I serve?
As a nurse my moral values and professional ethics are obliged to multiple entities. These include individual patients, their family and the community as a whole. Unlike an obligation, which “signifies being required to do something by virtue of moral rule, duty, or some other binding demand,” (Burkhardt, p. 206, 2008) my loyalty is a choice. It is this loyalty that is given to the patient and their family first and foremost but working for a community hospital I have a distinct loyalty to the hospital and the community that we serve. This does place case managers in ethical dilemmas as the cost of care increases and with increased expectations from patient’s and families that more care is better. Case managers do have to weigh these expectations with the greater good that can be afforded the community. My view of loyalty is my ability to be truthful to my patients and that I do have both their interests and the communities interests as a priority in order to ensure the best outcomes for the individual, their family, the hospital, and the community at large.
References:
Burkhardt, M., & Nathaniel, A. (2008). Ethical Issues in Contemporary Nursing (Rev. ed.). Clifton, New York: Delmar .
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2009). Principles of biomedical ethics (6th ed., pp. 38-39). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 3/31/2013 from, http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/Resources/Ethics-Definitions.pdf
.
Marriam-Webster (2013). : Marriam-Webster. Retrieved 3/31/2013 from, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inspiration
Grand Canyon University
Ethical Decision Making in Health Care
NRS-437V
My Nursing Ethic
Nursing, ethics, and morals all, which are necessary for a nurse to provide, care in a diverse population of individual patients. Nurses deal with individuals with complex needs that encompass physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial issues that the average person cannot comprehend let alone that these things can happen to a man, women, child or family. As a case manager my role requires that I not only look at the illness of a patient but their overall wholeness as an individual. This is a challenge as there are some many complex issues that individuals deal with in life from domestic …show more content…
violence, drug and alcohol, untreated mental illness, poverty, lack of responsibility in health maintenance, and the illness itself whether chronic or acute. The challenges in the role of a case manager is being nonjudgmental and provide support to individuals in their moment of crisis. This nonjudgmental role requires me to consider the individuals worldview since this contributes to their view of reality and their view of what they consider health and happiness against my own personal worldview.
PASSION: Why am I here?
My mother and father had a major impact on my moral values as a child and an adult.
Growing up in a Marine Corp family that included members of our military family going to combat in Viet Nam some never to return shaped my moral compass and helped develop my ethical behavior. Not only was I taught to do the right thing but respect authority and to question it if it conflicted with my moral value. This provided me with a sense to do the right thing in all my endeavors though not always perfect it does provide me with a foundation in dealing with complex issues in nursing. Additionally, this author was taught to help where help is needed. A classic example is as a sixth grader stepping up to the school bully as he picks on one of my classmates. The idea that someone can pick on someone or something and ruin their day has always troubled this writer. I was drawn to the nursing profession in my mid twenties after being a stockbroker for five years and witnessed the “bug guys” taking advantage of the small investors after the 1997 October market crash. Nursing provided this writer to be engaged in a life that to me offered high standards of morally and ethical behavior in providing care to individuals during …show more content…
crisis.
MOTIVATION: What moves me to act?
Motivation for this writer lies in the fact that the profession of nursing has high standards that are designed to help people whether to regain their health, maintain their current health, or in cases of terminal illness relieve their suffering.
This motivator is ingrained in this writer through the ANA code of ethics that make the patient the core of our profession. The principles of beneficence- compassion are taking positive actions to help others, the desire to do well are the core principle of our patient advocacy (Beauchamp, 2009) is a guiding principle for this writer. This means that even in cases of terminal illness being truthful and compassionate provides the patient with the ability to make the best choice for themselves and their support system. Morally, it is wrong to lie to a patient and ethically it interferes with ability to make consistent and logical decision-making opportunities for the
patient.
INSPIRATION: What keeps me in motion?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, inspiration is “the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions”(Marriam-Webster, 2013). Interacting with patients and their families in both positive and negative settings inspires this writer. I see that my role as educator and advocate for the individuals during there moments of crisis. A recent example highlights this interaction. Recently, I had the pleasure of working with an individual who was originally seen as an observation patient for an automated implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (AICD). Further investigation of the patient indicated he had a forty-pound unintentional weight loss three months post open-heart surgery. The patient had a devastating diagnosis of widely metastatic pancreatic cancer, which would be fatal in one to two months per the oncologist’s prognosis. My role was to work with the patient in discussing treatment options that revolved around palliative versus curative treatment. When discussing treatment goals a connection between the patient and the author, which was based upon trust and honesty. The patient sensed my compassion for his situation and in the end made the decision to enroll in inpatient hospice for symptom control and stabilization. This author was inspired by the patient’s genuine thankfulness in being truthful about his diagnosis and treatment options.
LOYALTY: Whom do I serve?
As a nurse my moral values and professional ethics are obliged to multiple entities. These include individual patients, their family and the community as a whole. Unlike an obligation, which “signifies being required to do something by virtue of moral rule, duty, or some other binding demand,” (Burkhardt, p. 206, 2008) my loyalty is a choice. It is this loyalty that is given to the patient and their family first and foremost but working for a community hospital I have a distinct loyalty to the hospital and the community that we serve. This does place case managers in ethical dilemmas as the cost of care increases and with increased expectations from patient’s and families that more care is better. Case managers do have to weigh these expectations with the greater good that can be afforded the community. My view of loyalty is my ability to be truthful to my patients and that I do have both their interests and the communities interests as a priority in order to ensure the best outcomes for the individual, their family, the hospital, and the community at large.
References:
Burkhardt, M., & Nathaniel, A. (2008). Ethical Issues in Contemporary Nursing (Rev. ed.). Clifton, New York: Delmar .
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2009). Principles of biomedical ethics (6th ed., pp. 38-39). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 3/31/2013 from, http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/Resources/Ethics-Definitions.pdf
.
Marriam-Webster (2013). : Marriam-Webster. Retrieved 3/31/2013 from, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inspiration