Examples Of Ethical Issues In Nursing

Providing safe, compassionate, competent, and ethical care is one of the important principles outlined in the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses, written by the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA). This principle requires nurses to create a therapeutic and trustworthy relationship with their patient while also remaining aware that they are providing the utmost safe and ethical care (CNA, 2017). By following the guidelines in the Code of Ethics, nurses are more likely to provide better care and decrease the chance of potential errors. In current times, many nurses face issues that inhibit them from providing the best care to their patients. Examples of such hindering factors are long hours, time constraints, staff shortages, and high work demands
Across Alberta, there has been numerous complaints about nurses failing to provide appropriate and professional care to their patients. In the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) Alberta RN magazine, there are multiple recordings of hearing tribunals describing instances where nurses have failed to comply with the Code of Ethics. One specific scenario was when a female nurse failed to complete an adequate pain assessment and inappropriately administered oral pain medication to a patient who was having difficulty swallowing (CARNA, 2017). The same nurse also “failed to ensure appropriate end-of-life care which included comfort measures, pain management, monitoring of changes in health status and swallowing” (CARNA, 2017, p. 16). The nurse in this situation failed to provide safe care to her patient which put the client at risk of choking. She proved herself to be incompetent by not completing a thorough pain assessment. The nurse also disregarded compassionate and ethical care for her
Supporting the Code of Ethics, offering ongoing education, and offering employee counselling services are just a few options to support nurses and the healthcare team (Brown, 2015). Institutions can also organize interactive workshops. These workshops can help nurses create their own definition of compassion and develop strategies to promote safe, competent, compassionate, and ethical care. Many nurses view compassion as “putting yourself in their shoes and imagining how you would feel if you were sat in that bed” (Christiansen et al., 2015, p. 3). Compassion is often derived from empathy and an emotional connection. At the workshops, nurses can develop their own action plans to help enhance compassionate practices for themselves, as well as ideas for discussing compassionate care within the workplace (Simmonds, 2015). Mindfulness-based techniques are also a useful tool for enhancing compassion awareness within the healthcare profession (Simmonds, 2015). Components of mindfulness include being present, open-minded, and accepting. Ultimately, healthcare institutions are accountable for setting standards that promote safe, compassionate, competent, and ethical care (Simmonds,