Neonatal Nurses: A Case Study

Many healthcare institutions have standards of ethics in which are used to regulate common standards through out the work field. Code of Ethics of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses is recognized for outlining the nursing outlooks and encouraging the growth of professional ethics by providing excellent principles to serve as models. “The goal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) is to enable neonatal nurses to alleviate suffering and protect, promote and restore health to infants and their families.” (NANN) Having a code of ethics directs nurses in giving accountable, excellent and moral care to their patients, in turn receiving the reward of helping someone in need. Although a nurse should be an independent thinker, the nurse is always responsible for the action they take. Therefore, the ethical principles
& Garrett, R. 2013). When caring for a patient a nurse should always put their patient first. In the principles of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence, it signifies that a healthcare provider must always be good to their patients. Unfortunately, healthcare providers also understand that in order to provide a sense of no harm sometimes they have to incorporate a little bit of harm into their therapeutic treatments. For example, a patient under going chemotherapy using antineoplastic agents may become immunosuppressed, but in order to completely eradicate the cancerous tumor a treatment such as antineoplastic therapy is necessary although it is causing harm. The reason this is allowed is because the outcome is an eradicated tumor that can lead to a normal and healthy life. Without the harm of the antineoplastic agent, the tumor would continue to invade the patient’s life. When a neonatal nurse takes responsibility of a newborn, the nurse is responsible for producing no harm, unless otherwise ethically