What Are Ethical Issues In Nursing
Nurses face certain risk and challenges when they advocating for their patients. They can experience many barriers when addressing the rights, choices, or welfare of their patients. Different workplace cultures and policies can affect nurse’s advocacy. Many patients being discharged early in hospitals when the health care provider attempt to free beds for seriously ill patients. Management and physician are driven by the desire to discharge patients quickly and are not considered by the nurse's opinion about patient most of the time. Many times patients are forced to take the first available bed in a facility that wasn’t their choice and required them to move to the unknown area. It also makes families commute longer to visit their loved ones.
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In many occasions, patients are discharged home despite nurses concerns and are likely to suffer adverse health consequences upon discharge because of anxiety and stress, or to be readmitted to hospital with complications shortly after. Often patients who were discharged home quickly, before the weekend, may not have had a home care placed or home care support involved.
The consequences of being a patient advocate are viewed as negative by many nurses due to barriers in place. Nurses may find difficulty in being supported in the advocacy role by administration, physicians, and coworkers. Nurses view the consequences of nursing advocacy as risk taking as it can lead to punishment or diminishing relationship with coworkers and management. Many nurses are unable to safely voice concerns over policy and practices and lack of communication. Even after effective advocacy, they experience moral stress, anger, frustration and disruption of peer relationship. Most of the time they could be labeled as ‘trouble maker”. As a result, they feel suppressed and unable to provide safe and satisfactory care.
Conclusion
Nurses face ethical dilemmas every day regardless where they practice.
They understand, that ethical decision they make, can affect patients and their practice. Moreover, that it is important to make those decisions right so that client’s rights are honored without dismissing nurse’s morals and conscience.
Nurses base their ethical decisions making on CRNBC guidelines or ethical decision-making framework, although keeping in mind that patient comes first. In complicated ethical cases, they look for the help of the ethical committee, professional policies, and guidelines.
It is important that nursing ethical decision should be based on ethical principles. Nurse’s ethical decisions should be beneficial with less harm for a patient. The core task for practicing nurses when confronted with ethical dilemmas is to maintain moral integrity, defined as living up to personal and professional ethical beliefs by acting honestly, being trustworthy, and consistently supporting and doing what is right (Davis, Schrader, & Belcheir, 2012)
The nursing goal in dealing with the ethical issue is to present all treatment options to a patient, explaining risks in terms that a patient understands and ensuring that a patient understands the risks and
benefits.
In many occasions, patients are discharged home despite nurses concerns and are likely to suffer adverse health consequences upon discharge because of anxiety and stress, or to be readmitted to hospital with complications shortly after. Often patients who were discharged home quickly, before the weekend, may not have had a home care placed or home care support involved.
The consequences of being a patient advocate are viewed as negative by many nurses due to barriers in place. Nurses may find difficulty in being supported in the advocacy role by administration, physicians, and coworkers. Nurses view the consequences of nursing advocacy as risk taking as it can lead to punishment or diminishing relationship with coworkers and management. Many nurses are unable to safely voice concerns over policy and practices and lack of communication. Even after effective advocacy, they experience moral stress, anger, frustration and disruption of peer relationship. Most of the time they could be labeled as ‘trouble maker”. As a result, they feel suppressed and unable to provide safe and satisfactory care.
Conclusion
Nurses face ethical dilemmas every day regardless where they practice.
They understand, that ethical decision they make, can affect patients and their practice. Moreover, that it is important to make those decisions right so that client’s rights are honored without dismissing nurse’s morals and conscience.
Nurses base their ethical decisions making on CRNBC guidelines or ethical decision-making framework, although keeping in mind that patient comes first. In complicated ethical cases, they look for the help of the ethical committee, professional policies, and guidelines.
It is important that nursing ethical decision should be based on ethical principles. Nurse’s ethical decisions should be beneficial with less harm for a patient. The core task for practicing nurses when confronted with ethical dilemmas is to maintain moral integrity, defined as living up to personal and professional ethical beliefs by acting honestly, being trustworthy, and consistently supporting and doing what is right (Davis, Schrader, & Belcheir, 2012)
The nursing goal in dealing with the ethical issue is to present all treatment options to a patient, explaining risks in terms that a patient understands and ensuring that a patient understands the risks and
benefits.