Amelia Wilkerson Ethical Dilemmas

Background and Significance of the Study Moral integrity is the key ingredients and navigator in professional nurses that lead to ultimate goal of nursing care. It has been recognized as a fundamental part of professional nurses’ practice (Ulrich et al, 2010; Pavlish et al, 2012). Professional nurses play the largest role to support the need for individualized treatment of the patient. The goals of the profession of nursing are related to ethical and involve protecting patients from harm while providing care that is the most benefit for the patient (Bosek, 2009; Kopala&Burkhart, 2005; Helft, 2011; Susan, 2013,). Nowadays, professional nurses have encountered to face and manage with moral problem that occur from complexity of patient health problems, advances in technology, inappropriate of health care system, policies and priorities that conflict with care needs, inadequate staffing and increased turnover, or lack of administrative support (Brazil et al. 2010; Eizenberg et al. 2009; Elpern et al. 2005;

Provision one, a provision in the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses, entails that nurses should pursue their nursing career with empathy and respect towards all patients. In other words, patients should be viewed as separate individuals with separate values and beliefs. Nurses and other healthcare professionals should respect their individual decisions, whether they agree with them or not. This code of ethics provision relates to the ethical dilemma of a patient refusing medical treatment. Although nurses are trained to do all that they are capable of doing to save patients’ lives, sometimes nurses reach a dilemma that puts a strain on their practice.

No matter how I feel, what decisions I make or what my values and beliefs are, the bottom line is the care I provide to my patients or clients has to be good quality care with no strings attached. That means my beliefs or values must not impact the quality of care I give to my patients. Premise: Should specific ethical principles be developed for all nurses across the board However, we leave the reader with two questions to consider that are particularly cogent to a discussion on ethical conflicts: "…is it justified to strive for uniformity of nursing practice on the basis of ethics across all cultures?" and "…are there ethical notions of caring, ethical principles and virtues that could be endorsed as true for all nurses everywhere?" (Davis, 1999, p. 123).

But, without trust patients are less-confident that decisions made are in their best interest. communication influences understanding and cooperation increases trust between both parties, nurses must monitor their interaction with patients to avoid a false sense of security. This false sense may cause potential harm to patients because substitute treatments are not offered. So, to lighten or reduce this concern the nurse must understand and listen to the patient’s life circumstances. A failure to do so may limit how much the patient’s concerns are considered in the decision making process(

As a registered nurse, we face ethical issues every day. Some days we understand the clear cut ethical issue at hand; however, other ethical issues can be disguised. In my year and half of being an RN I have come across many ethical issues. As mentioned before, some are clear cut and others are hard to tread through. Initially, these ethical issues can make you question your job; however, after some reflection I believe these issues make us stronger nurses.

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.

Nurses exhibit generosity by providing patients with education to make informed-decisions. It requires courage to advocate for patients in instances such as paternalism, during which a patient is told what to do rather than being an active participant in their own care (Cirpili & Shoemaker, 2014). Unresolved situations like this may lead to ethical issues, as the patient may not agree with the care plan decided for them. Integrity entails acting according to your beliefs, but may be problematic when a patient’s beliefs differ from that of the health care providers; values clarification can be achieved through reflective journaling to prevent conflicting beliefs from affecting patient care (Stephany,

One ethical obligation nurses are required to fulfil during their shift is to ensure no harm is done to their patient. Due to nursing shortages and too many patient’s, nurses are finding this hard to do. Ethics help nurses make the right decisions with the guidance of their morals, but due to shortages and overworked nurses they tend to feel dissatisfied with their jobs. This results from unsafe work environments, lack of time for communication and quality care of patients. “Understaffing and overtime hours have been associated with increases in patient mortality, hospital-acquired infections, shock, and bloodstream infections” (Kane et al., 2007b).

Empirical knowledge assists a nurse in beginning Patricia Benner’s stages of nursing, starting with Novice and ending at Expert. These stages are ones that every nurse encounters while developing professionally until they reach the Expert stage. Ethical reasoning is more of an innate moral compass that helps guide a nurse in times of ethical dilemmas. While the empirical knowledge can help support the education provided, the ethical reasoning determines how a nurse will react to a situation and assists a patient or themselves into what they believe is right while upholding the standards of empirical

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.

Mike’s Voice in his Cancer Treatment Nurses will frequently be put into situations where they are left to determine if they should respect the client’s wishes when these wishes conflict with medically ordered care. “Ethical dilemmas occur when there are conflicting moral claims” (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014, p. 527). Ethical dilemmas help shape nurses by requiring them to think critically about situations and determine the appropriate decision in order to create the best outcome for their patient.

Many of the 342 nurses reported they feared getting caught, and concerns that the patient’s preferences were not fully understood. This article showed critical care nurses constantly face difficult moral, ethical, and professional dilemmas regarding patient care. It is of the utmost importance for nurse’s to understand their own values so they may provide the highest care possible and deliver

It examines and evaluates the decision making process integrating ethical principals. Advance practice nurses must be aware there are ethical consequences for decisions that are made. This core competency addresses the need for ethically sound solutions to be applied to complex issues. During this course ethical principles of decision making was addressed in the case studies. For example, a patient became pregnant and contracted a sexually transmitted infection from her estranged spouse.

Follow the Guide to the Code of Ethics (Fowler, 2008), individual nurses, and other healthcare providers must deal with ethics issues with four primary principles: autonomy, beneficence, justice and veracity (Chally& Loriz, 1998). Also Fower (2008) further noted the nurses are responsible for articulating nursing values, for maintaining the integrity of the profession and its practice, and for shaping social policy. In my previous placement, I have experienced to look after patients with mental health issues and child protection. Furthermore, some female patients choose to be looked after by female carer.

The practice of health care includes many scenarios that have to do with making adequate decisions when it comes to a patient’s life, and the way they are treated. Having an ethical code in all health care organizations is very important, because it helps health care workers with reaching a suited and ethical decision when it comes to the patient. In health care, patient will always be put first, and their autonomy will always be respected. Nevertheless, when there is a situation where a patient might be in harm, or might be making their condition worse because of the decisions they made. Health care workers will always be there to