Ethical Issues In Nursing Home Essay

The ethical issues that are faced in nursing homes stem from a conflict of the institution's policy, staffing concerns regarding safety matters, and the general desires and preferences of the residents. When moving into a nursing, there is a loss of privacy as many residents share bedrooms, bathrooms, and common areas. The resident’s independence and decision-making ability over matters such as what to eat, wear, and their entertainment can all be controlled by the nursing facility, and this leads to a loss of autonomy. There are also concerns when the decision-making capacity of a resident conflicts with the general well-being of the nursing home populations. Moral issues that come into play when the resident has demonstrated a lack of competent decision-making practices is that who’s input regarding the resident's well-being has their best interest. For example, the staff who spends more time

Since nursing homes tend to provide care to a vulnerable population they can be taken advantage of, overlooked or mistreated by staff and with residents potentially underreporting these incidents due to fear of retaliation by staff identifies this as significant ethical issues among nursing homes. The use of restraints that restricts a resident, whether physical or chemical applies to the ethical considerations within a nursing home as it not only impacts the resident, it can affect staff members and other resident’s safety. There is always the conflict between providing the resident with a fair amount of decisions regarding their activities of daily living, special accommodations, and independence. However, there is also the reflective issue of whether these freedoms impact the safety and the ability to comply with the institution's policy and how they are handled to deliver ethically appropriate customer service to those