Nursing Ethics Preliminary Concepts

Nurses are required to have a certain level of proficiency in ethical theories, concepts, principles and skills in ethical decision-making( in a morally demanding world/profession) Nurses and Nursing students have to be prepared in facing the healthcare environment which poses complex and difficult challenges (Nursing Education Agenda for the 21st

Century,2002)

For Nurses to be ethically grounded in their practice-a well-integrated (theory and praxis) ethical education is needed in their curriculum

The Challenge In Teachinglearning Nursing Ethics

To make Ph 133 concrete and applicable to the routine practice of the nursing profession and ordinary dealings with individual patients, doctors and fellow nurses and staff However, this course remains to be philosophical in its approach and direction to provide deep and thorough understanding of the healthcare profession

Nursing as a Moral Enterprise

The unique and distinct nature that defines the relationship of nursing to health and well-being of the patient
Moral responsibility-to promote and protect the health and well-being of the clients

Challenges to Modern day Nurses

They have to be morally sensitive to the inherent ethical demand of their profession (act accordingly and responsibly)-for both clients and the healthcare community in general They have to deal and grapple with moral dilemmas that revolve around the question of whats good and whats bad? or whats right or whats wrong?-in terms of patients health and well-being
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Ethics in Nursing
It is not enough for todays nurses to be technically competent but they also have to be morally and ethically grounded
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Some Breakthroughs in Medicine and Healthcare

Advances in medical and reproductive technologies that altered radically how healthcare is to be viewed and delivered
Increased awareness and emphasis on clients rights, as well as social and legal changes in their relationship and treatment with patients The allocation of scarce medical and healthcare resources especially in developing and underdeveloped countries

Continue The formulation and establishment of certain standards of conduct (code of ethics) that governed the profession
New Expectations for Nurses-the question of accountability-due to a new view of the nurses role as a healthcare provider

Bioethical Questions in Health Care

Should health professionals tell everything about their patients health status? Is it ethical to withhold the truth from dying patients? Should there be a limit to truth telling?
Is it morally justified for a medical practitioner to carry medical treatment that would save a patients life but goes against his/her religious convictions? When should life-sustaining medical treatments like breathing machines or feeding tubes be started, continued or stopped?
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Continue What should family members and health care professionals do if a patient refuses treatment that promises to be medically helpful? Who should make health care decisions for patients when they are unable to communicate or decide for themselves? What should patients do when they do not understand what health professionals are saying and feel that they are not offered to participate in their health care decisions?
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Continue Is it ethical to deceive to deceive (not tell the truth) patients for their own good? Should the basis to distribute health care be on the willingness and ability to pay of the potential recipients?

Nursing Related Questions..

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 A young man named James was injured late at night in a car accident. Because the hospital in the rural area where the accident occurred could not care for him properly, he was flown to a tertiary hospital in a nearby city. Because of head injuries, James was in a coma and had very difficult time breathing. The physician in the emergency room supplied a respirator. He also installed a nasogastric tube to provide nutrition and hydration. His family-a wife and three children-did not hear of the accident until after James had been admitted to the emergency room. It took them another day to drive to the hospital. When they arrived, James sister who had come much earlier had informed the physician that she was the legally appointed proxy for James by reason of a Durable Power of Attorney (DPA) which James had signed only two weeks before the accident. James sister asked the physician to remove both the respirator and the artificial hydration and nutrition because James had stated when he handed her the DPA that he never wanted his life prolonged by mechanical devices. The physician on the other hand offered a medical prognosis which held some hope for James recovery. In fact, one physician said: I have seen people in worse condition walk out of here. Who has the right to decide about James treatment? The physician or his sister?
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CASE ANALYSIS

The Somera Case Basis of the shift of Nurses Role

A Shift of Nurses Role: Passivity to Advocacy(p.3) Nurses Ethical Responsibilities(p. 4) Nursing Ethics and Ethical DecsionMaking(p. 5) Nursing Ethics and Ethical theories(p.56)
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Somera Case
This is where a nurse failed to question a doctors order and is often cited as proof of nurses independent accountability. In 1929,in Manila Lorenza Somera (a nurse), was found guilty of manslauhgter, sentenced to a year in prison, and fined one thousand pesos
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Somera Case
For following a physicians orders. (Somera assisted a physician in a tonsillectomy. The physician ordered an injection of cocaine to be prepared. Somera prepared it,the physician administered it, and the patient died. The drug he meant to ask was procaine.) She was found
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Somera Case
Found guilty(while the doctor was acquitted) because when the doctors said cocaine, she did not question his orders.

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