Ethical Principles of Nursing Guidelines - Essay Example

There are various guidelines that nurses have to follow as they make day to day decisions related to their job profile. Ethical frameworks normally give nurses proper guidelines that they have to tag on as they make medical decisions. This paper is dealing with different ethical principles. They include autonomy, non-malificence and veracity among others. (Beauchamp, 2005) This scenario explains a situation where patient was not fully informed about a procedure. Derrick works in the surgery ward during the day. He works with Richard who is responsible for letting patients sign their operation consent forms and also informing them more about their operations. On this Monday there are ten men who are all scheduled to have vasectomies carried out. Richard has reported to work though he is quite unwell. In this case Derrick will not be in a position of fully explaining to each one of them the risks of the operations due to time factor. The doctor is pressurizing him to hurry up because he has other important duties. He ends up talking to all the men but does not fully inform them concerning the operation. He assumes that by their looks, they are learned and understand the procedure. It ends up that two of the men still desired to have babies but just wanted to space their children. The healthcare industry normally experiences very many dilemmas that are related to the principles of ethics. Confidentiality is an aspect that nurses and other healthcare professionals hold in high esteem. On the other hand, one finds that patients normally want to know all about their health issues. This is also part of their right. These issues normally conflict leading to dilemmas. There are normally conflicts that do occur in relation to the principles of veracity and non-malificence. In discussing this issue, one has to understand what exactly the two ethical principles mean. Veracity is an ethical principle about truthfulness. Nurses always have to put in mind this principle as they make day to day decisions. It is a requirement that nurses speak the truth concerning their actions. There normally occur cases of dilemma in healthcare set ups that requires nurses to speak the overall truth even if they are on the wrong. This principle is normally made very clear when nurses train and even during their recruitment process. (Zelevinsky, 2006) Non- malificence ethical principle is all about medical practitioner’s actions in relation to the treatment that they give to the patients. All medical practitioners should not prescribe any medicine or any medical procedure that is harmful to the client or the patient for that matter. They always have to be sure about the medicine that they are prescribing to the patients. Any form of healthcare that is given to the patient is included in this principle. This means that nurses and doctors always have to be accountable for their actions. The form of treatment that is given has to be safe to the patient. These two principles normally conflict in the sense that nurses and doctors may fail to speak the truth concerning their actions. This is in case they make mistakes in their line of duty that results in harm on the patient’s side. It becomes very hard to speak out the truth as this can result loss of their jobs. Like in the scenario illustrated above, Derrick is responsible for any eventualities when the patient complains that he can’t have children since he (patient) was not fully informed about vasectomy procedure. On the other hand, if Derrick accepts, then he risks losing his job. (Veatch, 2005 The principles of autonomy and informed consent are also very important when nurses make decisions at work. These two principles are also quite related to each other. The principle of autonomy stipulates that a patient has the right to make decisions by him or herself. This means that all the issues that concern the patient’s healthcare options have to be carried out by him or her. This clearly indicates that patients have the overall right of choosing a medical procedure and shunning the other according to their preferences. This means that nurses and the doctors respect the patient’s choice no matter what it is. This principle recognizes the patient as the final decision maker on his or her health issues. In situations where the patient is incapacitated, then a close relative is allowed to make decisions their behalf. (Veatch, 2005) On the other hand, the principle of informed consent, stipulates that patients have to make decisions only after they have been fully informed about a procedure. In this case, nurses among other medical practitioners should ensure that the patient fully understands what the medial procedure means. This also includes the side effects that the medical procedure or drugs have on the patient. The patient has to be fully aware of the pros and cons of medication. Nurses also have to ensure that they fully inform the patient concerning all the available options of medication that they can take. This means that the patient makes a decision after getting full advice. That is why the principle is referred to as informed consent. (Beauchamp, 2005) Looking at the two principles, they are generally quite related. While the principle of autonomy asserts that the patient carries the overall responsibility of making is healthcare decisions, the principle of informed consent concurs that this is right but it has to occur after they get full information. It means that when the patient makes a decision without getting full information concerning the procedure, then it is definitely ethically wrong. For this reason, it is very obvious that the two ethical principles are quite related to one another. They generally co-work in the decision making process. In the scenario that is illustrated in page one. The principle of informed consent is actually violated. This is because the patients are allowed to undergo the vasectomy operation without fully understanding what it entails. Though they decided to go for it in relation to the autonomy principle, the informed consent aspect was not fully incorporated. (Beauchamp, 2005) There are possible consequences that come up as a result of an individual not having an informed consent. Just like in the situation illustrated in page one, the patient ends up going back to hospital because he wants a baby. Now this can be described as a best example of the consequence of not obtaining an informed consent. The results in this case are accusations on the doctors, nurses and surgeons. This results in broken relationships between these stakeholders. It also implies that the hospital or the healthcare facility would end up losing clients. On the part of the patient, the consequence of not getting an informed consent could even be a broken marriage. The other consequence of not obtaining an informed consent is that patients end up losing so much money. This is especially the case when there is another cheaper option that could be undertaken. This means that finances are unduly wasted. The other consequence of not obtaining an informed consent may be giving patients prescriptions that they are allergic to. (Zelevinsky, 2006) Many patients in this era have so many allergies to different medication. Without such information, the patient ends up suffering the more by the worsening of the situation or health. In very bad situations where informed consent of the patient is not obtained death may even occur. This is when the prescriptions result in further complications that are hard or impossible to treat. The RN can come up with various strategies in dealing with a situation such as this. One of the strategies that can be implemented is in relation formation of ethics committees. These are committees that deal with ethical issues in healthcare institutions. These are very important because there are times when mere communication between parties involved doesn’t work in solving ethical conflicts. It is very important that each hospital has an ethic committee since ethical conflicts tend to increase with time. Without proper handling of these conflicts, there can result in situations where the overall running of the healthcare system is adversely affected. Research shows that in many cases, ethics committees comprise of the clergy in the society, lay person, a professional in the healthcare sector and a philosopher. (Veatch, 2005) The society’s basic values are represented by the clergy and the philosophers in the committee. When all these are not well represented, it becomes very easy to come up with viable resolutions to solve the ethical conflict. Therefore it is very clear that the ethical committees have the overall responsibility of solving ethical conflicts in healthcare institutions and ensuring that they do not affect the smooth running of these institutions. The other strategy that can be implemented by the RN in solving ethical conflicts is to ensure that the staffs go through organisational learning. In this case other nurses and staff in healthcare facilities go through seminars where they are trained on how to handle day to day issues ethically. This would generally help the staff to be keen when they carry out decisions in their line of duty. It is very true that knowledge is power and this has to be passed on to all the staff in healthcare facilities. The RN should also put in place strategies where a library is incorporated in the hospital. The library should include books that have information on ethical conflicts at work, how they can be avoided and how they can be solved in case they occur. Through this knowledge, many ethical conflicts can easily be solved. (Beauchamp, 2005) In conclusion, ethical principles are very significant in decision making process. They include autonomy, confidentiality, non-malificence and informed consent. The principle of non malificence is about prescribing healthcare that is not harmful to the patient. Veracity entails nurses and doctors speaking the truth about their actions. Autonomy is about patients making decisions concerning their healthcare. While informed consent means that they have to make the decision after getting full information concerning the pros and cons of available options. These two principles are quite related to each other. It is very important that strategies be put in place to help nurses handle ethical conflicts at work. Read More