Ethical dilemmas, also known as a moral dilemma, is a situation in which there is a choice between two options, neither of which resolves the situation completely. In other words, both options will result in negative results based on society and/or personal guidelines. Labor and delivery nurses are often confronted with ethical dilemmas in practice. To help student nurses prepare for this eventuality, nursing programs do their best to incorporate education about ethics and professionalism into courses. This introduction to ethics in nursing school also assists future nurses to begin recognizing and managing their own personal values in a way that can help guide them in resolving ethical conflicts they will encounter throughout their professional careers. During my labor and delivery clinical rotation, I interviewed several L&D nurses anonymously, asking them about ethical dilemmas they have encountered in the past. I received many interesting responses. One dilemma mentioned …show more content…
One nurse stated "it's tough to educate your client when it could be at the expense of your job." There are times when the OBGYN and/or client makes a decision for interventions (pitocin, artificial rupture of membranes, or c-section) that the nurse may not feel is in the best interest of the client. Some L&D nurses believe this to be related to convenience of the doctor, for example, doing a cesarean in order to "make it to a golf game on time." Doctor's may tell the parent's to be the cesarean is for failure to progress...when maybe it is actually failure to progress fast enough for doctor convenience. The ethical dilemma here includes the question...does the L&D nurse speak up by educating the client on the risks and benefits, or just go along with the
The case study that I chose was from Nursing Ethics Journal is titled, The twins: a case study in ethical deliberation. This case presents a nurses perspective about nine year old, Roman Catholic, Hispanic twins, who survived a very difficult preterm birth and were in a persistent vegetative state since childbirth. The parents took care of the twins along with their four other children, but the growing demand of the twins was starting to take a toll on the parents, so they decided to place the twins in an institution. From the time that the twins were admitted to the institution, they have been frequently admitted to the hospital related to respiratory illnesses and urinary tract infection, which were a result of their deteriorating immune system. The nurse’s role was to obtain a do not resuscitate (DNR) order from the parents due to the doctors stating the twins have less than a year left to live, and “why prolong the inevitable?”
AUTONOMY: According to Mcdonald & Then (2014) “It is not just providing information about the risks and benefits associated with proposed care and treatment, and the skills and expertise of the midwife or nurse providing care that recognises an individual’s autonomy.” The moral duty of nurse is to provide an information to the client and respect the choice of their decision. The Coroner’s inquest clearly shows that none of the nurses provided information to the client and family and did not perform a frequent assessment in the critical situation. The nurses breached the duty of care by not providing autonomous choice to the
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.
To help make a choice, they should first look at their personal and professional values that define their nursing practice. After, they need to look at ethical principles and legal documents to help guide their decision. In the end, they must compare and contrast these factors together to come up with the ethical decision that they ultimately feel is best for their
It is important that all healthcare professionals value and support their peers who have the courage to stand up and speak out against unethical behavior even when others are silent or differ in opinion. Ethical dilemmas in practice arise when one feels drawn both to do and not to do the same thing.
According to the ANA Code of Ethics (American Nurses Association, 2015, p. 2), provision
I was able to call our labor and delivery department, where we had a female resident working, and she came over and completed the exam in the ED. The patient and her husband were satisfied with their care and she was able to be treated without compromising her beliefs. Health Care Ethics in Nursing: 3350 included discussions reflecting one’s own beliefs and how principles of ethical conduct are implemented during situations presenting ethical dilemmas. I completed an applied ethics report on death and dying and the beliefs different cultures have on life sustaining measures.
Nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas related to clinical issues, and disease and treatment decisions daily (Kangasniemi,
When we have the conflict we need to see our patients. The need of patients should full fill first. Fowler (2015) states in the ANA code of ethics “the primary obligation is the patent. (p. 15). The nurse should participate in the care of baby k .As
Regardless of what the answer may be from the patient the nurse needs to respect the patient decision and to treat the patient with justice, just because the patient isn't making the choice the nurse would make doesn't mean the nurse should treat the patient differently. The patient has the autonomy to make decisions for herself. The nurse needs to do what's best for the patient based on the decision the patient has made, beneficence, doing good and being an advocate will better the quality of care regardless of the
Utilitarianism and Deontology are two major ethical theories that influence nursing practice. Utilitarian principles of promoting the greatest good for the greatest amount of people parallels the nursing tenet of beneficence. Deontological principles of treating individuals with dignity, and promoting the well-being of the individual parallels the nursing tenet of non-maleficence. Utilitarian and Deontological principles can be utilized to resolve ethical dilemmas that arise in the nursing profession. The purpose of this paper is to define utilitarianism and deontology, discuss the similarities and differences between the two, and to address an ethical dilemma utilizing utilitarian and deontological principles.
]n Iran’s nursing system, there are some challenges and limitations such as insufficiency of ethical knowledge, work overload, job dissatisfaction[9, 12, 13], which decreases compliance with ethical codes of conduct[12] and in turn the quality of nursing care[9, 13]. On the other hand recently, nursing ethics has been the subject of several research projects in Iran, suggesting procedures for higher compliance with principals of ethical conduction in professional nursing practice[7]. For example code of ethics for Iranian nurses was released by the Iranian Nursing Organization in 2010, containing national codes of conduct for ethical nursing [14]. A nursing ethical leader is considered as a role model for the other nurses; a person who works in the same context. He/
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.
According to Kant nurses must determine if lying is an acceptable ethical behavior. Rationally, lying is not ethical and is not tolerable to any situation as it violates the duty to tell the truth to those individuals who are entitled to honest information, in which nurse-patient relationship or trusts will not develop. Deontologist also believes that killing a fetus is wrong and immoral. Deontology suggest that health care workers have a ? moral duty, to maintain and preserve life?
Ethical Issues in Healthcare There are many ethical issues facing health care at any time and it is impossible to say definitively which is the most pressing or the most important. Health care professionals are expected to base their practice on a set of ethical principles, including truthfulness, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and confidentiality. Ethical issues can arise, however, when a l professional is called upon to act in opposition to personal values or in cases where the values of patient, health care worker, and sponsoring institution conflict. The following issues are presented in no order. Neonatal Ethics Neonates are babies within their first twenty-eight days of life.