Reference no: EM133950208
Discussion: Ethics
Nurses experience ethical situations in their day to day life. Understanding and communicating the clients beliefs and values, helps nurses to understand the ethical situation and work through that if it occurs. One of the main component in nursing care is to identify the ethical values. CNO identified the ethical values in providing nursing care are client well- being, client choice, privacy and confidentiality, respect for life, maintaining commitments, truthfulness and fairness. By discussing doubts to colleagues and understanding values, situations review, helps nurses to prepare themselves for ethical practice. Ethical theories and principles are the foundation of ethical analysis. Ethical theory directed towards common set of goals. Ethical principles are beneficence, least harm, respect for autonomy, justice. The code of ethics for registered nurses serves as a foundation for nurses ethical practice. Nurses are responsible for the ethics of their practice. Nurses, self reflection and communication with other health care providers are essential components of ethical nursing practice.
Nurses inevitably face situations where they are presented with decisions that can be hard to make. Some of these situations may involve ethical dilemmas where the decision may not be clear. It could be in conflict with the nurses' own values and understandings and can cause stress in practice. In order to guide such decision-making, the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) created a standard to help nurses in such ethical dilemmas. This document is devised to help guide, not to provide solutions as every situation is different and there is no one correct answer for every instance.
Nursing ethics is a discipline that studies the moral implications of nursing practice. It is a subset of bioethics or the ethics of health care. Three components of nursing ethics interact as they prescribe ethical norms, explain ethical aspects of nursing, and offer ethical counsel. This CNO standard reinforced my belief in the significance of using our ethical knowledge, skills, and judgment in practice. Nurses must be mindful of this as to not lead to an abuse of power which can violate the trust and respect in the relationship (CNO, 2015). Thus, setting boundaries and being conscientious of them ensure there is no misuse of power that would change the relationship from professional to unprofessional.
What I learned from this CNO guideline is there can be situations involving privacy and confidentiality in nursing ethics. Patients have the right to have maintained confidentiality, but the nurse may encounter situations where withholding information may cause harm. In these situations, the nurse should approach the health care team for assistance in the ethical dilemma to help create the best solution in the scenario. I have also learned that there are legislations that require nurses to reveal information such as in cases of child abuse (CNO, 2015). This has solidified my understanding and revealed another important aspect of interprofessional collaboration as they can be a source of assistance in times of dilemma.
In my future nursing practice, I will continue to follow and uphold the CNO's standard of providing ethical care to my patients. When I encounter ethical dilemmas, I will be sure to work through difficult situations while maintaining my ethical values.
Nurses are accountable for demonstrating moral principles in every activity regardless of their roles, job description, and practice area. Since ethical conflict is common in the health care system, a good understanding of ethical values is crucial to eliminating this situation. CNO identified some important values to protect the society with the help of law, they are client well-being, client choice, privacy and confidentiality, respect for life, maintaining commitments, truthfulness, and fairness. When there is an ethical conflict or dilemma, nurses may experience ethical uncertainty and ethical distress. This can be varied depending on the situation. Each nurse should develop some knowledge to tackle these ethical problems, which requires sensitivity, intellectual curiosity, and commitment.
Since nurses cannot handle all the ethical problems, they need to access some resources. For instance, continuing education which dealt with ethical issues and conflict will help the nurses to identify and solve when an ethical situation arises. Besides this, ongoing self-reflection and discussion between peer groups about these issues will help a nurse to solve these problems in their nursing practice.