Ethics are declarations of what is
right or wrong usually presented as a system of value behaviors and beliefs
with the purpose of governing conduct to ensure protection of an individual’s
rights (Catalano, 2003). A code
of ethics is a written list of a profession’s values and standards of
conduct, which provides a framework for decision making for the profession.
There are some important ethical principles which include autonomy, justice,
fidelity, beneficence nonmaleficence, veracity, standard of best interest, and
obligations.
Autonomy:
Catalano (2003) said, “Autonomy is the right of
self-determination, independence, and freedom” (p. 118). The individual patient has
the right to make health-care decisions for himself or herself, even if the
health-care provider does not agree with those decisions.
Justice:
Justice is defined as “the obligation
to be fair to all people"(Catalano,
2003, p.118). The individuals have the right to be treated equally
regardless of race, sex, marital status, medical diagnosis, social standing, economic
level, or religious belief. It is important to protect human right to have
equal access to healthcare.
Fidelity:
Fidelity is the obligation of an
individual to be faithful to make commitments to others or organizations which
support the concept of accountability. “In health care, fidelity includes the
professional’s faithfulness or loyalty to agreements and responsibilities accepted
as part of the practice of the profession”
(Catalano, 2003, p.119). For example, healthcare
teams try their best to save the life of a patient in critical condition.
Beneficence:
The
primary goal of health care is doing good for clients, which is more than providing
technically competent care that health-care provider take a holistic approach
to the client, including the client’s beliefs, feelings, and wishes as well as
those of the client’s family and significant others (Catalano, 2003).
Nonmaleficence:
Health-care
providers are to oblige with the practices which do no harm to their clients,
either intentionally or unintentionally. For example, doctors and nurses must
follow strict aseptic technique in performing surgical and other invasive
procedure, to avoid the risk of infection.
Veracity:
Veracity
is the principle of truthfulness which requires the healthcare provider to tell
the truth and not to deceive or mislead clients intentionally (Catalano, 2003).
Standard of best interest:
The
standard of best interest is on the basis of what health-care providers and the
family decide is best for that individual, and it is very important to consider
the individual patient’s wishes and what matter most to the patient.
Why Ethics are important for nurses and
healthcare professionals
Nurses
and healthcare professionals have responsibility to protect the rights of the
patients. Patients have the right to receive safe and quality healthcare,
regardless of race, rel
igion and socioeconomic status. Moreover, patients have
the right to get equal access to healthcare and the right to be treated with
respect and culturally sensitive care. Protecting those patients’ right is an
important part the professional ethics of healthcare providers.
Adherent
to ethical practice is not only important for protecting patients’ rights, it
is either important to maintain professional image. Violating patient’s rights
by misconducts and unethical practices damage professional dignity. For
instance, nurses do not show respect to the patients who are the ordinary
persons, and they tend to provide considerate care only to patients who are
very important persons or related to one of the very important persons. For
this instance, the public observe nurses as immoral and impolite, with which
perception of the public devalues nurses, leading to damage professional image
of nursing.
Furthermore,
obligation to ethical principles is very important for improvement of national
economy and quality of life among citizens. In terms of ethical principle of beneficence,
nurses and healthcare providers have to give good care or high quality of care to
all patients. Likewise, in terms of ethical principle or nonmalefficience, nurses
and healthcare providers have to give safe care which contributes no harm to
patients. When every healthcare personals are practicing according to the
ethical principles, patients will receive safe and high quality care, leading
to reduce hospital stay and costs of medical and nursing care. Quality and safe
care either contribute to improve health status of the consumers, their
satisfaction and quality of life.
Education preparation for nurses
Nurses’s knowledge and skill are
important forces that contribute to the power to influence patient care in an
ethical manner and improve competency (Parker, 2007). Nursing education
should be incorporated with ethical principles, ethical theories, application
to analysis of barriers to ethical practice and exploration of creative
approach to challenge these barriers. Educator should integrate suitable
methods of teaching such as problem-based learning, group discussion and role
modelling. Reflective model could be utilised to allow students critically
reflect on nursing action and facilitate ethical decision making.
Implication on education is
crucial for the nurses to gain knowledge on ethics from on-going training and
organizational support. According to
Johnstone, Da Costa, & Turale (2004), the on-going training will give
empowerment to nurses as patient advocator, improve interdisciplinary ethical
decision making, and meet the needs of care givers and care recipients.
Recommendation and conclusion
The culture of
nursing should change to challenge for ethical and moral issues in every day practice.
Nurses need to have personal qualities and capacities such as courage, honesty,
confidence and assertiveness to stand for the patients’ right as well as the
rights of nurses themselves. Establishment
of ethical consultation groups, and empoverment among nurses, are good strategies for improving
ethical practices and addressing ethical issues. Finally, communication among health care team through
multidisciplinary involvement is a good tool and increase nurse’s power to base
care decision on ethical principles thus improve patient care.
References:
Catalano, J. T. (2003). Ethic in Nursing. Nursing Now! Today’s Issues, Tomorrow Trends
(4th ed.). F.A. Davis company: Philadephia
Johnstone,
M. J., Costa, C. D., & Turale, S. (2004). Registered and enrolled nurses’
experiences of
thical issues in nursing practice. Australian
Journal of Advance Nursing, 22(1), 24-30.
Parker,
F. (2007). Ethic: The power of one. Journal
of Issue in Nursing, 13(1).
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