Nurses and Ethical Decisions

Discuss about the Code of Ethics & Standards of Professional Conduct.

A nurse practitioner has to always make tough decisions through conducting research, providing testimony, initiating policy change and composing position statements. Any morals decisions that are made by her are made within the constraints of the law. They provide a balance to the principles that dictate morals and legalities in the analysis if any case and also, they tend to require moral courage as well. At the end of the day, nursing is an ethical profession that requires the nurses to make and deal with any ethical issues that may occur in their work so as to improve on the patients’ health and also support their fellow colleges and organizations. Advanced nursing also tends to deal with advanced ethical requirements. Such as the ability to identify and evaluate queries ad also solutions to them. This is done through advanced education as well as buildup of years of experience in the field. Similarly, a favorable ethical environment in the organizations also contributes, as well as strong international researches (Valimaki, 2001).

The international council of nurses (ICN) made significant updates to the ethical code in order to address issues and reflect on professional values. Some of the values that were highlighted on include competence and courage. A nurse is required to me competent and courageous in order to be ethically competent in solving issues that may rise with patients. This comes along way in contributing to treatment of patients who may prove stubborn or lack the moral integrity as well as administering of medication. It also assists with the solving of new duties and responsibilities. Another issue was constant awareness of ethical responsibilities. It’s important for a nurse to be always effective in all their activities and also be able to undertake all the task assigned to them that are of importance to a patient. The nurses need to be always present in regarding any relationship with a patient, colleagues and other professional colleagues in the health care institutions and organizations. This contributes to the measurement of outcomes, and the quality of the outcomes as well in-service delivery (Williams, 2001).

There is difficultness in setting up the system as laws have to constrain ways of living before the way of living starts being questionable. The difficult question that law and ethics deal with, is the question of how people are meant to live together with other people and even more so, how an individual is supposed to behave. This is where morality sets in and often, morality is confused with ethics. Ethics is seen as a code that enables morality. Morality is based on an agreement between a person and their inner conscious or between two people and on the other hand, ethics is seen as situation or condition brought about by circumstances.  (Lunder, 2001).

International Council of Nurses and Ethical Standards

Due to all these reasons, it’s therefore important to understand ethics and how ethics exists. Basically, ethics exists in their fields. The meta-ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. Meta-ethics deal with nature of the good as well as the nature and justification of the ethical claims. Normative ethics deals with the standards that determine if something is right or wrong. Applied ethics on the other hand deal with actual applications of ethical principles to an existing particular situation. The utilitarianism approach credited to Jeremy Bentham has been used for quite a while in making most ethical decisions. This is because it’s based on choosing the best life on the life that produces least pain and stress. (The ethics Centre, 2017) 

However, this approach has long been hit by many questions as it basis life on quantity. For one to describe their own life, one has to quantify the amount of good and bad actions that has been in it based on the actions one performs. Therefore, there is good or bad that just isn’t enough and thus life can only be described by the extreme conditions of the two (Karaca, 2009).  Looking at the egoistic approach that is credited to the famous Greek Sophist Thrasymachus, he credited ethics to might.  (Dworkin, 1983). 

The code of ethics for nursing professionals in Australia is a guideline that helps to provide a framework to the healthcare professionals to comply with the United Nations human rights and social and cultural rights (Storch et al., 2013). In this assignment, relating with a case study, ethical principles for physical restraining the patients will be discussed. Further alternative ways to eliminate the physical restrain from the process of patient control will be discussed in this section.

The ethical code of nursing practice is an important guideline for practice as it helps to uphold the patient’s dignity, respect, and helps to promote the fundamental rights of them while receiving care in the healthcare facility (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), 2008). Further, in the fundamental rights, the right of nursing professionals is also taken care of. Taking into an example of a scenario where two patients with different conditions are admitted to a hospital and they share the same room in the emergency ward, methods of restrain are used to calm them down during administering of medication. While working in the emergency department of the hospital where all the beds are occupied by critically ill patients, it is challenging to take equal care of each patient (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), 2008).

Meta-Ethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics

According to the code of ethics, nurses should value respect and kindness for their patients and others. Moreover, according to the code of ethics, if any trait of a patient seems harmful for other patients staying in the same ward, it is the responsibility of the nursing professionals to calm the patient. According to Cadore et al., (2014), using physical restrain for the benefit of the patient is allowed if it helps to provide security to other patients staying at the same ward. Nurses have one of the most important roles in a health care institution as they are in charge of administering care, and execution of treatment that the clients are serviced with at a health care facility. With the knowledge that there can be a few rogue elements in the facility, ethic codes are put in place so as to hold the staff in accountability for their actions. A recent search on the UK showed that there was an increase of patient fatalities in the health care facilities whenever there was an enrollment of new graduate students in the facility. This was due to the lack of enough experience in treating patients and therefore there were cases of over dosages, under dosages and wrongful treatments. And thus, for any medical intern in any facility, there always has to be a supervisor whenever an intern is required to administer treatment to a patient (Dr. Monrouxe, 2009).

Strategies

In the nursing practice, there are five type of patient restraints used including physical, chemical, mechanical, technological and psychological restraints. Physical restrain involves one or more medical personnel holding a patient back and limiting his or her movements. Mechanical restrain involve using objects to limit the movement of a patient like placing chairs across a hall way or locking doors. Psychological/ technological restrain involves limiting the tools that enable a patient to do an act whereas chemical restrain involves use of chemicals like medicines to calm a patient down. It’s mostly used on patients with mental problems. These restraints are not a solution. However, this can help the nursing professions to calm and control patients so that sustainable healthcare environment can be maintained (Lachman, 2012).

In a given case study where physical restrain is used to control the patient, using mechanical restrain could be a better replacement. Further, it helps the professional to comply with the nursing code of ethics. An example includes using a ‘Posey Vest’ with a zip at the back and clothes tied to each side of it, so that patients hand and legs can be moved freely. It is useful as it helps to restrict the patient from moving and does not apply any physical restrain. According to the principles for protection of people, physical restrain or involuntary seclusion of a patient should not be employed except with accordance with the official approved procedures of a health facility, in the event that a patient poses imminent harm to him/herself or others. Similarly, it should not be extended beyond the necessary period of the purpose and should be recorded on the patient’s medical records. A patient is supposed to be secluded under close and regular supervision, and kept under humane conditions by qualified staff. This is according to the human rights act of 1988. (Ludwick, O’Toole & Meehan, 2012).

The Code of Ethics for Nursing Professionals in Australia

Malpractice and discrimination of whatever form in the workplace can lead to poor production as far as the quality and quantity of work produced is concerned. It’s important as a nurse in any health institution or in an organization, to work closely with other administrators in the institutions as well legal representatives. In regards to setting up and following health institution policies and anti-discrimination laws. This helps in understanding more about the legal implications in discriminating against patients or fellow colleagues. It’s important for nurses to follow policies set up in the work place so as to create a comfortable work space for them and ensure comfortability and safety for the patients.  (George, 2016).

The ancient approach by Plato advice the actions to be contributed to ethical communal life to life. Therefore, there is a need for ethics that also needs to be incorporated rightfully into the legal, political and social aspect of life. This will promote good morals and also integrity among people. It will also create an environment for similar behavior to reign. All these efforts will make the society better as it will be a social group growth as opposed to just an individual growth. It will also promote for equal treatment for everyone. The stress that comes with immoral decisions that cause comfortability and concern in most decision making will be lessened as decisions will be based on a principled moral structure and thus there will be room for everyone to grow and achieve the very best of life regardless of their social, religion or even sexuality (The ethics Centre, 2017). Through an understanding of life and the science and way of life, it’s easier to improve how one lives life and the impact that we place on life and other people as well. This promotes for better and informed decisions that sharpen moral visions as opposed to contributing to social and individual decay (The ethics Centre, 2017).

Conclusion

Values are asserted to be the ideas, behavior and actions that are purported to be important to us. The values we possess as individuals is purported to influence strongly our decision making. Some of the societal values that we hold strongly and under which we derive our ethical behavior include integrity, honesty, hard work, kindness, compassion, empathy, sympathy, justice and bravery. Of these values, I think integrity, justice and bravery are some of the crucial values that a police officer should possess. Integrity should be encouraged since it shapes the character of the officers and orients them towards balancing multiple and significant emotional roles. As a nursing professional, provide care to each individual equally is the prime aspect of care. However, while practicing this, each nursing professional faces several difficulties. In this assignment, ethical ground using which the physical restrain has been shown to calm a patient. It shows application of professionalism in the work place and ensuring safety of the patient while applying ethics as dictated in the ethics code.

Alternatives to Physical Restraints

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