Nursing Ethics Experience - Essay Example

Institute May 19, Nursing Ethics My experience of entering into the nursing profession is a sequel to my being part of a non-profit organization that provides care to the underprivileged children and poor elderly people in the form of various services like education, home care services, food etc. I joined this non-profit organization as a part time worker during my high school, and after working with them in the children’s section, I was moved to serve the elderly who were suffering with health issues such as dementia, physical disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease etc. This experience had an acute impact on my psychology and eventually led me to severe depression. Initially, I felt my skills of dealing with all levels of people, right attitude, patience, showing empathy, being a good listener directed me to help others, which further strengthened me mentally. Every new case I dealt with, I observed that the patient had to recover from a serious injury, illness or a surgery that had moved the client emotionally. So, I had to create an emotional or a psychological environment to facilitate the adjustment for the client to cope with the changes. It is a real challenge to get the customer cope with, adapt and adjust to the new environment. Also, I had to establish trusted and supportive relations with the customers and his/her family to enable them to deal with the situation. My moving to the nursing profession was neither a consequence of this previous experience nor a chance, but only triggered by my utmost urge to serve others and give them the care they deserved. Post my high school, I pursued Bachelor’s degree in nursing and acquired job as a nurse in the hospital associated with the college from where I graduated. When I started working as a nurse, I never realized that I had entered a new profession or doing something new, may be, because of my previous experience as human service worker. I did not feel there is much difference between a human service worker and a nurse from a psychological/mental perspective. However, nursing profession requires advanced education and knowledge; most importantly, governed by strong ethical principles. In my earlier days of working with social service organization, I always believed that human beings have to care for fellow human beings who are underprivileged in some way or the other. Although I knew that not all people believe in this, I still expected that people should consciously follow this as a principle of life. However, today I have a better concept of caring for people which makes me believe that caring for others is a unique attribute that people possess and can acquire, irrespective of their experiences, background, education etc. In case of nurses, every nurse should ideally possess this attitude towards caring, which forms the essence of nursing. I am highly motivated by Nightingale’s ground-breaking principles of caring and its profound impact on patient’s overall health, which I studied during graduation, and from then onwards I have adopted providing holistic care to the patients as my philosophy of nursing. This philosophy not only helps me in identifying ‘how to’ and ‘what to’ care for the patient, but also in preparing the patient to be normal. Considering AHNA’s (American Holistic Nursing Association) description of holistic nursing, quoted by Frisch (2001, table.1), ‘Holistic nursing embraces all nursing practice that has enhancement of healing the whole person from birth to death as its goal. Holistic nursing recognizes that there are two views regarding holism: that holism involves identifying the interrelationships of the bio-psycho-social-spiritual dimensions of the person, recognizing that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts; and that holism involves understanding the individual as a unitary whole in mutual process with the environment. Holistic nursing responds to both views, believing that the goals of nursing can be achieved within either framework.’ According to Frisch (2001, para.8), AHNA’s description reinforces the importance of individuals’ (nurses’) values, practices and beliefs, i.e. attributes, in providing nursing care. Based on these, five core values of practice were identified and standardized: holistic philosophy and education; holistic communication, therapeutic environment and cultural competence; holistic ethics, theories, and research; holistic nurse self-care, and holistic caring process. On the other hand, instances where nurses face dilemmas as to what to be done in specific situations cannot be ignored. Parker’s (2007) article outlines such dilemmas and requirements to tackle these dilemmas. This article points at a specific situation in which the nurse cannot make an ethical decision during discharge of a patient who requires further care, but is homeless, and has used up all finances. Parker states, ‘the ethical principle of justice guides the fair and equal treatment of all people; yet, the nurse wrestles with the consequences of limited organizational and societal financial resources.’ In addition to caring attitude, nurses should be aware of ethical principles; this awareness will help nurses to exercise autonomy, knowledge, and advocacy to the benefit of the patient. Also, it will help the nurse to decide as to what extent he/she can provide concrete help to the patient, and to what extent he/she would be required to provide emotional strength to the patient in order to be prepared to tackle future consequences. In other words, Parker (2007) points out at the limitations of notion of holistic care, and approaches that can help in curbing these limitations. Ethically, nurses are required to adopt an honest and open communication towards their patients; however, dealing with moral obligations such as patient’s mental condition due to the illness, fear of losing life/health, social/cultural obligations and fears, patient’s financial condition etc often put nurses in a deliberate situation of either following the policies or providing inadequate or inappropriate responses. Situations with legal consequences may force nurses to follow the procedures, much against their philosophy of holistic caring for the patient. To quote one such instance, a patient undergoing post surgery treatment for cancerous tumor was required to take heavy dose antibiotics. In addition to this misery, the patient had to be given strong pain killers for his own benefit, thus following the principle of beneficence. With a history of diabetes and hypertension, the patient was aware that pain killers and antibiotics were not too supportive of these two conditions. Following the principle of fidelity became highly important in this situation. When the patient enquired about the same, I had to tell him that the present medications do have side effects. This made the patient more paranoid and instilled a kind of fear for life. Much effort had to be put in to convince him to continue with the medication. After many sessions of discussion with physician and also psychological counseling, he seemed to understand the need for such strong medication. To summarize and conclude from my learning, I understand that ethical principles have been formulated for the benefit of patient as well as the nurses and the hospital. However, abiding by these principles is challenging certain situations. In such situations these principles seem to be paradoxically aligned with holistic patient care requirements; not aligned with moral and emotional aspects of patient care; and do not seem to consider socioeconomic, cultural and other sociological aspects of patient care. Most importantly, I would keep in mind four ground rules, i.e. respect, openness, honesty and caring. I believe that ethical principles can be imbibed into one’s behavior by skill enhancement. I will try to acquire all the skills required for this purpose such as communication skills including empathic listening, tone and body language; discipline in maintenance of records, time, and fulfilling responsibilities; establishing effective interpersonal relationships with patients as well as peers, physicians, and other hospital personnel; continually upgrade my knowledge on technical as well as behavioral aspects of caring. References Frisch, Noreen Cavan. "Standards for Holistic Nursing Practice: A Way to Think About Our Care That Includes Complementary and Alternative Modalities". Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol. 6 No. 2, May 31, 2001.Manuscript 4. Accessed May 19, 2010 from, www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume62001/No2May01/HolisticNursingPractice.aspx Parker, Francine Mancuso. Ethics Column: "The Power of One" OJIN: Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol. 13, No. 1. (Nov. 26, 2007) Accessed May 19, 2010 from, http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/Ethics/Power.aspx Read More