The Need for Upholding the Ethical Values of Nursing - Essay Example

? Teacher Nursing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This paper answers the need for upholding the ethical values of nursing and to implement the various steps that can increase the nursing facilities. Nursing shortage, nurse to patient ratios, less nursing faculty are some of the problems that we come across. We need to work on this because the demand for nursing is connected with the increase in the population rate and it is important for the mankind and the world itself. By finding the ethical concept that can best suit to the present trends and its impact on the nursing facilities. We can bring in the changes by finding the right channel that can support this and bring reformation in the nursing practices. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In order to understand the need for the nursing it is important to understand their role. The word ‘nurse’ is derived from the Latin word and it means to nourish or cherish. Florence Nightingale is also called the ‘Lady of the Lamp’ who was the first to propose nursing and is the Founder of modern nursing. The foundation for this profession is based on the Nightingale’s views that formulated a definite direction to the nursing theory and stressed upon the need for education and training. She equated the knowledge of nursing with the knowledge of health. (“Nightingale's environmental theory”, p. 1) The Preamble to the International Council of Nurses (ICN) code of Ethics states that “Nurses have four fundamental responsibilities: to promote health, to prevent illness, to restore health, and to alleviate suffering”. (Harrington, p. 104) The nursing profession works with the principle of ‘society’s right’. It wants the person to be transparent and work according to the norms that are accepted by the society. The nursing decision directly impacts the person’s life. In the normal sense, ethics is the way to understand and examine the moral value. Bioethics came into picture with the life and death problem faced by the health care professionals. There is a need to maintain professionalism. They must understand the need of ethics and use the constructive and systematic way to deliver proper health care. This has become the prime importance in nursing ethics. The nursing profession wants the nurse to deliver the highest standards of honesty and ethics. ((Butts, p. 11) It is important that the nursing profession formulate and adheres to these ideals and do not try exploiting. Nursing ethics usually begins with the cases that they deal with in their daily work routines. It moves around the people that we come across in the health care system such as patients, families, physicians and other staffs. It cannot be learnt in the classes but when the nurse interacts with the patients, this becomes the foundation, and their work begins on ethical ground. The situation has to be evaluated with “caring, consideration, and a willingness to assume responsibility” (Butts, p. 11; Munson, 2004, p. 788).The nurse has to exhibit these qualities and has to help the patient. According to the World Medical Association the Oath taken by the nurse is ‘the health and the life of my patient will be my first consideration.’ (Harrington, p.102) It means they take the Oath and to maintain this they need to feel responsible and upheld the moral values. Nurses have to exhibit these qualities with the people they are dealing with effectively. The two important ethics of nursing are autonomy and act as patients’ advocate. The ethical goal also is to safeguard the patient’s information and to build in the trust and confidence. Respect for autonomy: The principle of beneficence can be taken into consideration, which means to take action that promotes welfare of other people. Sometimes the conflict occurs if nurse decide to act in ways that they believe are for a patient’s own good. These actions are opposed to the patients’ references. The autonomy nature which means ‘self governing’ enables the nurse to take this initiative. We can quote an example of the patient who is instructed by the physician to have oxygen with a nasal cannula and the patient doesn’t want to keep it. The nurse knows that it is for the patient’s good and does it without the patient’s approval. But deals with Nonmaleficence which means ‘to do no harm’, that is the level of skill needed to take care of patients .This provides the nurse with the ability to understand the ethical analysis and reasoning. This way the step is taken to do good to the patient and conveys the message after the treatment as how the action helped the patient to survive. (Butts, p. 13) Nurse as patient’s advocate: Most of the patients and their families expect the caregiver to provide the physical and emotional care. If the patient has to be looked upon then the nurse has to spend qualitative time and understand the patient’s requirement and this forms a major role. The nurse in the healthcare has to deal with different perspectives and on a range of issues. The nursing knowledge enables them to recognize the specific problem and this epistemic perspective through commitment enable them to find the solution. In this regard, nursing practice relates to research and theory which helps them to be committed with the profession. The patient is given utmost importance and they are considered as the decision-makers. The nurse acts as the patients advocate and speak on behalf of them to the physicians and this kind of support help them to preserve the ethical values. Due to fewer nurses to patient ratios, this kind of patient- nurse interaction is not commonly seen. There are reformative steps taken by The California Nurses Association (CNA) and initiated to have fixed nurse to patient ratios. ‘More have returned to practice and recruitment and retention have increased across Victoria ‘(Patterson, p. 1; O’Connor, 2006). The nurse’s role in relation to the patient has to be clear. The quality of relationships between the physicians and the nurse is changing. The nurse report indicated that there are dissatisfaction with their work as the cut staff policy, frequent overtime are some of the reasons. Nurses Association reported that nurses were sometimes working 20 hours out of 24 and caring for as many as 18 patients (Fagin, p. 1; New York State Nurses Association 1999). This type of work load makes the aspirants to think over and set back to take this as the career. The job doesn’t provide the satisfaction and the work load stresses them out. The intention of taking up nursing role becomes useless as they do not enjoy their work and doesn’t help them to deliver qualitative service. But with the advancement of technology, the tool has been launched by The Association of UK University Hospitals (AUKUH) dependency tool that equates patient dependency to staff hours. Chief Nursing officer for England Christine Beasley described the resource as “valuable and timely” and mentioned that, “It is one of a number of tools that can help directors of nursing get nurse staffing in acute hospitals right. It has a strong evidence base, has been widely tested and links staffing to quality outcomes for patients.”(Stephenson, p. 1) Safeguard the patient’s information: The confidentiality of the patient’s information is the prime responsibility and the nurse has to show the ethical values and inculcate the habit of not discussing patient’s information in public places and so forth. Another ethical issue is protecting patients from negligent co-workers and to help them when needed. (“Health-Care Issues in Nursing”, 1999) There is ethical confrontation that the nurse has to go through in the day to day life. But we can see that the nursing education is dominated by the medical profession. The problem with nursing can directly impact the problem with healthcare. The major issue that has to be sorted out is the nursing shortage. Most of us are aware of the nursing shortage and are concerned, as we go through the negative experience when we visit the short staffed hospitals. The integral part of hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies form the nursing. We need to find the creative and innovative way to ameliorate the shortage. (Greenfield, 2009) Nursing faculty turnover is also a concern within nursing educational institutes. The disparity in the salaries between the faculty and the nurse is one of the reasons. The Blue Ribbon commission and the concept of differentiated practice have led to reformation. The focus on recruitment of men into nursing is taken into consideration. (Crowley, p. 50)Educating the existing nurses with the nursing education programs like accelerated programs can be considered and is the fastest way to become a registered nurse with most programs that are short term based. “Accelerated programs provide the opportunity for quick entry into the workforce and provide the health care facilities with the opportunity to help ease their nursing shortage.”(Finch, p. 6; Lindsey, 2009). Nursing is a profession distinct from medicine and it emphasizes on ‘the medicine cures whereas the nurse cares.’ (Diers, p. 92)This kind of reformative and innovative methods brings in the hope of achieving success in the field of health care. When the level of satisfaction of the patient and the skills of the nurse synchronize then we can expect the harmony that can yield positive outcomes. Works Cited “Health-Care Issues in Nursing”, ehow.com, Demand Media, Inc. 1999 .Web. < http://www.ehow.com/about_5519876_healthcare-issues-nursing.html> “Nightingale's environmental theory”, Florence Nightingale, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 1 March 2012.Web. Read More