Ethics and Legal Component of Nursing Professional Studies - Term Paper Example

Ethics and Legal Component of Nursing Professional Studies Total Number of Words: 2,006 Table of Contents I. Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 3 II. Differences between Ethical Theories, Law, and the Codes of Professional Practices ……………………………………… 3 a. Ethical Theories ……………………………………………… 4 b. Nursing Law …………………………………………………... 5 c. Codes of Professional Practices ………………………….. 7 III. Compare and Contrast Utilitarian from Deontological Theories … 7 IV. Discussion ……………………………………………………………….. 9 V. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 10 References ……………………………………………………………………….. 11 - 12 Introduction Nursing is a very unique profession given that nurses are responsible not only in providing care to the patients but also to deal with situational cases that is commonly moulded by each the patients’ cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and personality. Given that nursing students are dealing with sensitive matters related to the life and overall well-being of patients, subjects such as health ethics, the code of nursing profession including the legal issues that are highly related with nursing profession becomes an important component of nursing course since these interrelated subjects serves as a basic guide for nursing students in terms of making a morally acceptable judgement and decision in terms of providing care and proper treatment for each patient. For the purpose of this study, the nursing student will divide the paper into two parts. The first part will discuss the differences between ethical theories, law, and the codes of professional practices whereas the second part will discuss the compare and contrast utilitarian from deontological theories. Prior to the conclusion, the student nurse will discuss the importance of ethical theories, law and the code of professional practice in terms of how these theories could be useful in minimizing the nursing student’s risk of committing negligence or malpractice when caring for patients. Differences between Ethical Theories, Law, and the Codes of Professional Practices Even though ethical theories, law, and the codes of professional practices behind nursing are interrelated with one another, its basic function in the nursing profession greatly varies from each other. Ethical Theories Ethical theories such as autonomy, informed consent, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice guides the nursing students on how one should care and treat for patients. (Bailey, 2007) The theory behind autonomy informs each nursing student that patients have their own personal right in making their own decision whether or not they would accept or refuse to accept a particular care and/or treatment that will be provided to them by the health care professionals whereas the theory behind informed consent reminds the nursing students to inform patients about the purpose and process of a particular care and treatment as well as physical assessment or the provision of personal daily care even before touching the patient in any way. (NHS, 2006; p. 8; DOH, 2001a, p. 2; DOH, 2001b; p. 1) In line with this matter, it becomes ethically acceptable for nursing students to inform the patient first about the purpose and process of care and treatment before delivering any forms of care services to the patient. It is also ethically acceptable for nursing students to respect the patient’s decision in case they have decided not to go through a particular care or treatment due to personal reasons related to his/her religious or non-religious beliefs. (DOH, 2001b: p. 3) In case the patient is not conscious or is no longer able to communicate with the health care professionals, the ethical guidelines published by the Department of Health in: (1) ‘Mental Capacity Act (2005)’; and (2) ‘Reference Guide to Consent for Examination or Treatment (2001)’ should be strictly followed. Based on the Mental Health Act (2005), nursing students and other health care professionals should not make any forms of unwise decisions made on behalf of the patient. Aside from not restricting the patient in making their own health care decisions, nursing students should also consider the theory of non-maleficence such that health care practitioners should avoid injuring the patient regardless of whether the injury is in the form of mental, physical, or emotional; and the theory of beneficence which demands all health care practitioners to do only what is best for the patient. (Bailey, 2007) Basically, knowing the ethical theories by heart enables the nursing students to understand the importance of ethical decision-making process in terms of doing only actions that could effectively promote the health and well-being of the patients and avoid actions that could cause negative end-results. Nursing Law Nursing law is a statutory law that regulates and defines the scope of nursing practice in terms of action or norm of conduct applicable to nursing profession. (Sia & Evangelista-Sia, 2006: p. 460) The implementation of nursing law is necessary in order to protect the public from health care practitioners whose acts are not in accordance to the generally acceptable nursing ethics. In general, nursing practice as governed by law state those only individuals who are able to acquire nursing license are given the legal right to practice nursing profession. Aside from requiring each nurse to be registered, nursing students and other health care professionals are also required to strictly follow the guidelines stipulated in the Nursing & Midwifery Council’s latest Code of standards of conduct, performance and ethics which was published on April 2008. For example: consent is legal when the consent is voluntarily given by the informed patients who are at least 18 years old and above. (DOH, 2001a: p. 4; DOH, 2001b: p. 7) Informed consent is considered to be a part of the legal process when it comes to providing a major medical intervention on the health services rendered by the health care professionals. (DOH, 2001a: p. 8) In case nursing students failed to comply with the said rule, patients could file a serious legal action against the nursing students for the ground of negligence by not giving him/her the opportunity to decide for his own care and treatment. In general, the common law or case law considers ‘touching a patient’ without informing the patient about the purpose and procedure of care and treatment and/or the absence of a legal consent from the patient could eventually result to a civil or criminal offence of battery. It is possible for the patient and/or patient’s family and relatives in case the patient is not capable of speaking up for themselves to sue the nursing students and other health or social care practitioner for ‘negligence’ in case nursing students and/or other health care professional inflicts any form of physical, mental, or emotional harm to the patient and the health care practitioners failed to obtain a legal consent from the patient prior to the provision of care or treatment. (DOH, 2001a; p. 2) This includes physical interventions such as administration of drugs, providing assistance while the patient is dressing or other activities of daily living such as bathing and hair care, including the use of feeding tubes on patients with dementia, etc. Codes of Professional Practices The Code also known as the standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives published by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (2008) serves as the official ethical and nursing guidelines that should be followed by each nursing student who are working within the geographic boundaries of the United Kingdom. It contains all important information related to nursing ethics including some examples of how care and treatment should be delivered to each patient. (NMC, 2008) Compare and Contrast Utilitarian from Deontological Theories Deontological and utilitarian ethical theories are similar in the sense that both approaches are used in deciding whether an action is morally acceptable or not. Deontological theories are commonly based the intrinsic character of an action or a universally accepted actions rather than the end result of the action (Isenberg, 1964) whereas utilitarianism is basically a form of ‘consequentialism’ which means that moral actions made by nurses are based on the consequences of their own actions (Thomas, 1998). In relation to the theory of utilitarianism, the happiness of the patients is considered the ultimate goal of all actions. Between deontology and utilitarian, nursing profession follows the theory behind deontology in the sense that nurses follow universally acceptable guidelines on how to deliver proper care and treatment to each patient. (Barazzetti, 2007) Deontology is all about the rightness or wrongness of a chosen action depending on the moral significance of the action. (Audi, 1999) ‘Deon’ from the word Deontology is a Greek word meaning ‘duty.’ Deontology in nursing, therefore, is a study of duty as a nurse. (Seedhouse, 1988) The ethical principles of deontology is referring to positive actions that are committed by the nursing students and other health care professionals based on the practice of what is acceptable in the nursing ethics and law. It means that every nursing student must must not act on pure motive alone. Instead, nursing student should consider what is logically right including the probable outcome and the actual outcome of an action when providing care to the patients. In other words, deontology emphasizes the importance of moral obligation and commitment to nursing duty. For instance: When dressing the patient’s wound, it is the duty of nursing students to protect the patient from any forms of possible internal and/or external harm that may result from the care and treatment provided to the patient. Therefore, in case the patient’s wound is severely large, nursing student should consider the possibility that using a cheap type of dressing could inflict pain on the patient upon removing the dressing from the patient’s wound due to the fact that cheap type of dressing could stick to the patient’s wound upon removal. In line with this matter, nursing student should think of the future consequences instead of being cost-conscious all the time. Eventhough the main intention of using a cheap dressing on the patient’s wound in terms of preventing possible wound infection is good, its consequences such that it could inflict pain on patient upon removal of the dressing remains a conflict between nurses’ two main duties. Discussion To enable nursing students avoid facing legal problems related to negligence or malpractice, nursing students should know by heart the basics behind ethical theories, law and the code of professional practice. Nursing students should also continuously update themselves with the latest nursing guideline which is commonly seen at the Code as published by the Nursing & Midwifery Council. Given that nursing students are expected to face different clinical cases each day, it is advisable for nursing students to seek professional guidance from their clinical instructors, mentors, or anyone who is a legal expert in the field of nursing profession in case the student nurse have some qualms on making important decisions when rendering care and treatment to patients. In line with this matter, the Code published by the Nursing & Midwives Council (2008) strongly suggests not only the need for student nurses to collaborate, communicate, and work together not only with colleagues but also with patients, their family members, and carers in order to protect and promote the patients’ health and well-being but also to work based on a high standard of practice and care at all times. Conclusion Ethical theories, law, and the codes of professional practices which are considered as an important subject in the field of nursing are interrelated with one another. Even though there is a strong link between the three different subjects, its basic function in the nursing profession greatly varies from each other. The theory behind nursing ethics serves as a basis on how nursing student should provide care and treatment for patients. Universally accepted nursing ethics are summarized in the Code of professional practices as published by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (2008). Aiming to protect the interests of the public from health care practitioners that fails to perform at the highest standard of practice as required by the Nursing & Midwifery Council is subject to legal cases. In other words, nursing law regulates and defines the scope of nursing practice in terms of action or norm of conduct applicable to nursing profession. Deontology and utilitarianism are both used in making a moral judgement. Given the fact that nursing profession follows universally accepted guidelines in terms of rendering care and treatment services to patients, nursing profession follows the theory behind deontology. It means that moral judgement in nursing is not purely based on the end-result of clinical situations since nursing ethics requires all nursing students and other health care practitioners to respect the decision of patients who refuses to accept care and treatment that could promote their overall health condition and well-being. *** End *** References: Audi, R. The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. 2nd ed. UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 247, 1999. Bailey, G. "NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Palliative and End of Life Care." 2007. National Association of Social Workers. 12 June 2008 . Barazzetti, Gaia. “Autonomy, Responsibility and the Italian Code of Deontology for Nurses.” Nursing Ethics (2007): Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 83 - 98. "DOH." March 2001a. Reference Guide to Consent Examination or Treatment. 12 June 2008 . "DOH." 2001b. Seeking Consent: Working with Older People. 12 June 2008 . Isenberg, Arnold. “Deontology and the Ethics of Lying.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (1964): Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 463 - 480. "Mental Capacity Act." 2005. Mental Capacity Act 2005. 12 June 2008 . NHS. “Dementia: Supporting People with Dementia and Their Carers in Health and Social Care.” 2006. “NMC.” April 2008. The Code: Standards of Conduct , Performance and Ethics for Nurses and Midwives. 12 June 2008 . Seedhouse, D. Ethics: The Heart of Health Care. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 1988. Sia, Rany Madrilejos and Maria Loreto Evangelista-Sia. Nursing Law & Ethics. 1st Ed. RMSIA Publishing, 2006. Thomas, Steve. “eBooks@Adelaide.” 12 April 1998. John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism (Ch. 2). 12 June 2008 . Read More