Introduction
Nurses work in a fast-paced, technical environment. They must make quick decisions about patient care and effectively communicate with other healthcare personnel.
Patients depend on a nurse’s honesty and adherence to ethical standards of ethics. A nurse should develop trust with patients while exhibiting compassion and empathy.
Principles
nurses should respect their patients, maintain patients’ dignity and protect patients’ rights.
Nurses must create an environment of mutual trust and respect between patients and healthcare professionals
nurses must guard patients privacy,
Importance of ethics in nursing profession
The Role of Ethics in Nursing
Ethics in nursing includes fair and equable treatment of all patients regardless of the following:
Economic status.
Age.
Ethnicity.
Citizenship.
Disability.
Sexual orientation.
The Ethical Responsibilities of Nurses
The ethical responsibilities of nurses include promoting health, preventing disease and alleviating suffering.
According to the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Imperative Statements (The Code), nurses are responsible for the care not only of patients but also their families and associated groups.
The Code emphasizes that sometimes the patient is more than an individual. Thus, nurses need to inform families, business associates or communities about a patient’s treatment and progress when it is appropriate under patient privacy laws.
Morality and Ethics in Nursing
Nurses have a responsibility to report any immoral professional behavior.
They should notify staff leaders about healthcare professionals who engage in illegal activities, demonstrate incompetence or work while impaired
In addition, nurses must intervene when they come in contact with a patient who is a victim of child, elder, sexual or domestic abuse
They must also report cases of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
Balancing Nursing Ethics with Job Performance
With ethics at the forefront, nurses must balance the needs of their patients and the requirements of the healthcare systems that employ them
The American Nurses Association (ANA) recommends that nurses see to the following:
Support and honor the rights of patients.
Advocate for ethical nursing.
Serve on ethics committees.
Refuse to compromise ethics.
Educate students about ethics.
Patient Rights
A nurse’s priority is to focus on the care and rights of their patients and put aside any prejudices concerning a patient’s situation or demeanor
For example, a nurse must treat an incarcerated or hostile patient the same as a law-abiding and amicable patient.
Patients have the right to make decisions about their healthcare. They can decide to accept or refuse treatment
Patients should expect to receive accurate and complete information about their conditions.
Nurses must help their patients understand this information to determine their best options.
The Most Honest and Ethical Profession
In the 2015 Gallup Poll, for the 14th year in a row, nursing was rated the most honest and ethical profession. Out of twenty-one occupations, nursing ranked the highest at 85 percent. The ranking was based on telephone interviews with 824 American adults. Nursing has consistently placed at the top of list since 1999 when the profession joined the poll.
Ethics in Nursing Education
These classes may also cover how nurses should administer care while facing moral dilemmas.
Nurses must also set boundaries with patients to remain professional.
They must be sensitive to a patient’s cultural and religious beliefs, values, language, lifestyle and literacy level while caring for them
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