Ethics in Nursing
Overview
According to Aiken (2004) “Ethics is the discipline that deals with rightness and wrongness of actions”. The goal is similar to that of the legal system except that in most cases there is no system of enforcement or ethical penalties. “General ethics is the consideration of the morality of human acts in general”. (Fitzpatrick 2002) In nursing, ethical issues arise daily. There are issues such as death, dying, birth, abortion, genetics, quality of life, and general human rights. The legal system and ethical system overlap in most situations. Every patient contact can produce a legal or ethical situation. Ethics is an area that changes with time. As our earth continues to evolve new
…show more content…
In deontology “The ends can never justify the means”. (Kay 1997) This form of ethical thinking was formalized by Immanuel Kant in the 1700’s, according to his thoughts “Always act in such a way that you can also will that the maxim of your action should become a universal law”. (Kay 1997)
Utilitarianism
This form of ethical thinking believes that a moral is the action that results in the greater amount of happiness for the great number of people. Everyone is considered equal. According to 19th century philosopher John Stuart Mill “An action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the reverse of happiness, not just the happiness of the performer of the action, but also everyone affected by it.” (West 2008)
Commonalities
When examining these two ethical views you notice that both deal with universal laws and ethical issues. They both look at morality and make it objective, scientific and rational. Deontology and Utilitarianism both include the nature of right and wrong, and human nature and choice.
Advantages/Disadvantages
When you look at Deontology, this ethical vision looks out for each individual. Every on treated exactly the same, regardless of circumstances. Each ethical law is absolute and can be looked at in one way. The advantage I see is that no one can read into or change ethical laws to suit them; the disadvantage I see is the same. There are issues in
The topic of ethics is prevalent in health care and addresses a broad range of topics in nursing. In almost every interaction with a patient there could be a situation that may bring up the question of ethics. Fortunately, there is the realization that placing the nurse in the care of a patient, may put the medical personnel in an environment where the ethics are questioned. There are whole departments dedicated to advising nurses in these situations. There are also ethic committees to help guide you when you find yourself in a situation that may question your practice or circumstances.
“Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.” Nursing is more than just doing assessments and giving medications; it is going beyond that to know what is right or wrong, what can and cannot be done, and what is considered harming the patients rather than doing them good. In nursing, there is a fine line between what is considered to be negligence and beneficence. According to Marquis (2017), “Ethics is the systemic study of what a person’s conduct and actions should be with regard to self, others human beings, and the environment (pg. 83), on the other hand, it does not necessarily mean that their
What is ethics? According to Velasquez et al (2010), “ethics is a well-founded standard of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations,
In contrast with deontology, there is utilitarianism, which is a consequentialist theory. Utilitarianists consider consequences to be an important indicator of the moral value of one’s actions (Rich, 2008). In consequentialist analyses, conclusions about what is right or wrong are based on the consequences (Tanner et al., 2008). Utilitarianism is to promote the greatest good for the greatest amount of people that is possible in situations.
First, it is important to define ethics and how its components play an extensive role in our society. The term ethics is defined as “Moral principles that govern a person 's behaviour or the conducting of an activity.” (Oxford); ethical decisions are the ones that per se determine whether or not murder is wrong. Likewise, ethics consists of different ramifications and perspectives from many philosophers. Moreover,
This concept is taken from module 1 of block 6 entitled “Ethical Issues in Nursing Practice”.
Nurses are facing many legal or ethical dilemmas in their career. Nurses should combine knowledge of ethical and legal aspects of health care and professional values into nursing practice. It is very essential to know what kind of dilemmas nurses may face during their profession and how they have been dealt with in the past.
Ethics are defined as “a set of moral principles and perceptions about right versus wrong and the resulting philosophy of conduct that is practiced by an individual, group, profession, or culture” (Barker, 2001, p. 159). In the field
According to American Nurses Association (ANA), (2010) “the nurse promotes, advocates for and strives to protect the heath, safety and right of the patient” (p. 6). Nursing responsibilities should be acted at the highest standard and must be based on legal and ethical obligations.
When faced with adversity and difficult dilemmas, people have different ways to figure out what to do; some people make pros and cons lists while other people just go with their gut. Ethical theories like utilitarianism and deontology, can aid people in making these difficult choices. Utilitarianism focuses on the results of your actions, rather than the intent behind them, as the goal of the theory is the create the greatest good for the greatest amount people. On the other hand, deontology follows a strict moral code concentrating on the right or moral action rather than the results it yields. While utilitarianism and deontology focus on different aspects of decision making, the effect and the intent respectively, they often yield the same result; more often than not the more ethical decision leads to the greater result. These ethical theories are both used in Snow Falling on Cedars by David Gunderson where they both agree on the topics, yielding the same results.
The deontological ethical view determines the ethicality of an action based on characteristics of the action its self, rather than the product of the action. This makes determining the ethicality of raising minimum wage much more difficult. Because of this, those who follow the deontological ethical view would not factor in the fact that minimum wage has the potential to benefit the majority of people. For this reason, deontology is much different than libertarianism and utilitarianism. Deontology does not have has clear of a definition as libertarianism or utilitarianism, making it much more difficult to determine the morality of an ethical issue. Deontology is more similar to libertarianism than utilitarianism when discussing the raising or lowering of minimum wage. This is because they are both more likely to be opposed to the idea of an authority figure interfering with how businesses are run, however it is not necessarily for the same reason. Those who follow deontology would not be supportive of the idea because they do not factor in the product of the action when determining the morality of an action, while those who follow libertarianism do not support the idea of the collection of personal information because they fell society functions better with minimal interference from a political figure. Either way, utilitarianism, libertarianism, and deontology are all very different ethical beliefs
`Ethics' is defined as ."..the basis on which people...decide that certain actions are right or wrong and whether one ought to do something or has a right to something"(Rumbold, 1986). In relating `ethics' to nursing care, "Nursing decisions affect people... nurses have the power to good or harm to their patients" (Bandman et al, 2002). In this essay, the author will also identify the most important ethical principles and concepts of Evan's case, will outline the different stages of one's approach to ethical decision-making by utilising the "DECIDE Model for Ethical Decision-Making" founded by Thompson et al (2000) and will make a decision on the best course of action to take as a nurse in this
Ethical issues in nursing will always be an ongoing learning process. Nurses are taught in nursing school what should be done and how. Scenarios are given on tests with one right answer. However, there are situations that nurses may encounter that may have multiple answers and it is hard to choose one. “Ethical directives are not always clearly evident and people sometimes disagree about what is right and wrong” (Butts & Rich, 2016). When an ethical decision is made by a nurse, there must be a logical justification and not just emotions.
The sequencing of the human genome has a new approach to health care in regards to promotion, maintenance, and treatment. Genetic research is defined as a new approach to a better understanding of the genetic components of common diseases: Cancer, diabetes, stroke, and creating new gene-based technologies for screening, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of both rare and common diseases. Nurses are a main aspect within the first line of care, and therefore will contribute fully in genetic-based and genomic-based practice activities such as collecting family history, obtaining informed consent for genetic testing, and administering gene-based therapies. Lea, D, (January 31, 2008). My paper is based on an article Genomics in the public
Ethics is an essential aspect of health care practice and those working in the nursing profession are often subject to frequent ethical dilemmas. It is essential for all nurses to be aware of the importance of ethics in health care and to practice within the ethico-legal parameters that govern the profession. However, while this is relatively easy in theory, ethics is not a black and white subject and often one’s culture, upbringing, attitudes and beliefs can influence what one views as ethical and this can therefore influence practice. This report will discuss the importance of ethics in nursing practice. The definition of ethics will firstly be presented followed