Ethical Issues
Instructions:
There is no right or wrong answer for this ethical question; however, you will need to discuss an ethical consideration or dilemma of the APRN. Please remember what is correct for one person may not be correct for another. Look at the Nuremburg Code (US Department of Health & Human Services, 2005; Washington, 2012) as it was the major start of ethics in research and that can carry over to nursing practice.
US Department of Health & Human Services. (2005). The Nuremberg code.
Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/archive/nurcode.html
Washington, H. A. (2012). Non-consenting adults. Retrieved from
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2012/01/
the_nuremberg_code_set_up_to_protect_the_human_subjects_of_
research_is_being_routinely_ignored_.html
Review the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics and the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (ANA, 2011a, 2011b) and identify one barrier to ethical practice. Please expand on the following points:
Choose a potential barrier to ethical practice that you may face in your chosen advanced practice nursing role.
Discuss if there is a relationship between your personal beliefs and values and this barrier.
Describe at least one mechanism to overcome the barrier discussed.
Examine the potential cost and benefits to this barrier.
Solution.
Ethical Issues
One barrier to ethical practices that nurses face is telling the truth versus lying (Fant, 2012). The family of a sick patient may request a nurse to lie to a patient fearing that the truth may affect positive progress. Lying is against the values and beliefs of most individuals as it is dishonest and may result in severe consequences. However, truth-telling to a critical patient may lead to a cardiac attack, panic or lost hope which is dangerous in such situations. It is, therefore, confusing for a nurse who has to choose between lying to a patient to save their life or truth telling and risk worsening the condition.
In such cases, the nurse needs to inform the family of the risks associated with providing false hope to a critical patient and the benefits that arise from truth telling. The nurse should then wait for the patient’s condition to stabilize then inform the patient about the current situation in a calm manner. Consequently, the patient will know of their conditions and get a chance to accept the truth without panic. The benefits of truth telling are that the patient gets information of the real state, recognizes the situation and tunes their mind to positive thoughts of recovery. The potential cost is when a patient, upon learning about the truth losses hope for rehabilitation and the condition worsens.
However, despite the dangers
that may arise from informing a patient of their actual state, nurses should
always tell the truth to avoid giving patients false hope. Lying breaches the
trust between the patient and nurse and may result in serious legal
implications. It is hard to do the ethical thing, but it is crucial for nurses
to choose ethics to prevent the ramifications that arise from performing
unethical actions (“Ethic Codes”, 2011).
References
Ethic Codes. (2011). American Nurses Association. Code of ethics.. Retrieved 18 January 2017, from http://www.nursingworld.org/Mobile/Code-of-Ethics
Fant, C. (2012). Major Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing. Nursetogether.com. Retrieved 18 January 2017, from http://www.nursetogether.com/ethical-dilemmas-in-nursing
