ETHICS ESSAY

Ethics Essay

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Ethics Essay

Within a clinical setting, it is imperative to consider the ethical values of the patients while delivering the medical care. There are many stigmas in different cultures and societies regarding disclosure of sensitive medical information to the patients. However, the antagonists of this concept believe in the autonomy of every individual and their right to know about their terminal illness. Thus, the responsibility of delivering the right information to the individuals lies on the health providers. They must identify the medical conditions while making sure to follow patient’s cultural and social values. The curriculum and training programs are also being modified according to the pace of improving objectives and goals of the health care industry. The role of nurses has also significantly increased with the introduction of ethical, philosophical and social considerations in the health care. The organizations are working towards improving the patient outcome and satisfaction while giving them the autonomy to make sensitive medical decisions for themselves or including their participation in the shared decisions. Nonetheless, these practices vary across the globe based on the cultural affiliations and diversity in the system.

The culture of disclosing or non-disclosing the information about the true diagnosis and prognosis of terminal illness depends on the ethical and moral values of the individuals and their families. United Sates provides its citizens the autonomy to be provided with all the information that concerns them. However, in many non-dominant cultures, the norm of truth telling to the patient is not followed based on the family traditions and values. In those cultures, families have the right to take important decisions for the individual and this theory is known as collectivism in contrast to the concept of individualism being followed in United States and other Western cultures ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"GKK0xNGp","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Rising, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Rising, 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":390,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/LXIIHAGU"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/LXIIHAGU"],"itemData":{"id":390,"type":"article-journal","title":"Truth telling as an element of culturally competent care at end of life","container-title":"Journal of Transcultural Nursing","page":"48-55","volume":"28","issue":"1","author":[{"family":"Rising","given":"Margaret L."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Rising, 2017). Especially, the Chinese culture strongly disagrees with the advanced care planning and directives where patient’s preferences are given more importance than the combined system of decision making. They believe in the virtues of love, care, kindness and a social order that follows the concept of filial piety. They tend to have sound communication among the patient, family members and health professionals ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2hevBPZC","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lee, Hinderer, & Kehl, 2014)","plainCitation":"(Lee, Hinderer, & Kehl, 2014)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":391,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/ADLQ3Z8A"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/ADLQ3Z8A"],"itemData":{"id":391,"type":"article-journal","title":"A systematic review of advance directives and advance care planning in Chinese people from Eastern and Western cultures","container-title":"Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing","page":"75-85","volume":"16","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Lee","given":"Mei Ching"},{"family":"Hinderer","given":"Katherine A."},{"family":"Kehl","given":"Karen A."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lee, Hinderer, & Kehl, 2014). Thus, it is important to educate nurses about the ethical priorities and customs in order to maintain a responsive relationship with their patients. They should be able to understand the need of patients about truth telling, informed consent and medical decisions that assure welfare of the patients and their families ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"xG665Qq8","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hoskins, Grady, & Ulrich, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Hoskins, Grady, & Ulrich, 2018)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":392,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/6RN769B2"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/6RN769B2"],"itemData":{"id":392,"type":"article-journal","title":"Ethics education in nursing: Instruction for future generations of nurses","container-title":"The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing","volume":"23","issue":"1","author":[{"family":"Hoskins","given":"Katelin"},{"family":"Grady","given":"Christine"},{"family":"Ulrich","given":"Connie M."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Hoskins, Grady, & Ulrich, 2018).

It is the moral duty of the nurses to develop abilities for professional identity, compassionate relations and legality while giving respect to the other’s beliefs, values and cultures. As a nurse I believe we have a responsibility of understanding the differences and show more acceptances towards the cultural diversity. Our primary obligation is to ensure the patient safety but that should come with patient satisfaction as well. For this purpose, it is imperative that nurses be able to make medical decisions and manage the ethical challenges within a healthcare setting effectively. We have to make sure that we combine the cultural awareness with appropriate knowledge in order to provide quality care while telling patients the necessary details according to their traditions as such practices can minimize the moral distress. Nurses have to ensure the implementation of the correct form of care planning while maintaining the quality of the care. The role of nurses in the culturally diverse health care environment is of great importance and they should understand it and apply the ethical and moral values in their practice to gain the health objectives.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Hoskins, K., Grady, C., & Ulrich, C. M. (2018). Ethics education in nursing: Instruction for future generations of nurses. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1).

Lee, M. C., Hinderer, K. A., & Kehl, K. A. (2014). A systematic review of advance directives and advance care planning in Chinese people from Eastern and Western cultures. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 16(2), 75–85.

Rising, M. L. (2017). Truth telling as an element of culturally competent care at end of life. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 28(1), 48–55.