NURSING ETHICS- DISLOYALTY

Nursing Ethics- Disloyalty

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Nursing Ethics- Disloyalty

Describe an ethical situation, based on the chosen topic that can get in the nurse’s way of practicing ethically. Describe the situation clearly and concisely.

Maintaining safe patient care is the first legal and ethical duty of all health care professionals. The objectives of nursing are ethical: to provide dignified care, to respect the right of patient autonomy, to prevent potential complications and damage by maintaining a healthy environment for patients and to ensure the autonomy of patients in decision making. One of the most important aspects of loyalty is the privacy and confidentiality of patient information ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Harding</Author><Year>2016</Year><RecNum>1360</RecNum><DisplayText>(Harding &amp; Batista, 2016)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>1360</rec-number><foreign-keys><key app="EN" db-id="axzrwpxxqvwtw5evsf3xrer2arfwsa5f0e5d" timestamp="1575793205">1360</key></foreign-keys><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Harding, Andrew D</author><author>Batista, Christine S</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>Nursing practice remediation: Administration and regulation</title><secondary-title>Nursing management</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>Nursing management</full-title></periodical><pages>10-11</pages><volume>47</volume><number>10</number><dates><year>2016</year></dates><isbn>0744-6314</isbn><urls></urls></record></Cite></EndNote>(Harding & Batista, 2016). Loyalty is a concept that is important in terms of feeling a sense of meaning and belonging as a nursing professional. If an employer is taking care and making his employees valued, then in return being loyal is very important.

Mrs. John who is 50 years old is admitted to an oncology ward. Recently she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Before her cancer diagnosis, she was living a very happy and independent life. She has no family in the US and her son lives in Australia. She has refused to take any kind of medical intervention and appears very low in mood. She had also the 5 blisters of paracetamol with her. The physician was unable to visit this patient due to emergency surgery. He gives the details of the patient to one of his senior nurse and asks her to make a case for admission in a hospital. In this case, the patient treatment goal, medical problem, prognosis and probabilities for success should all be considered. But due to the work overload nurse did not prepare the case properly and missed many of the important aspects of the case due to which the patient had suffered from delayed treatment. Within 24 hours of being admitted to the oncology ward Mrs. John's condition deteriorated rapidly and she was transferred to ICU. After knowing the history from the nurse it was found that she has overdosed from paracetamol. The patient stables after a few hours and patients requested to not tell this to her caretaker. Although the nurse had committed to the patient but she told this thing to her caretaker which created a sense of more frustration among the patient.

Identify two ethical principles that may arise when facing this situation.

The ethical issues which arise in this case include patient confidentiality, beneficence, and Fidelity.

The nurse had committed to follow this case but due to work pressure, she didn't handle this patent properly. The busy working schedule of a nurse came in the way of her commitment. Secondly, the nurse has found the 5 blisters of paracetamol tablets that the patient was placed with her to end her life. She didn't take the paracetamol tablets from the patient at the time of admission. Due to the negligent behavior of the nurse, documentation of the patient was not done properly such as failure to monitor and assess the patient history, failure to follow the standard care treatment, and failure to act as an advocate of patient.

Another ethical issue regarding disloyalty, in this case, is not keeping the confidentiality of the patient. As a nurse without the consent of the patient disclose her information that was shared in a trusted and intimate manner ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Jung</Author><Year>2018</Year><RecNum>1361</RecNum><DisplayText>(Jung &amp; Sung, 2018)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>1361</rec-number><foreign-keys><key app="EN" db-id="axzrwpxxqvwtw5evsf3xrer2arfwsa5f0e5d" timestamp="1575793269">1361</key></foreign-keys><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Jung, Yun A</author><author>Sung, Kyung Mi</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>A comparison of patients&apos; nursing service satisfaction, hospital commitment and revisit intention between general care unit and comprehensive nursing care unit</title><secondary-title>Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration</full-title></periodical><pages>30-39</pages><volume>24</volume><number>1</number><dates><year>2018</year></dates><isbn>1225-9330</isbn><urls></urls></record></Cite></EndNote>(Jung & Sung, 2018)

Identify how this situation relates to one provision within the Code of Ethics for Nurses.

This situation relates to the nurse’s responsibilities, authority, and accountability to take action, make decisions and practice within the obligation to provide the best patient care ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Butts</Author><Year>2019</Year><RecNum>1362</RecNum><DisplayText>(Butts &amp; Rich, 2019)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>1362</rec-number><foreign-keys><key app="EN" db-id="axzrwpxxqvwtw5evsf3xrer2arfwsa5f0e5d" timestamp="1575793322">1362</key></foreign-keys><ref-type name="Book">6</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Butts, Janie B</author><author>Rich, Karen L</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>Nursing ethics</title></titles><dates><year>2019</year></dates><publisher>Jones &amp; Bartlett Learning</publisher><isbn>1284170225</isbn><urls></urls></record></Cite></EndNote>(Butts & Rich, 2019).

Discuss how a nurse might lessen the impact of the situation on the nurse’s practice.

Nurse before telling the patient caretaker should seek the advice from some trusted members of the clinical ethical committee. Before making a commitment nurse should check her working schedule and in this type of situation she can divide her work task according to the severity of each case or can seek professional help from her other collegue.

References

ADDIN EN.REFLIST Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2019). Nursing ethics: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Harding, A. D., & Batista, C. S. (2016). Nursing practice remediation: Administration and regulation. Nursing management, 47(10), 10-11.

Jung, Y. A., & Sung, K. M. (2018). A comparison of patients' nursing service satisfaction, hospital commitment and revisit intention between general care unit and comprehensive nursing care unit. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration, 24(1), 30-39.