CONCEPT 6 CONCEPTS OF NURSING ETHICS
6.0 INTRODUCTION/IDENTIFICATION OF CONCEPT
Ethics is concerned with right or wrong. Accepting on what is right can be challenging. At the core of health care ethics are our beliefs about rights we possess and the duties we owe our patients and clients. It is important health care professionals understand the concepts of ethics as it is essential to the delivery of skilled professional care. To apply it to health, health care ethics or medical ethics is a set of moral principles, beliefs and values that guide in making choices about medical care.
With this is mind, it is vital that nurses appreciate the value of ethics in their work. Ethics plays …show more content…
It is nonetheless important to retain the two principles as separate ones, precisely for those circumstances in which we have or acknowledge no obligation of beneficence to others – for we still have the obligations not to harm them. The traditional moral obligation of nurses is to provide net benefit to patients with minimal harm. In order to achieve these moral objectives health care workers are committed to a wide range of prime facie obligations. To ensure professionalism, we need to ensure we actually can provide the benefits we profess. Hence the need for rigorous and effective educational and training programmes both before and throughout our professional lives. We also need to make sure that what we are offering actually constitutes net-benefit for patients – and not just for patients in general but for the particular patients concerned. Interestingly in order to do so we must once again respect the patient’s autonomy. It is important we bear in mind that what constitute a net benefit for one patient may be a net harm to another. Example – a blood transfusion to save lives may constitute a net benefit for most of us – but for committed Jehovah’s Witnesses it will constitute an overwhelmingly harmful assault. Assessment of how much benefit …show more content…
Confidentiality is non-disclosure of private or secret information which one is entrusted. Legally, it applies to all health practitioners and others that are in contact with information about patients. This continues even after patient’s death. Nurses hold in confidence any information obtained in a professional capacity, and use professional judgement is sharing such information. The necessity of sharing the information must be considered by the nurse before disclosing the information in other words the nurse should use professional judgement to decide about this since the wellbeing and safety of the patient depends on this
6.0 INTRODUCTION/IDENTIFICATION OF CONCEPT
Ethics is concerned with right or wrong. Accepting on what is right can be challenging. At the core of health care ethics are our beliefs about rights we possess and the duties we owe our patients and clients. It is important health care professionals understand the concepts of ethics as it is essential to the delivery of skilled professional care. To apply it to health, health care ethics or medical ethics is a set of moral principles, beliefs and values that guide in making choices about medical care.
With this is mind, it is vital that nurses appreciate the value of ethics in their work. Ethics plays …show more content…
It is nonetheless important to retain the two principles as separate ones, precisely for those circumstances in which we have or acknowledge no obligation of beneficence to others – for we still have the obligations not to harm them. The traditional moral obligation of nurses is to provide net benefit to patients with minimal harm. In order to achieve these moral objectives health care workers are committed to a wide range of prime facie obligations. To ensure professionalism, we need to ensure we actually can provide the benefits we profess. Hence the need for rigorous and effective educational and training programmes both before and throughout our professional lives. We also need to make sure that what we are offering actually constitutes net-benefit for patients – and not just for patients in general but for the particular patients concerned. Interestingly in order to do so we must once again respect the patient’s autonomy. It is important we bear in mind that what constitute a net benefit for one patient may be a net harm to another. Example – a blood transfusion to save lives may constitute a net benefit for most of us – but for committed Jehovah’s Witnesses it will constitute an overwhelmingly harmful assault. Assessment of how much benefit …show more content…
Confidentiality is non-disclosure of private or secret information which one is entrusted. Legally, it applies to all health practitioners and others that are in contact with information about patients. This continues even after patient’s death. Nurses hold in confidence any information obtained in a professional capacity, and use professional judgement is sharing such information. The necessity of sharing the information must be considered by the nurse before disclosing the information in other words the nurse should use professional judgement to decide about this since the wellbeing and safety of the patient depends on this