NURS 3004 Assignment: Ethical Considerations in Nursing Practice

This essay delves into the ethical considerations crucial for nurses in their professional practice, using a case study to illustrate key principles. The essay begins by introducing the importance of nursing ethics and the challenges nurses face in maintaining ethical standards, particularly in complex patient care scenarios. The discussion section analyzes the case of a nurse, Anh, and her interactions with a patient named Maddie, focusing on the application of ethical principles such as beneficence, non-maleficence, and autonomy. The essay explores how Anh's actions align with or deviate from these principles, considering issues like maintaining patient privacy, avoiding harm, and respecting patient autonomy in decision-making. It also addresses the potential ethical breaches related to sharing personal information with patients. The conclusion summarizes the key ethical considerations, emphasizing the need for nurses to adhere to ethical guidelines to ensure quality patient care and maintain professional integrity.

Running head: ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
Ethical Consideration
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
Introduction
Nursing professionals are facing various complex concerns related to their
professional ethics and this situation is enhancing day by day. In the profession of nursing, it
is very crucial to maintain the nursing code of ethics and so they have to maintain a few
ethical considerations as well during providing care to their patients as well. In all kind of
conditions, it is the duty of the nurses to provide good quality care to their patients as it is
their duty as per the nursing code of ethics. Moreover, it is quite evident that, during
delivering a high-quality care to the patients, they may face various ethical issues as they are
responsible for delivering care to various type of people and the patients must have different
believes and perspectives regarding the treatment and it is the duty of the nurses to maintain
all these as a part of their duty. Therefore, it is also evident that with the advancement of
various sectors in the medical fields, the ethical considerations of the nurses and health care
professionals are also increasing.
According to the study of Bradbury‐Jones and Broadhurst (2015), it is observed that
nursing ethics covers multiple principles such as respect for autonomy, beneficence, and non-
maleficence. However, from one case to another, the perspective of nursing ethical issues are
also changed along with the change in the characteristics of the patients. In this essay, the
ethical perspective of the given case study is discussed in a brief manner.
Discussion
In the case study, it was reported that Anh is a nurse working in an orthopedic unit of
a hospital since completing her TPPP. In most of the cases, it was reported that the patients
are very old in age and they are mostly semi-dependent as well. So, in most of the cases, Anh
was responsible for providing good care to those patients. However, it was also true that,
sometimes, Anh also faced heavy pressure due to the presence of multiple patients in the

2ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
orthopedic ward. Recently, a new patient named Maddie was admitted to the orthopedic unit
under the supervision of Anh and Anh became very close to the patient as well. From the case
study, it was reported that the age of the patient and Anh is very close to each other.
Simultaneously Anh also reported that she enjoyed a lot while talking with the patient named
Maddie. During their conversation, Anh found that she had a various common interest with
Anh. During the discharge of Maddie, Anh and Maddie shared their personal information and
social media profile so that they can be connected with each other after the discharge.
While analyzing the ethical considerations of nurses, it can be said that there are
mainly three principles of ethics in the nursing profession. The term beneficence refers to the
act of mercy, charity and kindness to the patients who are being served by them in hospital
settings. All the professionals should maintain the principles of beneficence so that they can
contribute to the well-being of the patients in the hospitals as well. All health care
professionals should uphold the interests and well-being of the patients. Under the concept of
the beneficence, the concept of the fiduciary relationship is also associated. According to this
relationship, there the nursing personnel should always work towards the wellbeing of the
patients and as a part of the patient's wellbeing they always (Suresh, 2014). These
professional ethics in the nursing professional is associated with the position of power, trusts
and authority. Moreover, it is quite evident that, the patients during their hospital days, are
quite weak and vulnerable and so the proper caring is very mush required for the patients in
the hospitals. Apart from that, during the hospital staying the patients are mostly dependent
on the nurses as they are the primary care giver to the patient during the hospital days. So , as
per the generic concepts of beneficence, the nursing care providers should avoid any kind of
actions which may be harmful to the patients and the nurse should speak with the patients in a
soft manner so that the patient may feel good during the hospital days (Pope, Hough &
Chase, 2016). Along with the nurses, other health care professionals in the hospitals also

3ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
show empathy to the patients. In the case of Maddie it was reported that, the nursing
personnel Anh had followed the principle of beneficence. As a part of this, Anh had behaved
with the patient in a good manner and also had taken good care of the patients as well. Along
with this, the ADLs in the hospitals also had taken good care of the patient. Moreover,
according to the study of Day, Leahy-Warren and McCarthy (2016), it was reported that,
another serious area of breaching the nursing ethics during their work is the financial abuse
that is patients of poor financial background will not be served well by the nursing personnel
in the hospitals. However, in the case study of Maddie it was reported that, there were no
such cases of financial abuse as the nurse had communicated and treated in a good manner
during her hospital stay. Apart from that, it is completely unethical if the hospital
administrators or the nurses use any kind of image to improve the services of the hospitals as
such kind of activity may cause fear and anxiety in the mind of the patients as well
(Lachman, 2014). Therefore, it can be said that no such activities by the nurse named Anh
were reported by the patient Maddie.
Another important aspect of nursing ethics, is the concept of non-maleficence and it is
also slightly correlated with the first ethical considerations that are beneficence. The concept
of non-maleficence refers to the principles of not harming the patients during the time of
hospital stay. Apart from that, it is the duty of the nursing professionals to take adequate
action to improve the condition of the patients and thereby also the nurses should try to avoid
any kind of activity related to the harms. So, all the nursing professionals should conduct all
the relevant actions regarding the appropriate treatment in the hospitals as well (Yullyzar,
Nasae & Chaowalit, 2014). On the other hand, from the stand point of the administration, it
can be said that, the staffs of the hospitals should be trained well so that they can easily
follow all the nursing ethics including non-maleficence during their delivery of care to the
patients (Martin, 2015). Along with this, the medical professionals in the hospitals should

4ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
make such policies that can make the patients safer regarding the physical health of the
patients as well. The nursing personnel should show dignity to the patients as well and all the
other environmental practices should be performed by the nurses as a part of the protection of
harm in the hospital setting. According to the study of Holloway and Galvin (2016), it is
reported that the practice of non-maleficence in hospital is harmful to the patients. In a
hospital setting, patients generally believe that the doctor will provide the best care and the
doctor will apply all the knowledge and expertise during the treatment. This trust and believe
will help the patient to avoid any kind of harm even though the patient is having pain and
suffering. So, it is the duty of the nurses and health care providers to maintain such behaviour
in the health care setting in order to provide maximum protection to the patients in the health
care settings (Yönt et al., 2014). In this case, it is reported that, Anh maintained the principles
of nonmaleficence during the hospital stay of Maddie. Anh provided all kind of support to
the patient to protect her any kind of harm as she was aged and semi dependent as well.
Moreover, the patient was admitted in the orthopaedic department of the hospital and
therefore, it can be easily said that, the patient may have a problem related to the walking. So,
there are high chances of getting harmed in hospital settings. So, in case of Maddie, it can be
said that Anh had done her job in an efficient manner and that is the reason of not having any
kind of harmful incidents in the hospitals as per the case study. Therefore the principles of
nonmaleficence were maintained in a good manner in case of Maddie. Along with this, Anh
also had supported the ADLs during the process of treatment and thus helped in gaining the
best care to the patient and thus the nonmaleficence ethics is well maintained in this case
scenario.
Another, important ethical consideration of nurses during providing care, is the
maintenance of autonomy. The concept of autonomy refers to the freedom of taking any kind
of decisions related to the patient’s health. The concept of autonomy in nursing is associated

5ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
with the decision making the power of them and the nurses must have the knowledge to
handle the various difficult situation during the care process. In such cases, the adequate level
of knowledge can help in the process of maintaining autonomy policy in the hospital settings
as well. For example, as a part of this, it can be said that by observing the vital signs of the
patient, the nursing personnel may take the decision regarding the patient’s health as well
(Cole, Wellard & Mummery, 2014). So, it can be said that, in the case of Maddie, there are
no such cases of autonomy breaching as a nurse and the ADLs took a collective decision
regarding the discharge of the patient. Apart from that, anoher important aspects of nursing
ethics are the maintenance of privacy and confidentiality of the patient's information.
According to the study of Anthony and Stablein (2016), it is reported that, issue of privacy in
the health care setting is very crucial in terms of maintaining the respect and social position
of the patients and it is the duty of the nurses and other health care professionals to maintain
the privacy of the patients by maintaining the confidentiality of the patients’ information.
Moreover, it is the right of the patients to have privacy. In the study by Demirsoy and
Kirimlioglu (2016), it was reported that nurses strongly believe that the privacy of the
patients must be kept during their hospital stay. In this study, almost 183 physicians and 173
nurses were recruited. The study result showed that, almost 103 physicians and 112 nurses
agreed strongly with the privacy protections of the patients and on the other hand 97
physicians and 90 nurses strongly agreed that the confidentiality of the patient must be
maintained as it is the right of the patients (Demirsoy & Kirimlioglu, 2016). In any condition,
the nursing professional should not reveal the identity of the patient in any kind of social
media or public platform as well so that the patient’s identity can be concealed easily. As a
part of the professional ethics, the nurses should not use any kind of personal information of
the patient as doing so, it may possible that the breaching of patient privacy may take place
(Henderson & Dahnke, 2015). In this case scenario, it was observed that the patient and the

6ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
nurses had shared a phone number and social media profile with each other. So, it can be said
that, there is a chance of confidentiality breaching of the patient and this is totally against the
ethics of the nurses.
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that, the ethical consideration is very crucial for the nurses
and there are a few ethical considerations in the nursing profession which must be maintained
by the nurses as well. From the case study of Maddie, it was reported that, the all the ethical
issues such as beneficence, maleficence, autonomy was maintained in case of Maddie and the
nursing professional named Anh was actively participated in all the care process. However,
lastly, it was reported that, during the discharge the patient and the nurse and the patient
shared their personal and it is not at all ethically correct and it can be said that, only due to
this action the ethical perspective was no maintained properly.

7ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

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References
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