Ethical Issues in Nursing: A Case Study from Australia

This report examines ethical issues within the Australian nursing context, focusing on a case study involving a first-year nursing student, Nicholas, and a registered nurse, Polly, caring for an elderly patient, Mr. Christensen. The report analyzes breaches of the Code of Conduct and Ethics for Nurses in Australia, highlighting instances of inappropriate force and aggressive communication by Polly. It explores the implications of such actions, including potential distress for the patient and erosion of trust in healthcare services. The report references the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Code of Ethics and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia publications to assess the ethical violations. It also considers how Nicholas could address the situation, emphasizing the importance of adhering to ethical guidelines and maintaining professional boundaries within the nursing profession. The conclusion underscores the necessity of ethical practices in the workplace and the legal and moral obligations of healthcare professionals.

Issues Related to Code of Ethics,
Code of Conduct of Nursing in
Australia

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Issues related to code of ethics for nurses in Australia...............................................................1
Breaching of Code of conduct and ethics by Polly.....................................................................2
What are the possible implication Nicolas may face as result of incident and how he will deal
with it..........................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSIONS..............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Nursing is that profession which would be including care that of patients or their family
who wanted to get treated in good and proper manner. They need to be specialist in their
profession which is the basic thing which is needed related to health care, approach towards the
patients. They all need to follow certain code of conduct and ethics while performing certain
duties and responsibility like treatment during the ill time of that patient. So here in this report
we would be studying about what are code of conduct and ethics that need to be kept in mind.
MAIN BODY
Issues related to code of ethics for nurses in Australia.
According to the International Council of Nurse (ICN) there are some code of ethics
which nurse all around the world need to follow which was formed in 1953 and revised in 2012.
As per preamble of this ICN it was noted that nurse are having four fundamental responsibilities
which they need to take and perform in an efficient manner. These 4 principles could be to
promote health of their patients, to prevent them from illness, to restore their health and to
relieve them from suffering (Nursing and Council, 2008). Under this fact there are also included
certain other factors like that of respect of human rights, treating them with respect, right of life
and choice and cultural rights as well.
So under this current situation which is been given Nicholas being the first year student
of nursing who is also taking up his clinical placement under Polly in general ward. They both
are caring for an 88 year old gentlemen Mr Christensen he falls into his house and his right
shoulder and hip was misplaced. As he then has not been able to move his body Polly used to
assist him to shower Nicholas noticed that she was not treating him in good manner and
misbehaving or pulling him. This was not appropriate or necessary to be done with that old man
Nicholas thought he identified that there are some code of ethics which Polly need to keep in her
mind.
There are also some professional code of ethics and conduct which any person need to
follow at the time when he is behaving or acting with other person during professional capacity
(Nursing and Council, 2008). The issues which are related to this incident could be summed up
into:
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 Nurse should be practising accordantly to standard of profession and broader health
system.
 They must be respecting the dignity, culture, values beliefs and ethnicity if people to
whom they are giving treatment or care and with also to their colleagues.
 They should be supporting health and physical fitness of that patient and then informing
to those who would be requiring care.
International Council of Nurse set up the code of ethics for them to guide their actions
which are based on social value and need of their patients (Hannon, 2017). Nurse also come
under the professional boundaries after they start their working as under this profession which
means that it is the responsibility of them to maintain certain code of ethics and conduct in order
to deal up with people.
Breaching of Code of conduct and ethics by Polly.
Nicholas noticed that Polly was not behaving with her patient Mr Christensen in well
behaved manner and she overlooked her duties and responsibilities as registered nurse in general
ward. Polly also described situation stating that sometimes we have to treat these old people with
force otherwise they would not be following instructions (Brown and et.al., 2017). She was
forcing the patient, pulling him out the bed, specking loudly with aggression to him which
Nicholas found very unnecessary and inappropriate way to handle any patient. Nicolas think that
such kind of rude behaviour can lay a deep impact on Mr. Christensen health condition making
him scared of the services or the help provided by Polly. Besides this, the ruthless and care free
attitude of Polly will lead to the decrease ibn the trust level of patients in the health and social
care services. Such employee's make the health and social care home an unreliable place for the
patients. This also help them to handle the operations of the nursing home (Masters, 2015).
As per the ethics in the nursing profession, Polly as a nurse has to treat her client or the
patient Mr. Christensen with prior ethics and dignity. But she failed to do so. She mistreated and
used unnecessary force with him, which is against the legal and ethical code of practices in
nursing profession. The ICN code of ethics will help Polly to get guided in a very effective way
in order to increase its efficiency and ethicalness to meet the needs and demands of the patients
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at health care firm. The mistreating and ride behaviour of Polly has caused Mr Christensen to get
drawn away from her and grow reluctant towards her services (Johnstone, 2015). As the elderly
people are physically, mentally and emotionally vulnerable, such behaviour by the nurses will let
them fall into depression and get scared, which is not beneficial for their health condition. But
the usage of loud voice and manual force on Mr. Christensen, is against the code of conduct
established in nursing profession. As Polly has beachhead this code of ethics and conduct, she
has to bring an effective change in her attitude towards the elder patients.
What are the possible implication Nicolas may face as result of incident and how he will deal
with it.
In the present case, Nicolas can either talk to Polly over the issue that it will help in
improving the conditions of the elderly patients under her (Kangasniemi, Pakkanen and
Korhonen, 2015). Also, he can try to explain her by the means of ethical codes and conducts that
will be taken in consideration by him to explain her moral duties and responsibilities that she
should follow in order to keep a check on the behavioural attitude of Polly. Other than this,
Nicolas himself can look after the better handling of the nursing operations that will be taken in
consideration for better treatment of the elder patients at the health care home. Apart from this,
he can keep a check on the behaviour of Polly toward her elder patients. And if he found that her
behaviour towards Mr. Christensen is still the same, he can contact and complain to his seniors
or the superior who will look after the strict action on Polly for her unethical, rude and ruthless
behaviour towards the patients (Dobrowolska and et.al., 2015.).
CONCLUSIONS
Thus, it can be concluded from the report that the ethical practices are required to be
followed at the work place. Various ethical codes and conducts that are to be followed by a nurse
for the better handling of the nursing operations are been taken in effective consideration by the
nurses in a health care firm. Besides this, the legal obligations and ethical duties or morals of the
nurses or the health care employee's in a hospital or nursing home is been taken in discussion.
Besides this, the possible implications of the breaching of the ethical codes and regulations is
also been taken in thought process.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Brown, D. and et.al., 2017. Lewis's Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of
Clinical Problems. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Dobrowolska, B. and et.al., 2015. Clinical practice models in nursing education: implication for
students' mobility. International nursing review. 62(1). pp.36-46.
Hannon, G., 2017. Homebirths and the regulation of independent midwives. Bulletin (Law
Society of South Australia), 39(11), p.16.
Johnstone, M.J., 2015. Bioethics: a nursing perspective. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Kangasniemi, M., Pakkanen, P. and Korhonen, A., 2015. Professional ethics in nursing: an
integrative review. Journal of advanced nursing. 71(8). pp.1744-1757.
Masters, K., 2015. Role development in professional nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.
Nursing, A. and Council, M., 2008. Codes of Professional Conduct & Ethics for Nurses &
Midwives in Australia 2008. Nurses Board of South Australia.
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