Discussion: Ethical Rules in Clinical Practice - Nursing Ethics

This essay delves into four essential ethical rules in clinical practice: veracity, confidentiality, privacy, and fidelity. Veracity, the principle of truthfulness, is examined in the context of informing patients and their families about diagnoses, highlighting its role in patient autonomy and the nurse-patient therapeutic relationship. Confidentiality, a cornerstone of healthcare ethics, is discussed regarding protecting patient information and building trust, with examples like managing communicable diseases. The importance of patient privacy, including securing electronic medical records, is also explored, emphasizing its impact on patient satisfaction and safety. Finally, fidelity, the commitment to promises made by nurses, is analyzed in the context of providing quality and culturally competent care. The essay includes real-world examples of how these ethical principles are applied in clinical settings, along with relevant references.

Running head: ETHICAL RULE
ETHICAL RULE
Name of the student:
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1ETHICAL RULE
Discussion:
The purpose of the discussion is to reflect on four ethical rules used in the clinical
practice such as veracity, confidentiality, privacy and fidelity.
Veracity:
In the nursing ethics, veracity suggested that is defined as the truthfulness or being
honest which restore the autonomy of the patient. It is considered as the basis of a therapeutic
relationship between patients and nursing professionals that further facilitate mutual treatment
goal. In the clinical setting, one of the prominent instances of the veracity is informing the life-
threatening disease of the patient to the family members (Fowler, 2017). In this case, nursing
professionals often experience dilemma because while the life-threatening disease may subject
family members to high psychological distress, saying the truth about the life-threatening disease
to the family members of the patient restore the autonomy and empower patients to receive
comforting care. Hence, it is first crucial ethical rules used by nurses. In the clinical setting, I
complied with the ethical principle veracity by providing patient education.
Confidentiality:
Confidentiality is considered as the fundamental ethical principle in health care that
promote the basic rights of the patients by protecting the personal information of the patients and
respecting the dignity of the patient. Confidentiality allows health care professionals to build
trust in the patient and professional relation by limiting the sharing of the sensitive information
of the patients to the third party (Hoskins, Grady & Ulrich, 2018). One such example of
confidentiality is limiting the sharing the information like a communicable disease of the patients
without the informed consent of the patients. It further prevents the patient from experiencing
stigma and discrimination. In the clinical setting, I complied with ethical principle confidentiality

2ETHICAL RULE
by not sharing the information of the HIV patient with the family members of the patient without
the informed consent of the patient.
Privacy:
Similar to confidentiality, the privacy of the patient defined as the practice that enables
professionals to maintain the security of the patient record. It is critical to maintaining the quality
of care by increasing patient satisfaction and increasing patient safety (Wang et al., 2016). One
of the prominent examples of the privacy exercised by nursing professionals is to secure personal
information of the data through the electronic medical record. It prevents the patient from
cybercrimes, social exclusion since leakage of personal data subject patients to a high level of a
cyberbully, online abuse and high psychological distress. In the clinical setting, I complied with
ethical principle privacy by securing the patient data in the medical record after documenting the
patient history.
Fidelity:
In nursing ethics, Fidelity is considered as the nursing value that enables nursing
professionals to be faithful to the promises that they made nursing professionals such as
providing quality and culturally competent care (Aydin Er Sehiralti & Akpinar, 2017). The most
common instances of fidelity exercised by nursing professionals in the clinical setting are to
provide access to the quality care to the patient irrespective of race and ethnicity. In the clinical
setting, I complied with ethical principle fidelity by accurately culturally competent to aboriginal
individuals.

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References:
Aydin Er, R., Sehiralti, M., & Akpinar, A. (2017). Attributes of a good nurse: the opinions of
nursing students. Nursing ethics, 24(2), 238-250.
Fowler, M. D. (2017). Why the history of nursing ethics matters. Nursing ethics, 24(3), 292-304.
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).
Wang, L., Simiao, Y. U., Gao, X., Guo, Y., & Fan, Y. (2016). Analysis of nursing ethics and
practice of physical constraints in the intensive care unit. Chinese Journal of Practical
Nursing, 32(36), 2813-2815.