Nursing Ethics: Exploring Core Principles and Ethical Considerations

This essay delves into the essential ethical principles that guide nursing practice. It begins by defining healthcare ethics as a framework of moral principles, values, and beliefs that inform decision-making in patient care. The essay then explores key ethical principles, including beneficence (doing good and providing the best care), non-maleficence (avoiding harm), justice (fairness in service), autonomy (respecting patient's rights and decisions), confidentiality (protecting patient information), and fidelity/veracity (dedication, truthfulness, and advocacy). The author, a nursing student, reflects on how these principles will be applied to their practice, emphasizing the importance of continuous professional development, empathy, compassion, humility, and maintaining patient trust. The essay highlights the significance of these principles in ensuring patient well-being, respecting human rights, and upholding the integrity of the nursing profession. It concludes by underscoring the commitment to providing the best and safest care, maintaining patient satisfaction, and advocating for the patient's rights and dignity, all while adhering to the core values of nursing ethics. The essay is supported by relevant academic sources that reinforce the importance of these principles in the field of nursing.

Running head: ETHICS IN NURSING
ETHICS IN NURSING
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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ETHICS IN NURSING
Ethic in healthcare may be defined as the set of moral principles, values as well a
beliefs that help healthcare professionals to make the correct choice about the care that they
provide. Researchers are of the opinion that at the central position of the healthcare ethics is
sense of the professionals in making the right to wrong decisions about the care that is
provided to patients (Chadwick & Gallagher, 2016). It mainly governs the beliefs and the
rights that the healthcare professionals possess and the duties they offer to the patients to
develop the quality of lives of patients.
One of the most important ethics in nursing is beneficence. It is the ethical principles
by which the healthcare professionals provide the best care to the patients which have
maximum positive outcomes on the patients (Kangasniemi et al., 2015). I believe that through
my continuous dedication to the profession, following of the evidence based studies as well
as with continuous professional development, I will develop the wisdom that will help me to
provide the best and safest care to patients. The second ethical principle is called the non-
maleficence which helps the healthcare professionals to provide care which ensures no
suffering pain or any harmful treatment is adopted that affects the life of the patient
negatively. I believe that with proper values and virtues that I have not only developed as
nursing professional but from the very childhood for helping humanity would help me to
develop empathy and compassion. These values would ensure that the satisfaction of the
patient is given the most important priority without taking ant activities that have the
potential to cause suffering in the patient.
The next ethical principle is called justice by which the healthcare professional
should maintain fairness in service they provide irrespective of culture, creed, religion and
many others (Dehghani et al., 2015). I believe that nursing profession requires humility that
ensures maintaining of equality in providing care to patients irrespective of their
socioeconomic background, race, ethnicity, classes, gender and others as caring for

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humankind is the main philosophy for healthcare. Another ethical principle is called the
autonomy, freedom and dignity where the patient’s wishes, needs, demands and decisions
are given the utmost priority when providing care and developing the care plan. Respecting
the human rights of the patients and being committed to maintaining their dignity making
them the central point of decision making would enable them to feel respected and
empowered. This would have positive outcomes on their health.
The next ethical principle is maintaining of confidentiality and privacy where the
health as well as personal information of the patient is protected from any third parties or
from mishandlings and theft or exposing them to world without their consent (Cannaerts et
al., 2014). I should keep up the trust of the patient not only to avoid legal obligation but also
to maintain the responsibility of the preserving their information as their human rights in the
nation. Fidelity as well as veracity is the principles by which nurses should include
dedication, truthfulness, loyalty, fairness as well as advocacy to patients. I believe this would
be one the most important principle I need to follow by which I will not only be able to
maintain the values and virtues that I have developed in the profession but also to maintain
the commitment that I have towards humankind.

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References:
Cannaerts, N., Gastmans, C., & Casterlé, B. D. D. (2014). Contribution of ethics education to
the ethical competence of nursing students: educators’ and students’
perceptions. Nursing ethics, 21(8), 861-878.
Chadwick, R., & Gallagher, A. (2016). Ethics and nursing practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Dehghani, A., Mosalanejad, L., & Dehghan-Nayeri, N. (2015). Factors affecting professional
ethics in nursing practice in Iran: a qualitative study. BMC medical ethics, 16(1), 61.
Kangasniemi, M., Pakkanen, P., & Korhonen, A. (2015). Professional ethics in nursing: an
integrative review. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(8), 1744-1757.