Question

What are the Ethical versus Moral aspects of Nursing?

Answer 1

Ethical aspects of Nursing

Ethics is the study of conduct and character. It is concerned with determining what is good or valuable for individuals, for group of individuals and for society at large. Acts that are ethical reflect a commitment to standards beyond personal preferences (i.e. standards that individuals and for society at large. However, when decisions must be made about healthcare, differing values and opinions among individuals can result in disagreement about the right thing to do, which are mainly concerned with moral aspects of care . Understandable conflicts occurs among health care providers, families, patients , freinds and people in the community about the right thing to do when ethics, values and perceptions about health care collides

Basic terms in Ethics

Autonomy

Respect for the autonomy refers to the commitment to include patients in decisions about all aspects of care as a way of acknowledging and protecting a patient's independence.

Nonmalficience

Malficience refers to harm or hurt; thus non-malficience is the avoidance of harm or hurt. In health care, ethical practice involves not only the will to do good, but the equal commitment to do no harm

Justice

Refers to fairness. The term is most often used in discussions about access to health care resources , health insurance, distribution of hospitals and services and even organ transplant generally refer to issues of justice

Fidelity

Refers to the agreement to keep promises. Professional behavior includes revision of plan as necessary to try to keep the promise. Fidelity also refers to unwillingness to abadon patients even when care becomes controversial or complex

Moral aspects of Nursing

Nursing is a work of intimacy. Nursing practice requires you to come in contact with patients physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. A value is a personal belief about the worth of a given idea, attitude, custom or object that sets standards that influence behavior. The values that an individual holds reflect cultural and social influences and these values vary among people and develop and chnage over-time. For e.g: in some culture decision about health care flow from group or family-based discussion rather than independent decisions by one person. Such practices challenges your commitment to respect patient autonomy

Cultural aspects of care

• Acknowledgement and respect for cultural differences
• A willingness to negotiate and compromise when world views differ
• Being aware of one's own values and biases
• Using communication skills that enhance empathy
• Knowing cultural practices of patients regularly seen
• Understanding that all patinets are individuals and they may not share the same views as others within their own ethnic group