Question

What are important insights about the application of ethical theory in your healthcare?

Answer 1

IMPORTANT INSIGHTS ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORY IN HEALTHCARE

INTRODUTION

Ethical theory can come into place in a variety of different situations in a healthcare setting. It can help to make decisions about healthcare when there isn’t an obvious right or wrong option. As nurses, we have to face many different situations in the workplace ,we have to care patients who have different values and morals. We have to face ethical dilemmas. In all those situations, ethical theories and principles can be used to help and guide us to make the best decisions.

ETHICAL THEORY

Ethical theory may consider the application of rules or the consequences of actions. The ethical theories provides an ordered set of moral standards to be used in assessing what is morally right and what is morally wrong regarding human action in general .

EXAMPLES OF ETHICAL THEORIES IN HEALTH CARE

1. Utilitarianism:It is the moral/ethical theory that states that right actions ought to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

2. Teleological theories :These stress the consequences of actions as the first step in analyzing moral activity.Consequentialism sees the rightness or the wrongness of an action in terms of the consequences brought by that action or according to the balance of their good and bad consequences

3. Deontology:It is a modern combination of classical Greek terms and means the study or science (logos) of duty, or more precisely of what one ought to do .It involves applying the same rule for everyone in all circumstances.

4. Principlism :It is a widely applied ethical approach based on four fundamental moral principles.

• Respect for autonomy
• Non-Malfeasance
• Beneficence (including utility)
• Justice and several derivative rules: veracity, fidelity, privacy and confidentiality along with various other rules such as informed consent.

APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORY IN HEALTHCARE

• Each one of the ethical theories had advantages and also disadvantages
• It Help us make decisions in the healthcare field.
• It is important to learn about ethics when it comes to nursing because, as nurses, we make a variety of decisions that affect a lot of different people.
• Nurse must first give them all the pertinent information that they need in order to make an educated decision
• By using the theory of utilitarianism, we can make difficult decisions that do not seem to have a right or wrong answer.
• Using the principles of justice and autonomy, we can ensure that our patients are getting the best care possible and that we are also respecting their wishes, beliefs and values.
• Patients and society should be confident that difficult choices are not dealt with in an arbitrary fashion, or simply dependent on the particular moral stand taken by clinicians.
• Choices should be made or presented fairly and usually in the best interests of the patient.
• Ethics is just us much about how dilemmas are resolved than with what the right choices or actions should be.
• Central to modern clinical ethics is the dignity and respect for the patient as individuals capable of understanding and where possible taking decisions about their treatment
• There is no fully adequate moral theory which can singly explain all ethical or moral dilemmas
• None of them also can singly explain all ethical or moral dilemmas.
• More than one theory may have to be combined to solve a specific ethical issue.
• The emotional and personal nature of ethical decision making can present difficulties, and conflict can arise when people have different ethical perspectives.an understanding of ethical terms and ethical theories can be helpful in clarifying the source of this conflict.
• As nurses, we can use justice in our practice by providing this care for everyone, regardless of their economic class or income.
• A patient has the right to make decisions about the care that they will receive.
• We need to base these decisions off of ethical theories and principles, not only to save ourselves from legal trouble, but also to help our patients have the best outcomes possible.

Limits of ethical theories

• As per Utilitarianism, it is impossible to set the sanders of one’s moral action on the basis of the act itself
• It concerned about the maximization of individual preferences when some of these individuals have considered what judgments tell us are morally unacceptable.
• Deontology cannot within itself provide for resolution of conflicts among two or more moral persons who profoundly disagree.
• Principlism is not designed to provide a method for choosing, but rather provide a set of moral commitments, common language and a common set of moral issue.

The correlation among ethical theories showed that ethics is not a prescription or set of rules to be followed blindly.

CONCLUSION

There is no fully adequate moral theory which can singly explain all ethical or moral dilemmas and none of them also can singly explain all ethical or moral dilemmas.

REFERENCES

• Blais, K. K., & Hayes, J. S. (2016). Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives. Boston: Pearson.
• Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2016). Nursing ethics: Across the curriculum and into practice. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
• Guglielmo, W. J. (2013, May 13). Nurse Reveals STD Patient to Girlfriend, Man Sues; and More. Retrieved from https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/803758
• How the Four Principles of Health Care Ethics Improve Patient Care. (2017, February 24). Retrieved from https://online.sju.edu/graduate/masters-health-administration/resources/articles/four-principles-of-health-care-ethics-improve-patient-care