Ethical Theories of Nursing Essay

When a person meets the unfortunate circumstance of beingness admitted to a hospital for an illness they atomic number 18 depending on health handle personnel to have their outstrip engagement in mind and make them emend. When people think of who it is taking c be of them and making them better they specifically think of Doctors and Nurses. As Doctors and more specifically Registered Nurses it is their duty to have a customers best interest in mind and perpetually function in their benefit. This raises the question, what guides Nurses to maintain this mindset of alship weedal putting the patient first? The answer is their honest duty, meaning every cherish is guided by ethical theories and principles which suspensor guide them as a patient advocate. It is these ethics that make a confine so valuable to clients and ultimately makes a nurse the clients best advocate. In this paper the heart ethical theories and principles volition be discussed and how exactly this he lps RNs be the best possible advocate and what benefits the clients themselves derive from these ethical theories. In order to properly understand the ethical theories of nursing one must(prenominal) first know what the core ethical principles and theories in nursing are. The ethical principles of nursing are Autonomy, Beneficence, Fidelity, sure consent, Integrity, arbitrator, Nonmaleficence, Paternalism, Veracity, as well as Privacy and confidentiality. Some ethical theories that influence nursing practice are Consequentialism, Deontology, Ethical Relativism, Utilitarianism speculation, Teleology, Virtue ethics, and Justice and equity.To a layperson some of these words may make spirit and others may not. In order to better understand how these theories and principles shape the practice of nursing you must better understand what they mean. A brief description of some of these terms will be given in the first place their influence on nurses is discussed. Autonomy refers to the patients own rights to make ratiocinations almost their health get by, health, and lives without the interference from health care personnel such(prenominal) as the physician, the nurse, or other team members. This means the nurse would have to resist the urge to drop out his or her own feelings, treasures or beliefs onto the patient. This principle was make more evident with the passing of the long-suffering Self Determination Act by Congress in 1990 (Ethical Principles, n.d., para. 2). Beneficence is very simple, it is referring to everlastingly doing what is beneficial to the patient and because in their best interest (Silva & Ludwick, 1999). This principle overly involves taking actions to help benefit others and retainboth physical and mental harm of the patient. Fidelity is synonymous with faithfulness and is therefore achieved by remaining loyal, fair, and truthful to patient and encompassing the idea of being a patient advocate.An physical exercise of fidelity wou ld be keeping a promise to a patient of coming back to notice on them even if they become slammed with a heavy workload. Informed consent is directly related to impropriety in the fact that it allows the patient to make an informed decision around their treatment (Daly, 2009). This means that completed information must be provided to the patient in order to make an informed decision. Three elements conglomerate in informed consent are Informed, Competent, and Voluntary. What this means is the patient has all the accurate information, they are in a stable and competent mindset to make the decision, and that they are voluntarily making the decision. Justice is hardly referring to fairness and tintity. It is applied to healthcare by providing equitable access to nursing care. Nonmaleficence literally translates to do no harm and is a concept that originated from the Hippocratic Oath. Nurses commit this principle by not causing injury, being either physical, psychological, emoti ona, or financial (Ethical Principles, n.d., para. 16).Paternalism is a negative principle of nursing and is implied when a nurse does not respect the patients right to autonomy by making decisions for the patient because he or she thinks she knows whats best for that patient (Sliva & Ludwick, 1999). Privacy and Confidentiality is relating to maintaining the security of a patients information and only share-out that information on a need-to-know basis with other healthcare members involved with that patients care and act to prevent breaches of confidentiality. Veracity as a word is associated with truthfulness. In nursing it is a duty to disclose disposed(p) information and the obligation to respect confidentiality at the same time. This means giving truthful information about the risks of a procedure go still respecting the patients confidentiality. These are the main principles of ethics as far as it pertains to nursing and knowing this information is vital to understanding ethi cal theories and how to better apply them as a practicing nurse.As mentioned earlier some of the Ethical theories are Consequentialism, Deontology, Ethical Relativism, Teleology, Virtue ethics, and Justice andequity. It is important for Nurses to understand the definition of each of these, as well as how to apply them, and how it benefits the patient. It is pivotal for nurses because it will ensure that they are preforming their jobs and duties with the highest regard to patient advocacy and maintain the ethics which nursing is based on. Consequentialism, to a fault referred to as utilitarianism, seems simple enough to understand as the word consequence is evident. Consequentialist ethics refers to the idea that the turn chaste response is always going to be related to the outcome, or consequence, of the act.This idea can also be thought of in a way that if a decision must be made it would be wisest to make the decision with the central aim of doing the maximum amount of sterling (prenominal) good for the greatest number of people. The actual good that is being referred to can be expressed in numerous ways such as referring to values such as happiness, being pain or symptom free, or another life enhancing outcome (Ethical Theories, n.d., para. 2). There can be a backside to this conjecture however which can cause acts that would be contrary to the rights of individuals if the end result is one that would improve care for many others, this is referring back to the theory of doing the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.Deontology is simply learning the moral theory of doing unto others as you would want them to do unto you. This theory is placing more value on the intentions of the individual as opposed to the actual outcome of any action. It also focuses on rules, obligations, and duties. In order to follow the theory of deontology it requires absolute adherence to these obligations and acting from duty is viewed as acting ethically. An ethical person must always follow the rules, even if doing so causes a slight desirable outcome. Since with this theory it is the motives of the actor that determine the value of the act a bad outcome may be welcome if the intent of the actor was good. On the back side of this theory there is a criticism in healthcare that applying a strictly deontological approach to healthcare can lead to conflicts of interest between equally entitled individuals which can be difficult or even seemingly impossible to resolve (Ethical Theories, n.d. para. 4).Teleology is a theory that is icy to deontology in a sense. Whereas with deontology it is the intent of the decision made that determines the value as opposed to the outcome, with teleology it is theoutcome that determines whether the act is good or of value and that achievement of a good outcome justifies using a less desirable means to attain the end. Ethical relativism takes into account for the variability in what is considered to be normal or acceptable to any given culture. What this is saying is that every culture has their own set of norms and therefore received behaviors that may be acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in others. A nurse must keep in mind that ethical standards are relational to person, place, time, and culture. The nurse must take on the fact that whatever a person thinks is right, is right. Right and premature is not definite in most cases as there are no absolute truths. firearm there are no universal truths in ethical relativism there are few topics that are not open to debate, such as incest (American Nurses Association, 2011). Although this theory has been largely rejected it is still valuable for a nurse to consider when caring for their patients. If a nurse is better educated on the culture of their client and what is considered normal or taboo they will be better equipped to provide excellent care in that persons eyes without infringing on their culture or having a biased opi nion of them.Virtue ethics is different from other ethical theories in that it places much less emphasis on which rules people should follow and instead focuses on helping people develop good subject traits, such as benevolence and generosity. These character traits will, in turn, allow a person to make the correct decisions later on in life. Virtue theorists also emphasize the need for people to learn how to break bad habits of character, such as greed or anger. These are called vices and stand in the way of fitting a good person. This theory, enchantment having the patients best interest in mind, focuses on the healthcare provider and asking them to learn good habits term breaking bad habits in order to predispose them to making the correct decision automatically while providing care to their clients. It requires the nurse to take a look at his or herself and make judgments on their character and work to flip whatever is deemed unethical about themselves for the greater good of their patients. This is an essential process of becoming a nurse as nobody is perfect and allowing oneself to be open minded about change will allow them to be the best nurse possible. Justice and equity is simple, it refers to being fair and equal to all patients no matter their socioeconomic status or resources at their disposal.This ethical theory is meant to entertain the less privileged people in society and give them access to fair and equal healthcare access without bias from the healthcare members caring for them. The theory states that a veil of ignorance should be worn regarding who is touch by a decision and should be used by all decision makers because it allows for unbiased decision making. An ethical person should choose the action that is fair to all, including both the advantaged and disadvantaged groups in society. This theory is in place to protect those less fortunate people and is essential to all of society to keep the balance and fairness when it comes to healthcare. Now that all of the ethical principles have been defined it is easier to make sense of how the ethical theories came about for our healthcare system and all the members of the healthcare team taking care of the patients.It is essential for these theories to be understand and applied by nurses all across the world in order to attain the best results for patients and the futurity of our healthcare system. It is essential of nurses to be well versed in the ethical principles and even more so in ethical theories to help guide them in their decision making when caring for clients. A nurse who knows the ethical theories and furthermore applies them in the field will have better client outcomes and prevent errors that can cause harm to a client in any way shape or form. These theories sincerely help protect not only the patients being cared for but also the nurses caring for those patients.