According to Hamric, Hanson, Tracy, and O'Grady (2013), being a nurse in the modern world comes with a variety of challenges as a result of the requirement to fulfil a variety of commitments in the social, political, and healthcare sectors. Because a nurse acts as a mediator between the administration of the hospital, the healthcare system, patients, and their family, it is clear that ideas such as fidelity are at the heart of what defines a nurse's activities and conduct (Hamric et al., 2013).Nevertheless, the fact that we live in a democratic society is not the only factor that contributes to the occurrence of ethical conundrums; discrepancies in the interpretation of ethical norms and rules are also common. In today's world, a significant amount of emphasis is placed on this particular aspect of nursing education. This is due to the fact that only highly skilled advanced nursing practitioners are able to contribute to the making of fair decisions by applying the principles of a variety of ethical theories. In addition to theoretical frameworks, role models such as Florence Nightingale help nurses develop into ethical leaders who place a premium on ethics and justice. This is an important aspect of the nursing profession (Dossey, 2010).As a result, the primary objective of this paper is to describe ethical conundrums that arose in the context of the healthcare setting, with particular attention paid to its distinguishing features, ethical principles that were violated, and the obstacles that currently stand in the way of ethical practise. Following the completion of the situational analysis, the ethical decision-making theories and programmes that are most applicable to the circumstances will be proposed as potential solutions to problems of a similar nature in the future. In the final part of the paper, conclusions are developed to summarise the primary findings of the research and to communicate my feelings towards the event that has place as well as my prospective future attitude toward situations that are comparable.
Ethical Dilemma and Described Situation
It was just noted previously that ethical conundrums are very typical in the nursing profession. Consequently, this was one of the problems that arose at my place of employment in the most recent past. The incident took occurred in the hospital, where one of the patients had been sent because of some ongoing health issues. Therefore, following the organisation of a battery of tests, it was discovered that a patient had a form of cancer that had a poor prognosis regarding the likelihood of being cured. After being discharged from the medical facility and returning home, the woman, who was thirty years old at the time, was questioned by her primary care physician about her condition. As a result, one could say that she gave up hope as her health continued to deteriorate, as she stopped taking the medication that was prescribed to her and as she refused to participate in the needed therapy. However, despite the fact that the treatments, such as the insertion of urine catheters, were necessary for the preservation of her organs and her prolonged existence, she continued to refuse to have them done. Essay Writing Services of Academic Master is providing help to world wide people in their works for increasing performance.
Aside from the patient's argument, her family were successful in persuading her to continue her treatment at the hospital since there was a possibility that she may be treated there. In the meanwhile, the physicians determined that she had a fatal illness and broke the news to her family about her status. The patient's relatives and the medical staff at the hospital came to the conclusion that it would be best for her to not be informed about her condition since they felt that this would encourage her to have hope. In order to lend credence to this theory, members of the family started making travel arrangements soon after she was discharged from the hospital. The patient sadly passed away without ever receiving an accurate diagnosis of her true medical problem, which led to a fairly unfortunate conclusion to this unfortunate circumstance.
In general, the patient, the patient's family members, and the medical experts were the key actors in the circumstance that was detailed. Because the nurses had to lie and be dishonest with the patient in order to accommodate the requirements of the family, one could argue that doing so posed an ethical conundrum for the nursing staff. This kind of issue arises rather frequently, however it is not yet apparent whether or not doctors should reveal the diagnosis to terminally ill patients given that doing so has both positive and negative implications given the nature of the patients' illnesses.
Specific Ethical Characteristics of Dilemma
It is still abundantly clear that the circumstance that was detailed above can be considered to be one of the examples of communication issues. It is possible that this is the most widespread problem; for instance, in oncology, in addition to focusing on a variety of other concerns, nurses are required to devote a significant amount of attention to the clarity of their patients' communications (Luz et al., 2015). The inability to recognise the utmost significance of this factor will lead to the growth of unease and will sever the connection that has been so carefully cultivated between patients and those in the medical profession (Luz et al., 2015). A patient's mental health may also be negatively impacted by factors such as inefficient communication and unsuitable people skills, in addition to the previously mentioned factors.
For instance, one of the potential effects of being unable to select the most effective means to tell terminally ill patients about their medical condition is depression, according to the findings of certain research (Marcus & Mott, 2014). Therefore, improper communication with the patient may have been the root cause of the patient's unfavourable views and lack of motivation to continue medical treatment in the first place.
However, misunderstandings are not always the result of poor communication. For instance, there are situations when doctors and nurses decide to lie to terminally sick patients about something that they know to be true (Safaris, Tsounis, Malliarou, & Lahana, 2014). In the context of the case study that was provided, the medical staff did it because they wanted to not only assist the patient in regaining hope of being treated, but they also wanted to fulfil the requirements and fulfil the wishes of the patient's family. As a consequence, on the one hand, it is considered to have a good influence on the psychological welfare of a patient, while simultaneously convincing him or her to continue obtaining the necessary medical support (Safaris et al., 2014). On the other hand, these acts have a tendency to contradict the ideas of patient autonomy, since every person has the right to know his or her genuine diagnosis and choose the next course of action that should be taken in response to it (Safaris et al., 2014).
At the same time, it is feasible to see that the scenario displays certain elements of a dilemma involving several obligations. The analysis of the situation reveals that the communication issue is a significant barrier to fulfilling the requirements of a number of stakeholders, such as other nurses, medical professionals, patients' family, and patients themselves (Hamric et al., 2013). The fact that many parties had opposing points of view was the primary factor contributing to the difficulty of the case that was picked. For instance, the patient's relatives decided they did not want to tell her about her fatal disease, despite the fact that other stakeholders had the opposite position. In this situation, medical practitioners were tasked with determining which course of action would be the most appropriate based on how they understood certain ethical rules and the particulars of the issue. In a nutshell, we could say that the identified situation exhibits key characteristics of communication problems while also highly interfering with other general nursing principles and multiple commitments dilemmas. To elaborate, we could say that this situation poses a challenge for multiple commitments.