Ethical Theories of Nursing Essay

When a individual meets the unfortunate circumstance of existence admitted to a hospital for an illness they atomic number 18 depending on health pull off personnel to have their lift out please in theme and make them go bad. When throng think of who it is victorious negociate of them and making them unwrap they specific eithery think of Doctors and Nurses. As Doctors and more specifically Registered Nurses it is their employment to have a clients best interest in mind and continuously act in their benefit. This raises the question, what repoints Nurses to deem this mindset of al elans putting the tolerant first? The answer is their estimable duty, meaning all(prenominal) nurse is guided by good theories and dominions which help guide them as a affected role advocate. It is these ethics that make a nurse so invaluable to clients and ultimately makes a nurse the clients best advocate. In this paper the core honest theories and principles volition be discus sed and how exactly this helps RNs be the best possible advocate and what benefits the clients themselves advance from these ethical theories. In score to properly earn the ethical theories of nurse one crucial first know what the core ethical principles and theories in care for are. The ethical principles of nursing are Autonomy, Beneficence, Fidelity, Informed consent, Integrity, Justice, Nonmaleficence, Paternalism, Veracity, as swell as Privacy and confidentiality. Some ethical theories that influence nursing coiffe are Consequentialism, Deontology, Ethical Relativism, Utilitarianism theory, Teleology, Virtue ethics, and Justice and equity.To a layperson whatever of these words may make sense and others may non. In night club to better understand how these theories and principles shape the practice of nursing you must better understand what they mean. A brief description of few of these terms will be given before their influence on nurses is discussed. Autonomy r efers to the patients deliver rights to make decisions about their healthcare, health, and lives without the interference from healthcare personnel such as the physician, the nurse, or other team members. This meat the nurse would have to support the urge to interject his or her own feelings, values or beliefs onto the patient. This principle was made more evident with the passing of the Patient Self intention Act by Congress in 1990 (Ethical Principles, n.d., para. 2). Beneficence is in truth simple, it is referring to always doing what is beneficial to the patient and thence in their best interest (Silva & Ludwick, 1999). This principle besides involves taking actions to help benefit others and pr make upt twain physical and mental harm of the patient. Fidelity is synonymous with faithfulness and is therefore achieved by remaining loyal, join, and truthful to patient and encompassing the idea of being a patient advocate.An example of fidelity would be keeping a promise t o a patient of coming back to check on them even if they become slammed with a heavy cropload. Informed consent is at present related to autonomy in the fact that it go aways the patient to make an communicate decision about their treatment (Daly, 2009). This means that accurate information must be provided to the patient in order to make an informed decision. tether elements involved 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 effective mindset to make the decision, and that they are voluntarily making the decision. Justice is alone referring to fairness and equality. 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 apply this principle by not causing injury, being both physical, psychological, emotiona, or financial (Ethical Pri nciples, 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 be beget 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 scarcely sharing 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 relevant information and the obligation to respect confidentiality at the same time. This means well-favoured truthful information about the risks of a procedure magic spell salvage respecting the patients confidentiality. These are the main principles of ethics as far-off as it pertains to nursing and knowing this information is vital to understanding ethical 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, also referred to as utilitarianism, seems simple large to understand as the word consequence is evident. Consequentialist ethics refers to the idea that the reclaim moral response is always going to be related to the outcome, or consequence, of the act.This idea cornerstone 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 total of superio r good for the greatest number of tribe. The actual good that is being referred to whoremonger be expressed in numerous ways such as referring to values such as happiness, being pain or omen free, or another life enhancing outcome (Ethical Theories, n.d., para. 2). There can be a backside to this theory 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 following 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 fence 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 mu st always follow the rules, even if doing so causes a less desirable outcome. Since with this theory it is the motives of the actor that dress the value of the act a bad outcome may be bankable if the intent of the actor was good. On the back side of this theory there is a criticism in healthcare that applying a purely deontological approach to healthcare can lead to conflicts of interest between every bit entitled individuals which can be difficult or even manifestly impossible to resolve (Ethical Theories, n.d. para. 4).Teleology is a theory that is opposite to deontology in a sense. Whereas with deontology it is the intent of the decision made that determines the value as contrasted 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 regular or d elightful to any given shade. What this is saying is that every culture has their own set of norms and therefore certain behaviors that may be acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in others. A nurse must keep in mind that ethical standards are relative to person, place, time, and culture. The nurse must take on the fact that whatever a person thinks is right, is right. Right and wrong is not definite in most cases as there are no absolute truths. While there are no universal truths in ethical relativism there are few topics that are not absolved 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 verboten they will be better equipped to provide excellent care in that persons eyes without infringing on their culture or having a prejudice opinio n of them.Virtue ethics is different from other ethical theories in that it places much less emphasis on which rules people should follow and alternatively focuses on helping people develop good character traits, such as kindness and generosity. These character traits will, in turn, allow a person to make the ready 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 becoming a good person. This theory, while having the patients best interest in mind, focuses on the healthcare provider and asking them to learn good habits while 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 change whatever is deemed unethical about themselves for the greater good of the ir patients. This is an essential process of becoming a nurse as nobody is amend 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 nurse 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 efface of ignorance should be worn regarding who is affected 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 healthc are. straightway 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 understood and applied by nurses all across the world in order to attain the best results for patients and the forthcoming 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 truly help protect not only the patients being cared for but also the nurses caring for those patients.