Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing

Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing

An ethical dilemma can be defined as a situation where a difficult decision has to be made when two or more ethical principles seem to conflict. Nursing practice is guided by strict codes of ethics and principles (Usberg et al., 2021). The commonly occurring ethical dilemma witnessed in the nursing practice is the dilemma between choosing to maintain the patient’s confidentiality or protecting the third parties from harm. An example of an ethical dilemma I experienced while in my practice was about a patient who confessed to domestic violence as the cause of her trauma but requested that the information be kept confidential. The opposing views include whether to respect the patient’s request for confidentiality as it is advised in the nursing practice or disclose the information to the authorities to prevent future harm to the patient. Disclosing the information would lead to distrust between the patient and the attending nurse while maintaining confidentiality would put the patient at risk of future harm.

Essentially, when an ethical dilemma arises in day-to-day patient care, it can lead to serious implications for both the patient outcome and the nursing practice. Some of the potential implications include complex decision-making processes where a nurse may be required to make a difficult decision while considering the patient’s perspective. This must be done after weighing the nursing ethical principles and values (Usberg et al., 2021). The other implication is the bridge of patient-centered care. Ethical dilemmas can influence the patient outcome as the decisions made may interfere with the patient’s care. Nonetheless, the nurse must prioritize patient-centered care for the overall safety and well-being of the patients. Lastly, the other implication would break the trust between the patient and the nurse. Some of the dilemmas would lead to patients losing trust in the nurse, and this would interfere with the treatment process and, thus, patient outcome.

Organizational and professional strategies should be applied to effectively manage the ethical dilemmas that arise in our daily practice. Some of the organizational strategies may include, first, the development of clear organizational ethical policies that guide nurses on how to address the commonly occurring ethical dilemmas. The policies must however align with the nursing codes of ethics (Haahr et al., 2020). This would give the nurse ample time to make difficult decisions. The second organizational strategy is ethical training and education for the nurses through offering seminars and workshops that enhance the awareness of ethical dilemmas and improve the decision-making skills of nurses. This will give the nurses the confidence to make decisions when faced with a dilemma. The third strategy is providing the nurses with ethical tools and resources, including the code of ethics, frameworks guiding the decision-making process, and the policy document. This would provide the nurses with relevant information about nursing ethics and help guide them when addressing difficult ethical issues.

On the other hand, the professional strategies would include first familiarizing oneself with the ethical decision-making models, such as the principle-based ethics that guide the analysis and thinking when addressing the dilemmas. These models would direct the nurses on how to weigh different ethical principles and enable them to make appropriate decisions. The other important strategies are collaboration and consulting with other cadres. Health service provision requires professional collaboration for effective patient outcomes. Consulting with other professionals would make the decision-making process bearable and ensure patient safety (Amarneh & Al Nobani, 2022). The last strategy of importance would be engaging in training related to nursing ethics. This would equip the nurses with the required decision-making skills for addressing ethical dilemmas.

References

Amarneh, B. H., & Al Nobani, F. (2022). The influence of physician-nurse collaboration on patient safety culture. Heliyon, 8(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10649

Haahr, A., Norlyk, A., Martinsen, B., & Dreyer, P. (2020). Nurses’ experiences of ethical dilemmas: A review. Nursing ethics, 27(1), 258-272. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733019832941

Usberg, G., Uibu, E., Urban, R., & Kangasniemi, M. (2021). Ethical conflicts in nursing: an interview study. Nursing ethics, 28(2), 230-241. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020945751