The American Nurses Association
The American Nurses Association realizes that it can be challenging for nurses to make ethical decisions on their own, and that is why they have developed a code of ethics for nurses to aid them in making decisions that are right for them and their patients. Arguably, the code of ethics is the nursing profession’s nonnegotiable moral standard. Further, it expresses the nursing’s understanding of its duty to the community, and it can be defined as a concise statement of professional ideals, ethical values, duties, and obligations for nurses individually and collectively. However, the code of ethics doesn’t predetermine that the obligations must be met, meaning that in some circumstances, nurses meet their responsibilities individually; in others, nurses will support each other to execute the obligations, and sometimes the duties can only be met collectively.
Further, the code of ethics is dynamic since nurses operate in a different social context. But, generally, it comprises of two major components that are provisions and the additional explanatory statements. The nine requirements address the relationship topics nurse and a patient, a nurse to a nurse, nurse to the profession, nurse to self, nurses, and nursing to society, and also a nurse to others. Similarly, the primary three provisions define the most basic values and commitment of a nurse which are respect for human dignity, relationships with patients, and the nature of health. Additionally, the following provisions address the duty and loyalty of the nurses, and the last three provisions address how the nurses perform their functions after encountering the patients. Every provision has an explanation and offers more specificity for practice, and the interpretative statements are essential in nursing since they can be quickly revised according to the social context.
Moreover, across the globe, nurses have four critical responsibilities that are to uphold health, prevent sickness, to restore health and ultimately to relieve suffering. Further, what is essential in nursing is the respect for human rights that comprise the right to life, the right to be treated with respect, the right to choice and dignity, and the right to cultural privileges. Therefore, nursing doesn’t permit discrimination of persons because of their age, nationality, color, disability, gender, illness, sexual orientation, politics, social status, race, culture, and religion. It also requires the nurses to be respectful and for the primary responsibility of a nurse to be to those persons who require nursing care.
Also, nurses can experience conflict in their workplace, primarily due to the competing localities. The competing loyalties are expectations from the patients, expectations from the physicians and colleagues, the needs of the family and healthcare organizations, and plans. Thus, there is a need for the nurses to evaluate their competing loyalties and use their personal and professional values to make the appropriate decision. The nurses also need to make sure that they protect the patients’ best interests and safety while at the same, preserving the integrity of the nursing profession and supporting the collaboration among the healthcare employees. Similarly, nurses are usually encouraged to identify whenever possible the conflicts of interest in research, clinical practice, administration, education, and consultation and avoid these conflicts as much as possible. For instance, nurses who participate in the budgeting activities of their healthcare organizations need to understand the potential conflict of interest between the integrity off the profession and the economic interest of the organization. In this case, the economic interest can be making patients pay before attending to them. At the same time, the profession requires the nurses to attend to the patient immediately, even if the patient doesn’t have any money. The perceived conflict of interest needs to be disclosed particularly to the authorities of the hospital, and the nurse needs to withdraw from the budget committee if he or she feels that it goes against the professional values.
In conclusion, the complexity of healthcare requires the effort, support, and participation of all kinds of healthcare professionals. Therefore, according to the code of ethics, nurses need to actively ensure they support cooperative planning for the ultimate benefit of the patient. Through collaborative planning, the healthcare system can offer high quality and patient-specific care. Further, the nurses need to show how they are individually contributing to the healthcare sector through articulation, representation, and preservation of the unique contribution of nursing care and the general nursing scope of practice. More importantly, the relationship with other healthcare professionals needs to be clearly outlined. Likewise, since nursing is inherently personal, nurses have to recognize and maintain professional boundaries. For instance, the nurse and patient relationship needs to be protected, promoted, and restored for only the purposes of alleviating the pain and suffering of the patient. Being involved further in a patient’s life can only lead to more stress and create a risk of a nurse violating the privacy of a patient. Thus, in all communications, a nurse has to maintain professional boundaries and, in difficult situations, ask for assistance from the supervisor. In circumstances that nurses feel professional boundaries no longer exist, they need to remove themselves.