Professionals working in the healthcare industry, including clinicians, nurses, and managers, must implement a certain set of personal skills to ensure positive patient outcomes and improve the population’s health status. An essential part of those skills is associated with professional ethics and ethical leadership in the medical field. It is vital for any healthcare specialist to understand that they often act as a moral agent, which is why their decisions may affect themselves and others at a moral level. Therefore, people working in healthcare should ground their practice and professional relationships in a particular ethical framework. This paper explores nursing practice from the ethical perspective, aiming to create a solid moral foundation for leadership in the medical field. The main goal of this paper is to reflect on the nature, sources, and implications of a nurse’s values, beliefs, and ethical perspectives that guide their personal life and nursing practice. Ethical dilemmas frequently occur in professional nursing, which is why it is imperative for nurses to know what they may face during their work and be prepared to deal with it.
Self-assessment: Primary Influences from Childhood and Adulthood
The discussion of the nature of my current values and beliefs first requires mentioning my upbringing process. My parents taught me much when I was a child, and it was not only intentional. In addition to their upbringing methods, I was able to constantly watch their own behavior while performing particular actions or making difficult decisions. One of the most significant pieces of knowledge I acquired from them is that it is always better to avoid any harm to the soul and body, whether they are one’s own or someone else’s. However, sometimes it is not possible due to various circumstances, but there are methods to deal with the consequences, and a major one is the healthcare industry. Helping people who could not avoid harm is the goal of my life and the primary reason I decided to engage in the medical field and become a nurse.
Furthermore, as a child, I learned from people surrounding me that family should always be a priority. I projected that thought only on my own family for some time, but as I became older, I realized that everyone has a family, and they prioritize it, as well. In other words, I recognized that, as a healthcare professional, I should put myself in the patient’s place and think of what they and their family are going through due to that patient’s illness. Such an attitude can cause issues in particular situations since if I found myself in a case where I had to choose between my family and my professional activity, I would face an ethical dilemma. However, I hope always to be able to find a compromise in such circumstances and resolve the issue without causing harm or discomfort to other people.
Last but not least, the experiences that shaped my values and beliefs are associated with the realization that we can never look inside one’s soul or head. We often meet new people and make conclusions about them, forming a certain attitude. It has a special significance for those who work with others – nurses, for instance. Like all healthcare industry representatives, nurses should never let their first impressions about people cloud their judgment. Everyone I meet probably fights a battle that I know nothing about, while their health or even life may depend on my efforts as a nurse. I realized that when I was already an adult, and it helped me develop a specific ethical perspective associated with being kind to all people, especially those I treat during my nursing practice.
Self-assessment: Ethical Principles
Following the conclusions that I have made from my childhood and adulthood experiences, my consciousness has formed several ethical principles that I try to follow as guidelines for life. According to Weiss et al. (2019), various ethical principles present the ground for moral codes that can be used to judge people’s behaviors. However, I believe that we cannot and should not all follow the same standards for measuring our actions since each person has their own morals, thereby having their own ethics. Although most ethical principles are similar for the majority of people, many of us prioritize some of those principles to follow as the most important ones. In my case, the essential principles that influence me personally and professionally include justice and nonmaleficence. Scientists widely recognize them as significant parts of the ethical code, and I find them the most impactful in my life.
Although ethical principles are not equal to laws, official regulations for people’s behaviors are based on the moral code, which is why following ethics is as important as obeying the law. The principles mentioned previously have their widely-accepted definitions. Weiss et al. (2019) state that justice implies that “all individuals should be treated and judged by the same criteria” (p. 20). Justice is highly significant in the healthcare industry overall and the nursing practice specifically, but I believe that all our actions should be based on that principle. I see living in a just world as an ultimate goal that we should all try to reach. Then, nonmaleficence plays a vital role in my life, as well. Weiss et al. (2019) report that this principle “requires that no harm be done, either deliberately or unintentionally” (p. 19). People working in healthcare, including nurses, should pay significant attention to nonmaleficence as it is vital for people healing harm’s consequences to avoid bringing it. That principle is also crucial for me in the personal sense since I respect other people and never let my actions impact them negatively.
Ethical Practice of Professional Nursing
Ethical principles, some of which were described previously, present the ground for professional ethics in nursing. Weiss et al. (2019) suggest that the most important principles for nursing practice include “autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, fidelity, confidentiality, veracity, and accountability” (p. 19). However, life in the modern world is highly complicated, which is why any set of rules may contain certain contradictions. When one ethical principle conflicts with another, an ethical dilemma occurs (Weiss et al., 2019). Such dilemmas can be incredibly complex and dangerous in nursing practice since working in the healthcare industry is often associated with people’s health or even lives. Moreover, Rainer et al. (2018) report that ethical dilemmas are widespread in healthcare, taking a toll on nurses and often leading to moral distress. Thereby, ethical practice is an essential element of professional nurses that can affect their work, patient outcomes, and the population’s health status.
The ethical practice of professional nursing involves several different causes of dilemmas, including family conflicts, organizational constraints, physician conflicts, and others. For instance, family conflicts leading to ethical dilemmas may occur when the healthcare specialists in end-of-life care recommend hospice while the patient’s family wants aggressive treatment (Rainer et al., 2018). The necessity to argue with family members and choose between doing what is best for the patient and respecting the family’s wishes can be ethically challenging for nurses.
Then, organizational constraints may refer to staffing shortages that deprive nurses of the opportunity to give the best care, making them determine which patients need care the most and what can be omitted (Rainer et al., 2018). It can be especially difficult for nurses since they, as all healthcare industry representatives, seek to provide medical help to everyone equally. Finally, physician conflicts are associated with “lack of authority of the nurse, conflict over patient treatment plans, lack of teamwork, and the nurses’ inability to advocate for their patients” (Rainer et al., 2018, p. 3453). These reasons often lead to ethical dilemmas as nurses have to choose between doing what they deem right and following physicians’ guidance or direct orders.
Ethical Leadership and Professional Development Plan
Everything described in the previous sections of this paper demonstrates the necessity for nurses to have a solid professional development plan to minimize the number of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. That goal can be reached with the help of ethical leadership, one of the leadership approaches that can assist nursing managers in preventing nursing errors and increasing patient safety (Barkhordari-Sharifabad & Mirjalili, 2020). Ethical leadership in the nursing practice attaches significance to human life supreme values, supporting and inspiring nurses and making them feel helpful in the treatment sector.
When my clinical practice and nursing career reach a particular point, I will become a nursing manager, placing myself in a position of authority. Positive sides of my character that will emerge at that moment include my non-conflict nature and desire to help people. I am confident that I will be able to minimize the number of conflicts at work, including those between nurses and physicians and those between the healthcare team and family members. Additionally, I believe that I will manage to find the most appropriate solution when facing ethical dilemmas. However, there is also a negative side of my character that will affect me – my inability to take a stance in an argument, even if it is ethics-related. If I am not able to avoid an ethical conflict in which my colleagues’ position is different from my own, it will be challenging for me to resolve it. I plan to evolve personally and professionally to deal with that side of my character and become an excellent nurse.
Conclusion
Overall, professional nursing is often associated with ethical dilemmas, which is why nurses should acquire the necessary knowledge in this field and be prepared to resolve ethical conflicts. They refer to deciding between two equal options, and decision-making in nursing practice is a fundamental process since it is associated with human health and life, which are the supreme values. Following the essential ethical principles, being able to minimize the number of ethical conflicts, and having a solid plan for professional development are the vital components required to become a perfect nurse.
References
Barkhordari-Sharifabad, M., & Mirjalili, N. S. (2020). Ethical leadership, nursing error and error reporting from the nurses’ perspective. Nursing Ethics, 27(2), 609-620.
Rainer, J., Schneider, J. K., & Lorenz, R. A. (2018). Ethical dilemmas in nursing: An integrative review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(19-20), 3446-3461.
Weiss, S. A., Tappen, R. M., & Grimley, K. A. (2019). Essentials of nursing leadership and management (6th ed.). F. A. Davis Company.