In their everyday professional life, nurses are faced with the challenges of making difficult decisions about precarious issues such as good and evil or life and death. Ethical dilemmas arise in such cases more so when dealing with patients with psychosocial disorders. Thus as Baker (2009) states, professional ethics in the scope of psychiatry and mental disorders are shaped by other factors such as the laws of a country and social ethics.
It is upon the nurse to understand not only the professional conduct, but also the other factors. Within the same parameters is the community which the nurse is expected to protect when dealing with the client fueling the dilemmas in professional conduct. This paper will look at how ethical, legal and moral conducts lead to the development of dilemmas in the nursing profession specifically when dealing with patients with psychosocial disorders.
According to Austin and Boyd (2010), patients suffering from psychosocial disorders are a danger to self and the community. Such patients are in most cases unable to take care of themselves, suffer from insomnia, are unable to make concrete decisions and are at a greater risk of committing suicide. It is thus impossible to view such a client or patient as an autonomous person as is required in the nursing profession. This issue is far reaching to the extent that professional ethics in dealing with such patients is difficult. A prime example in this case is forced treatment which goes against professional nursing codes (O’Brien, Kennedy and Ballard, 2009). The issue becomes a paradox dilemma because the patient’s rights are violated.
Another aspect involves the issue of ethical dilemmas which arise when dealing with patients with psychosocial disorders. This occurs when there are equal reasons supporting several arguments (Baker, 2009). There are ethical principles followed by nurses when making decisions. Taking the example above, the patient has the right to refuse medication. The dilemma however occurs when the patient is a danger to the community. In as much as the principles exist, the pertinent question still remains on whether the nurse will make the best decision.
One of the biggest challenges in the nursing profession includes the legal aspect (Daly, 2008). Apparently, a nurse is expected to be aware of the country’s law so as not to tamper with evidence. In addition to this, all patients are required to be treated equally, they have a right to agree or refuse treatment. However, it becomes quite difficult for the nurse to protect the patient and community as required when it comes to dealing with clients who could be a danger to self or others.
Morality and moral behaviors are looked at as the way one conducts himself and are judged by their results (Townsend, 2011). For instance; a nurse is expected to maintain confidentiality with a patient and not disclose any information shared by a patient. This becomes quite difficult when dealing with a patient who cannot take care of himself. However, nurses are advised to borrow from the philosopher called Kant who believes that actions should be bound by a sense of duty and not by the end result. The major decision making process is still a burden to the nurse.
Ethical, moral and legal issues in the nursing profession are of course impossible to eliminate. Daly (2009) follows the historical development of dimensions in dealing with such patients, and it is evident that the issues will keep emerging over the years. It may still prove difficult to deal with such, issues even with the development of new ways of professional conduct when dealing with psychosocial patients. Nurses should thus, learn to deal with such issues.
References
Austin, W., and Boyd, M, A. (2010). Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing for Canadian Practice. New York: Lippincot Williams & Wilkins.
Baker, P, J. (2009). Assessment in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing: In Search of the Whole Person. New York: Springer Publishers.
Daly, J. (2008). Professional Nursing: Concepts, Issues and Challenges. New York: Springer Publishing.
O’Brien, P., Kennedy, W, Z., and Ballard, A. (2009). Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. New York: Jones and Bartlett.
Townsend, M. (2011). Essentials of Psychiatric/ Mental Health Nursing (5th Ed). Philadelphia: Davis Publishers.