Ethical Issues Nurses Encounter - Essay Example

The paper "Ethical Issues Nurses Encounter" is an outstanding example of an essay on nursing. Like it happens with other professions, it is not uncommon for people in the nursing profession to encounter issues related to ethics. Some of the common ethical issues that nurses have to contend with relating to prochoice versus prolife; freedom versus control; telling the truth versus telling a lie in a certain situation; and upholding empirical knowledge versus upholding personal beliefs among numerous others.

In a bid to learn more about what nurses in leadership situations encounter in practical life, I held a phone interview with Jerry Johnson*, a Chief Nursing Officer affiliated with the LifeCare Hospitals of Wisconsin, on 9th, 2014. From the interview, I learned a lot and now can relate what I have studied theoretically to what happens in practice.  In his capacity as the Chief Nursing Officer of LifeCare Hospitals of Wisconsin, Johnson has a lot of responsibilities. Some of his responsibilities include developing and maintaining nursing service goals and nursing practice standards; developing policies and procedures to be applied in the hospital’s nursing department; and ensuring that quality nursing care is delivered to patients and their loved ones.

Johnsons has a wealth of experience having worked in different institutions as a nurse and as a chief nursing officer. Johnsons has six years of nursing experience at the executive level and holds a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Virginia. He is a registered nurse and is BLS certified. In my interview with Johnson’s, I sought to find out any ethical issues nurses encounter in their practice and if possible that he states a personal experience revolving around an ethical issue.

According to Johnson’s, some of the main ethical issues that nurses face in their practice revolve around pro-life and prochoice; control versus freedom; and personal beliefs versus empirical knowledge. Fant (par. 6) emphasizes what Johnson stated with respect to the dilemmas nurses have to contend with as they practice. According to Fant, in addition to the aforementioned issues, the distribution of resources is another source of contention for nurses and especially those in leadership positions.

According to Advanced Practice (par. 1), there are a number of principles that are applied in making judgments when nurses experience ethical issues. The ethical principles in this respect include beneficence, fairness, truthfulness, justice, non-maleficence, and respect for autonomy (Bandman & Bandman 54). Johnson notes that part of his role in his current capacity involves establishing policies and procedures that affect how nurses in his organization work and how patients are treated.

Many of the policies and procedures that he creates are guided by the aforementioned ethical principles. Nurses are faced for, example with the issue of whether to terminate a life or sustain it with the high possibility of the patient living a low quality of life through the rest of their lives. Johnsons has personally been faced with a dilemma on whether or not to help prolong the life of a terminally ill patient who was in extreme pain. Owing to the pain that the cancer patient was experiencing, it was evident that her quality of life was extremely low.

Eventually, Johnsons opted to help sustain the life of the patient based on his value for life as well as the principle of beneficence (doing good). With regard to autonomy versus control, nurses sometimes face a situation in which a patient claims that it is against their faith or belief to receive certain treatments, such as blood transfusion. The nurse faces a dilemma of whether to force the patient to endure the treatment against their wishes or respect the autonomy of the patient and let them suffer the consequences.

According to Johnsons, there are different ways through which ethical dilemmas can be resolved. Basing one’s decision on ethical principles is one sure way of overcoming ethical dilemmas and their associated effects. Another way of resolving ethical dilemmas is by upholding the code of conduct for nurses. Hospital managers should take it upon themselves to ensure that nurses act in line with the code of conduct. They should make constant reviews of the performances of nurses and institute measures that will encourage or lead them to act in consistency with the code of conduct for nurses.

Another way of resolving ethical issues is by creating an environment that enables nurses to share their experiences. This way, nurses can discuss the ethical issues that they face and find amicable solutions to them. In conclusion, my interview with Johnsons was quite fruitful. I learned that some of the ethical issues that nurses experience revolve around prochoice versus prolife; freedom versus control; telling the truth versus telling a lie in a certain situation; and upholding empirical knowledge versus upholding personal beliefs.

By basing judgments on ethical principles and abiding by the nursing code of conduct, nurses can effectively resolve ethical issues.