Role of ethics
Have you ever found yourself in an ethical dilemma? In the running of normal life, ethical procedures are encountered. In healthcare, nurses are faced with ethical challenges such as breaching of patient’s confidentiality, dealing with family members insisting on not disclosing some medical information to the patient, and dealing with patients insisting on withholding a treatment procedure on the religious basis among others. Ethics helps examine an individual’s moral life and is essential in healthcare in enabling nurses to meet the expectations of serving their patients to satisfaction.
Ethics are moral principles that govern a person’s behavior. The fascinating thing about ethics is that it creates an understanding and helps examine the moral life of an individual by distinguishing between what is acceptable morally in the society and why it is acceptable and that that is not. The Code of ethics creates a favorable environment for the existence of human life (Floridi et al., 2018).
In the nursing practice, the role of ethics is to fulfill the profession’s expectations and meet the patients’ needs as required. Ethics for nurses means ensuring integrity and competence is observed for personal and professional growth (Oslon and Stokes, 2016). Nurses have to consider the ethical standards in their profession as well as their personal beliefs when dealing with patients. This facilitates in caring for the patients’ needs and offering quality services.
Ethics helps in examining the acceptable way of behavior. It is also vital in enabling nurses to meet the expected requirements to serve the patient’s needs. It helps in differentiating between what is acceptable and why it is acceptable from what is not. The role of ethics in healthcare is to enable nurses to ensure integrity and competence in their profession to meet the patients‘ needs. Observing ethical standards is essential in every aspect of life.