Question:
Write an opinion editorial that critiques the difficulties in realizing aspirations to the common good in the professional community.
You’ll need to choose a topic that corresponds to the degree you’re pursuing.
Before beginning this task, please read the LEO article. It explains how to create an Op-Ed and gives two examples.Instructions:
Make an engaging, engaging Op-Ed to explain a challenge that comes with realising the aspirations of the Common Good in your professional network, locally and worldwide.
The Op Ed should clearly explain the problem to the reader and show how your knowledge gained in unit addresses it.
Answer to Question: UNCC300 Justice And Change In A Global World
Nurses have been confronted with ethical dilemmas over the last few years regarding access to care, palliative, and treatment of vulnerable patients in the current clinical environment.
“Respect for autonomy or beneficence” is perhaps the most pressing ethical problem nurses have to face (Oh&Gastmans, 2015).
The patient has the right not to be treated, but he/she does not have the right to demand any treatment.
Nursing has the right to refuse to treat patients with inappropriate medical care. However, it is not your duty to do so.
This stark finding serves to remind nurses locally, nationally and internationally.
My research focuses primarily on the moral dilemma and moral distress. The alarming truth is the debate that ensues when nurses are unsure about the right thing they should do.
The ethical situation was that a patient was suffering from AIDS complications including cytomegalovirus retinitis. GI and pulmonary tuberculosis. Central nervous toxoplasmosis.
The patient was fully in control of his faculties. However, he needed frequent hospitalizations and was dependent for daily living activities.
The patient now agreed to take the prescribed drugs, but refused to undergo antiretroviral (ART) therapy because he fears it would give him an AIDS diagnosis.
The patient told me directly that he would prefer to die than confide in his family about his AIDS.
If ART doesn’t begin soon, the patient is likely to die from complications caused by AIDS.
My answer to this scenario is qualified “yes” because we have an ethics obligation to treat his complications.
Researchers can argue the patient’s unwillingness to accept ART has caused the hospital to be in an ethical quandary. Nursing staff should not be allowed to manipulate patients so they do not receive inadequate treatment (Brinkmann 2014.
Some views argue that the hospital is violating the principle respect for autonomy.
The hospital should not withhold treatment to patients who are self-inflicted.
When the hospital is providing insufficient or partial care at high costs, it is against the principle of justice. The argument is that HIV can be transmitted through the family. (Preshaw and al. 2016, 2016).
There are varying opinions as to whether he should disclose the diagnosis to his family.
This situation requires me to explain why the ART technique cannot be confidentially dispensable. It is not a technical problem.
Ethical dilemmas are common in nursing practice.
These ethical issues are common in nursing practice. But ethics is not often discussed.
Neglecting ethics can lead to nurse burnout.
This causes staff shortages which can affect the quality of care and patient safety in the locality, as well as the wider community.
Although ethics can affect all healthcare workers (Holm & Severinsson), researchers say nurses face unique ethical challenges due to their increased interaction with patients and greater ability to understand their feelings, needs, and family dynamics (Holm & Severinsson 2014.
Nurses help patients and their loved ones make tough decisions.
They know if the patient is comfortable with the current medical treatment.
As you can see, they are involved in complex and messy ethical decisions that cross over with the patients’ preferences.
Our personal values as nurses can often conflict with those of patients or their families.
My view is that nurses must be able to live in harmony with their moral obligations.
Contrary to popular belief, nurses should not be seen as heroes if they are forced to make ethical decisions in dangerous situations (Poikkeus und al., 2014.).
As a nurse, I believe it is my duty to treat the patient’s beliefs and value as if they were an exclusion or conflict from their treatment.
Respecting the principle of autonomy is essential. Treatment is always optional, no matter how important.
Nurses learn ethics through learning experiences and the ways they can respond.
ReferencesBrinkmann, S. (2014). Interview.
Interview. 1008-1010). Springer New York.Holm, A. L., & Severinsson, E. (2014).
Reflections on ethical dilemmas associated with self-management.
Nursing Ethics 21(4), 402-413.Johnstone, M. J., & Hutchinson, A. (2015).
What is the best time to abandon a flawed nurse construct because of’moral distress’?
Nursing ethics 22(1), 5-14.Oh, Y., & Gastmans, C. (2015).
An analysis of the literature on moral distress among nurses.
Nursing Ethics 22(1), 15–31.Poikkeus, T., Numminen, O., Suhonen, R., & Leino?Kilpi, H. (2014).
Support for ethical competence of nurses: mixed-method systematic reviews
Journal of advanced nurses, 70(2) 256-271.Preshaw, D. H., Brazil, K., McLaughlin, D., & Frolic, A. (2016).
Healthcare workers in nursing homes face ethical problems: Literature review.
Nursing ethics, 23(5). pp. 490-506.