Nursing Roles and Value Task 1

There are many different roles and values within the profession of nursing. Each of these roles and values has a different job description and purpose, yet they all contain one common link. The link that connects the different roles in the nursing profession is the fact that they each rely on nursing research, theories, and evidence based practice to provide safe, quality care to patients. Without nursing research, theories, and evidence based practice, nursing care would be based on trial and error methods that often cause more harm than good to the patient.

Ethical practice is another component of the social contract of nursing which is a reflection of the values, beliefs and moral principles of the nursing profession. The American Nurses Association (ANA) has established the “Code of Ethics for Nurses” which serves as a “guideline” for the nursing profession in which clinical judgements and

The topic of end-of-life care may seem daunting and uncomfortable, and yet most individuals do have unique desires and concerns regarding their provision for the future. Providing the opportunity for that communication, the advance directive and POLST forms allow an individual to explicitly state their wishes before the future. Developed to lessen the apprehensions concerning patients undergoing any extensive and unwanted measures to preserve life at any cost, these medical directives lighten the decision-making burden for physicians and families alike and help comply with the patient’s utmost end-of-life wishes.

The chief ethical implication is the violation of the patient’s desire to not be intubated and go on the ventilator. The patient has an advanced directive, a legal document, which clearly states that he does not want to be on a ventilator. The patient does not appear to have changed his mind since the document was drawn up, as evidenced by the patient shaking his head and stating “no” when confronted with the physician’s desire to place the patient on the respirator.

Nursing encompasses various roles, inclusive of providing beneficial care, supporting patient autonomy and patient advocacy. Patients are capable of designating the direction of their medical care, possessing rights to refuse and accept proposed procedures according to the Patient Self Determination Act of 1990 which mandates patients be given information regarding their rights and abilities to prepare Advance Directives.

Mr. B, the patient’s brother is Mr. E’s designee to make healthcare decisions in the event that he is unable to do so for himself. He is left to make these decisions without a code of ethics or without medical knowledge. He counts on the medical professionals to assist him. He has an ethical obligation to abide by his brothers wishes and directives. He is influenced by his own beliefs and his perceptions of what his brother would want. If he has the good faith belief that his brother did not understand the need for the ventilator or the outcome of refusing the treatment, then it is not unreasonable or unethical

For the purpose of this discussion I chose to focus on the importance of ethics as an essential core competency for nurse practitioners (NP). In essence, nursing ethics is a set of shared values or principles that govern the way NP interact with patients, their families, and other health care professionals. Ethic competencies comprise delivering high standards of care, advocating for patient’s rights, and being an unbiased compassionate

“An ethical dilemma exists when a choice has to be made in which the consequences may have a potential positive or negative outcome.”("Topic 4: Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas (How do managers evaluate beginning-of-life dilemmas?). ", n.d.) The given scenario presents a patient named Jamilah Shah, who is of Turkish descent, 90 years old and collapsed at the side of her bed in the extended care facility in which she resides. The patient suffers from Chronic Pulmonary disease and diabetes mellitus. The patient was rushed to the ER were the EKG and lab tests revealed she suffered a heart attack and she was started on anticoagulants. The patient has no advance directives and a communication barrier exists, the ER department contacts the emergency contact, one of the patient 's sons Bashir. The patient 's family arrives at the hospital and her son states that he makes the decisions and the wants a do not resuscitate order for his mother and no medical intervention other than comfort care. The social worker handling Jamilahs case is concerned by her family 's lack of support and that the family 's wishes are at odds with the patient 's request for help and her expressed desire to live. Furthermore if the patient does not receive a cardiac catheterization or is considered for a coronary bypass, she will surely die.

With an increasing aging population and growing numbers of individuals with chronic conditions, it is important for individuals to prepare for end-of-life care. An Advance Directive is a defined as a “legal document that provides data to critical care staff about patients’ wishes, especially when critical illness decreases decision-making ability” (McAdam, Stotts, Padilla, and Puntillo, 2005). An Advance Directive also allows for better communication between the patient and doctor, and preserves the autonomy of patients. It may also alleviate one’s family from any possible burden of uncertainty of one’s wishes. It provides guidance, which may avert arguments with family members concerning treatment choices (Cedars Sinai, 2015). The Patient

In end-of-life scenarios, where the patient may not be able to communicate their wishes, decisions must be made either by the healthcare professional(s) or family member(s). However, who gets to decide or where the line should be drawn are not always clear. Consequently, not all decisions may be ethically permissible. To illustrate, I will discuss a scenario in which physicians and family are not in agreement. Upon proving a brief summary and explaining the ethical dilemma, I will provide moral reasons for two ethically permissible choices from which, by referencing the principle of autonomy and Utilitarianism, will determine which course of action ought to be carried out.

Several ethical considerations of death and dying issues such as those addressed by hospice and palliative care services based on the right to die pain-free and with dignity often starts with communicating barriers, poor symptoms management and shared decision-making concerns. (Weisman, 1972). Ethical consideration can often be balanced by creating the best possible care while involving all participants, hospice and palliative care patients that are involved in the sick persons care including: family members, the patients and the caregiver all, should sympathetically work together to acknowledge and communicate end-of-life experience. According to Blendon, Szalay, & Knox, but the dying person must make decision unless they are incompetent. “Palliative care

Modern medicine presents caregivers with many end-of-life options. If possible, it is best to include the patient in this process while they are still fully cognizant or before the patient falls ill. It is important to discuss whether to prolong the patient’s life during terminal illness and where to deliver hospice service. An ideal time for patients to broach this subject with family members is during a private family meeting to talk over or update a living will. Patients and care providers also inform the primary care provider about these details.

The key points are: the role of ethics in nursing leadership, obstacles to maintaining ethical standards and the future of ethical leadership in nursing based on generational discrepancies amongst nursing staff and the disparities that exist between the departmental quality standards and the resources provided. The purpose of this paper is to explore ethics from a nursing standpoint and to highlight the obstacles that make ethical leadership in the nursing field somewhat difficult to

Its main dilemmas act on the patient’s autonomy and the religious beliefs of the patient’s family. The hospital is trying to walk the thin line of legal but also the right thing to do, and the organ donor candidates are at the mercy of what the parents and hospital decide. Aside from this the parents should also consider the other patients that can be saved from the death of their son. The experience of losing a son can be traumatizing, but to be able to see that he will not be forgotten but thanked for the rest of the next patient’s life has its own merits and should be heavily looked at especially because the parents are religious and most likely want to help others. The patient has the ability to decide what he does on his own. He, like other patients, have autonomy because they can understand their situation and make decisions based on that. In this case the patient cannot respond and will die soon. He made his wishes clear though that he would like to be an organ donor and hence should be allowed to donate his organs to other people in need of organs. As for the parent’s religious beliefs, the hospital should respect their wishes and accommodate as much as possible, but ultimately decide on what is best for the hospital. The ERF’s in this case directly clash with each other due to the completely opposite positions they represent. The parents want to have their son be put off of life support and laid to rest, while the son had become an organ donor and wanted to give his organs to anyone in need of one. The patient’s autonomy and parent’s religious beliefs come into direct opposition because of this complicating the process for the hospital and leading them to choose between honoring a vegetative patient’s organ donor status and letting his parents decide what to

There are nine roles of a nurse that will be discussed in this paper; care giver, communicator, teacher, client advocator, counselor, change agent, leader, manager, and researcher. The nurse provides patient centered care.