Deontology and Teleology (Essay Sample)

The Relation between Deontology and Teleology to Individual Nurses Professional Practice Student’s Name Course Date Deontology and Teleology in Professional Nursing Practice The nursing profession is a demanding practice that requires individual competence and adequate understanding of ethical nursing theories and principles for quality service delivery. Often times, nursing practitioners face scenarios that present ethical dilemmas when making decisions between alternatives of equally uncomfortable choices. Nevertheless, such professionals are expected to uphold ethics, fairness, and act in the best interest of their patients and their employers. As such, a team working together is required to contribute towards every decision and come up with the best solution in any given situation. The ethical theory in nursing practice is determined using two approaches, namely deontological or teleological. In the deontology approach, actions are determined by their moral value, and much consideration is not placed on the consequences (Alberta College of Paramedics, 2014). In this respect, qualified practitioners make decisions based on what they opt to do morally with little or no regard to set rules or policy. In other words, the approach considers that a professional has fulfilled their basic duty as per their profession. A nurse’s duty is to provide patients with care through competent and safe ways. Therefore, doing so would be fulfilling their duties as expected by their professional code of ethics (Heiskell, 2010). Unlike deontology, teleology considers the consequences of one’s actions, where a majority’s benefit outweighs harm to few (Harrington & Terry, 2008). In other words, the rightness or wrongness of one’s action is directly determined by the consequences of their decisions. For example, a nurse may make a decision to follow a procedure that they are not allowed to follow in order to save a patient’s life. In this case, the patient survives due to the nurse’s action, which was not permitted but was right (Heiskell, 2010). As su...