Ethical Scenarios in Nursing Education (Essay Sample)

Ethical Scenarios in Nursing Education
Name
Institution
Ethical Scenarios in Nursing Education
The scenario involves a situation where one of the experienced nurses ignores the nursing ethics and dresses a patient without using gloves. It is highly unhealthy for any nurse to perform any dressings without using gloves. The health consequences could be serious threats to a patient’s health. If the situation gets worse, the patient could sue the hospital or the specific nurse for damages or compensation. This represents an ethical dilemma since the nurse is highly respected in the hospital, and on the other hand, her actions amounts to malpractices (Boivin, 2009).
In handling the situation, a series of questions would follow the decision process to determine the appropriate course of action. In this case, one should ask three key questions. The first question involves whether the action to take is legal. This should help one determine if the action will be against civil or criminal laws. The next question pertains as to whether the action goes in line with one’s personal or moral values. One should feel good after taking the action in such a situation (Donnelly, 2000). The last question pertains to whether the action conforms to the organization’s ethical policy. It is essential to consider whether the actions will go against the principles in the hospital’s ethics policy (Donnelly, 2000).
The action to take in this case relates to the teleological or utilitarianism theory. This theory suggests that the ethical action taken should follow what is morally right. In other words, the outcome of an ethical scenario should be in the best interest of everyone involved. In this case, the action to take would be to go by the right thing to do. The action to take would be to report the nurse to the relevant authorities for appropriate action. This action passes the three question decision making criteria. First, the action is legal as it within the law, and would avoid a future lawsuit. Secondly, the action is morally right. Thirdly, the action follows the nursing code of ethics (Lachman, 2008).
My personal experience in an ethical situation involved two interns, me and a fellow nurse. Rose, my fellow nurse was involved with a situation whereby she neglected a patient because the patient was extremely rude. We were working in the same section when this situation occurred. We were both in the dressing section, when one female patient started talking to Rose rudely, on the account that we were interns, and not ‘real nurses’. The patient was so rude to Rose that she could not have the patience to attend to her. According to me, this amounted to negligence, and could have serious effects on the affected nurse.
My action in that scenario was to take the responsibility to attend to the patient despite the rude behavior of the patient. The teleological theory and the deontological theory are the most relevant theories in this case. These two theories advocate for actions that are morally right, and what most people would do given the situation. My actions also involved advice of my fellow intern regarding the situation. I advised her that neglecting the patient wo...