Tying in Ethic Responsibilities to Moral Beliefs

 

    Everyone has different morals and beliefs. People can fall into the same category of religion and still have varying beliefs. When it comes to nurses, they have to do their best to not let their morals and religious beliefs influence their decision making when it comes to patient care. Nurses have a responsibility to do what is best for the patient, other members of their healthcare team, and much more. 

Everyone has rights and nurses have to ensure that their decisions grant patients those rights even if it goes against any moral and religious standings that nurses may have. Every nurse, at some point in their career, will have to make a decision that goes against what they believe is “correct”. They cannot allow this decision to impact them doing what is ethical. They often come across something called an “ethical dilemma”, which is when “a nurse is expected to pick between two different options. The nurse is conflicted because each of the opposing choices is ethically supported while at the same time each of the opposing choices is also considered ethically problematic.” These dilemmas can become problems because of moral and religious standings, worldly expectations, peer influences, etc. 

For example, say a labor and delivery nurse has to be involved in an abortion because the mother is unable to properly raise the baby, but the nurse is extremely religious and against abortions. This would create an ethical dilemma for the nurse. It is their job to do what is best for the patient even if they don’t agree with it. The nurse believes that the baby could be put up for adoption but the mother refuses and goes through with the abortion. This nurse is now forced to choose between doing their job to help out this mother or choosing her moral standings over her job and refuses to help this mother. This can increase the stress that the nurse is under as well as impact her decision making because she is choosing between two options where in each circumstance something has to be given up. 

A nurse needs to be prepared for whatever may come their way. Ethical challenges being part of that. They need to be able to be able to do what is best for their patient while not having to give up part of themselves. There should be an increased level of involvement of the healthcare team so that way the nurse doesn’t feel so much pressure. Saying that, the nurse needs to be able to handle making these ethical decisions and doing so in a way that doesn’t affect them doing their job. 

This is a short video that describes the difference between morals, ethics, and values. As well as gives a few examples to better help you understand. 

This video goes over a few different directives that protect the patient and allow them to make their own decisions, that have to be followed by healthcare professionals that can create ethical dilemmas. 

Resources:

The challenges of ethical decision making in nursing - dennis. (n.d.-b). https://aornjournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aorn.13733