Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Standards Of Professional Nursing Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Standards Of Professional Nursing. Answer: Introduction Conscientious objection has always been a debatable topic in thenursing profession across the world. According to (Odell, Abhyankar, Malcom, Rua, 2014), the conscientious objection can be defined as the decline of a health provider to administer services to a patient, simply because, the process would go against their ethical and moral standards. In the nursing profession, it is often used by nurses to refuse to undertake some duties, procedures or practices based on their conscience. However, this practice has to be practiced within the guidelines and regulations set by the healthcare governing bodies. In Australia, the registered nurses (RNs) work under the guidance of the registered nurse (RN) practice. It is a professional undertaking that needs critical thinking, comprehensive analysis and maintenance of constructive relationships. According to (AustralianNursing Midwifery Federation, 2015), conscientious objection is one of the rights granted to the RNs in Australia. However, RNs are regulated healthcare technicians and exercise their responsibility and accountability to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). Conscientious objection involves moments of critical decision-making, moral integrity, and strict adherence to the professional code of conduct for the RNs. But they have to undertake it within the stipulated national and core competency standards set by NMBA by which their performance is assessed. In the medical field, RNs are often faced with a wide range of morally controversial health dilemmas. However, the nurses' right to refusal of what they deem "unacceptable" may have limits. With the rights accorded to defend their moral, religious and ethical integrity, there is a level of refusal that cannot be allowed for anursing professional in line with h/her duty (Megan-Jane Johnstone, 2010), and these includes fear, personal preferences and prejudices. Circumstances that May Lead to Nurses Refusal of Patient Care Among many national professional competency standards set for the RNs by (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia) Compliance with the common law and legislation is required and this means that RNs must be aware among many other rules that their actions must demonstrate legal implications of the nursing practice and legal implications of nursing interventions. Additionally, in their fulfillment of the duty of care, RNs must recognize the responsibility to prevent harm. Another crucial professional competency requires RNs to recognize and respond to unsafe and unprofessional practice, which involves interventions that prevent compromising of care and identifying behaviour that may deter optimal care. All these outlined professional competency practices can provide valid basis for conscientious objection. Generally, RNs are guided by morality and ethics. Understanding what is right or wrong is key to correct decision-making. According to (Magelssen, 2012), having a strong conviction t o morality and religious beliefs that guide you into doing what is right and avoiding the wrongs, is a beautiful and desirable character trait. Therefore, according to (Lachman, 2014) some of the circumstances that may lead to nurses refusal of duty involve the following: A Terrible Violation of Strongly Held Convictions Some circumstances in medical field require tough measures to perform and this is what the RNs are faced with frequently in their line of duties. When a RN has a strong belief that taking part in some practices such as assisted suicide for a terminally ill patient is wrong, he/she will not take part in it. The RN will have to find alternatives including avoiding giving a killer dosage to the patient and instead referring the patient for a palliative care. Ending a patients life is a critical decision that very few would easily accept to participate in. It is morally believed that every person has a right to live, and the nurses primary objective is to save lives, hence, any practice that may involve ending the life of a patient rather than saving it is a tough practice that many deem socially, ethically and morally unacceptable. Plausible Rationale These are circumstances embedded in ethical and religious beliefs of the nurse. Sometimes it involves the secular morals that aid in reasoning and common sense that activities such as ending a patient's life are not acceptable. However (Edwards, 2010), reiterates that even though secular morality should be considered and practiced on the same level as any other morality, it can be unpredictably wrong or disastrous. But as much as this may be a valid reason to question the types of morality used to refuse participation, (Margaret A Burkhardt; Alvita K Nathaniel, 2014) reaffirms that the source of moral values do not matter, but what matters is, they are crucial to the identity of an individual. Integrity and morality are therefore good reasons that may lead a nurse into declining to participate in certain duties. Less Significant Treatments to Your Work In certain circumstances, some hospices accept palliative sedation as a measure to relieve the suffering of terminally ill patients. Therefore, as a nurse, it will not make much sense for you to take up employment in such hospice because, palliative sedation is a controversial practice that has always raised questions, and while some agree with it, others completely despise it. It is, therefore, reasonable for a nurse not take-up a patient care role in a hospice with palliative care unit whereby such crude interventions are clearly inevitable. The Relationship between Conscientious Objection and Nurses Ethics Decisions made by the RNs not participate in patient care in most instances are derived from the ethical point of view, as enshrined in NMBAs professional and ethical principles. RNs have the moral obligation to maintain very high levels of ethical practices. According to the (Australian Nursing Midwifery Federation, 2015), all the nurses regardless of their titles, have a right to decline to participate in activities they strongly hold on religious, moral and ethical grounds. But the federation further adds that, in the process of conscientious objection, the nurses should ensure that they dont compromise quality patient care and safety. According to (Nursing World, 2010), the primary ethical responsibility nursing professionals have is the respect for human dignity. This is the fundamental principle that guides all the procedures and practices of the nursing profession. Conscientious objection arises as for when a nurse is faced with a situation whereby he/she has to break the ethical standards, which is always their conscience. It is understandable that practices such as aiding patient suicide go against the respect for human dignity. Therefore, in this scenario, it is clearly shown that instances of conscientious objection are a clear defense of ethical standards. According to NMBAs competency standards within ethical nursing framework, RNs must accept patients regardless of their ethnic background, culture, gender, religion, age physical or mental state and accept the rights of others, which include the right to life. Furthermore, the RNs must always seek interventions on matters that involve moral conflict. The RN practice must understand the proximity of their patients' health problems, respect their rights and dignity despite their problems and most importantly, that the dignity and worth of a patient are not taken away by the nature of the health problem. The Significance of Conscientious Objection The toughest test RNs encounters is the dilemma of either performing the required tasks or declining and maintaining moral integrity. However, in most instances when nurses are faced with such situations, maintaining ethical integrity should not be an option. Conscientious objection is beneficial to patients. It arises from situations which compromise the eligibility of ethics, and RNs are allowed to practice it, as stipulated in NMBAs competency standards 2.1, practices in accordance with the nursing professions code of ethics and conduct. This is to avoid tempering with integrity, which may lead to moral distress (American Nurses Association., 2010). Since the conscientious objection is based on individuals commitment to stand for the acceptable moral standards (Wicclair, 2011), then those morals can easily be presumably of good faith. Avoiding practices such as ending patient's lives and cases such as abortion are in the best interest of the patient because at the end of the day, only lifethe value of nursingis saved. The conscientious objection serves the purpose of avoiding what is social, morally, religiously and ethically wrong in the nursing profession. Conclusively, conscientious objection is enshrined in integrity and what is morally acceptable as set in NMBAs professional and ethical standards. It should be practiced in the best interest of the patients. Although in some instances, differentiating conscientious objection from factors such as cowardice, personal opinion or dislike by the nurses is difficult (Jackie Crisp; Catherine Taylor; Clint Douglas; Geraldine Rebeiro, 2012); it still doesn't erode the valid reason behind the practice. It is fueled by the refusal of the RNs not to perform some patient care aspects, (Alexandra Robbins, 2016), but at it is a requirement through the ethical principles of nursing that at no point should a nurse abandon the rights of a patient. Bibliography Alexandra Robbins. (2016). The nurses : a year of secrets, drama, and miracles with the heroes of the hospital. New York, NY: Workman Publishing Company, Inc.,. American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing's social policy statement : the essence of the profession. Silver Spring, Md: American Nurses Association. Australian Nursing Midwifery Federation. (2015). Conscientious objection. ANMF Policy. Edwards, S. (2010). Conscientious objection. Nursing Ethics, 421-423. Jackie Crisp; Catherine Taylor; Clint Douglas; Geraldine Rebeiro. (2012). Potter Perry's Fundamentals of Nursing - AUS Version. London : Elsevier Health Sciences APAC. Lachman, L. D. (2014). Conscientious Objection in Nursing: Definition and Criteria for Acceptance. Ethics, Law and Policy, 196-198. Magelssen, M. (2012). When should conscientious objection be accepted? Journal of Medical Ethics, 18-21. Margaret A Burkhardt; Alvita K Nathaniel. (2014). Ethics issues in contemporary nursing. Australia : Cengage Learning. Megan-Jane Johnstone. (2010). Bioethics : a nursing perspective. Sydney, N.S.W: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (n.d.). National competency standards for the registered nurse. Nursing World. (2010). Code of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretive Statements. Code of Ethics, 1-14. Odell, J., Abhyankar, R., Malcom, A., Rua, A. (2014). Conscientious objection in health professions. A readers guide to the ethical and social issues. Wicclair, M. (2011). Conscientious objection in health care: An ethical analysis. New York, NY: Cambridge University Pres.

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