Ethics in nursing was introduced in 1950 after modern nursing was introduced in nursing in 1800, and there was a need for ethical guidance to guide nursing practices. Ethics in nursing was introduced to define nurses’ obligations to the patients, and the creativity and profession needed to identify solutions to various problems. The two major historical events that led to the development of ethical codes and regulations are patient safety problems and unethical behavior of nurses.
Regarding patient safety problems, millions of patients in the past suffered disabling injuries or even death as a result of unsafe care or medical practices. The nurses did not have guidelines on how to care for patients which led to many errors in health care, thus negatively affected patients (WHO, 2013). This forced the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop a code of ethics in nursing in order to improve safety among patients while receiving care. The ethical codes and regulations acted as an opportunity for health care institutions to ensure the nurses achieve patient safety. It ensures patients are provided with quality care, thus reducing cases of disabling injuries, and mortality rate associated with unsafe care (WHO, 2013).
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Unethical behavior among the nurses was as a result of nurses not involving patients in their treatments. For example, the nurses used to deceive their patients regarding their pain management plan. They used to see the patients suffer and hold essential information that would have helped in managing the pain. The nurses often used opioid and saline injection to manage pain among their patients which led to various adverse effects in the long-term. The code of ethics was then developed to control the behavior of nurses and discourage the use of placebo unless the patient is well informed about the effects of the medication (Epstein & Turner, 2015).
References
Epstein, B., & Turner, M. (2015). The nursing code of ethics: Its value, its history. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 20(2), 1-10.
Organization, W. H. (2013). Ethical issues in patient safety research: interpreting existing guidance.
