Introduction
Health care law and ethics are fundamentally critical in nursing practice (Butts & Rich, 2019). Every nurse must be in a position to respect their patients, protect the patient’s rights as well as ensuring that patients’ dignity maintained and upheld. Nurses have no option other than to develop an environment that promotes mutual respect and trust between them, patients and other health practitioners (Butts & Rich, 2019). They also have an ethical responsibility to guard patients’ privacy since patients entrust their dignity and privacy to them. This will enable them to serve the patients according to their wishes and expectations. This can be achieved when nurses listen to the patients’ concerns and act appropriately. Nurses work in hand with other professionals within the health sector, and their collaboration is critical in upholding the quality and safety of patient care. Nurses’ duties are based on doctor’s instructions as they utilize their judgment appropriately and as they deem necessary (Butts & Rich, 2019).
Key Concepts I have Learned
As a nurse, this course has helped me as an individual in understanding various important concepts and how they relate to nursing and health care in general. These concepts include the concept of informed consent, patient autonomy, research ethics, reproductive health, and medical nutrition and hydration (Butts & Rich, 2019).
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According to Cook (2016), informed consent calls that nurses and other health professionals inform the patient and their next of kin about the benefits and risks associated with the kind of medical services they are going to receive. Legal documentation of consent is provided by a signature on the consent form provided. The main aim of this is to promote and ensure autonomy as the patient is given the freedom to make a choice about the treatment they want. The patient also can decide to withdraw the consent any time, and health care practitioners including nurses should always accept and support the patients’ decisions (Cook, 2016). This concept allows me to understand the importance of accommodating patients’ decisions in my field as a nurse.
The course also provides concepts about reproductive health. Nurses have a moral obligation and responsibility to the childbearing women they take care of (Sheehan et al. 2017). Nurses are entitled to care for these women clinically, overseeing their care or providing the necessary education. Here, nurses are called to provide a dual-care framework that considers the health of both the mother and child (fetus) (Sheehan et al. 2017). In reproductive health, ethical issues arise when considering the age of the fetus and when the unborn child is determined to have complete moral standing (Sheehan et al. 2017).
Research ethics expect nurses and other health providers, have the responsibility to protect the dignity of their patients/clients by regulating how the information contained in the research is used and published (Butts & Rich, 2019). This learning has changed my nursing practice by ensuring that as a nurse I have to cope with three aspects/values of society; nursing and science as these aspects may be the root cause of the conflicts as the values of subjects, societies, and communities (Butts & Rich, 2019). This knowledge is useful in avoiding dilemmas that may interfere with nursing practice.
On medical nutrition and hydration, the main concepts revolve around the meaning attached by many people to the provision of fluids and food (Butts & Rich, 2019). This is because they believe that food and fluids are provided for nourishment and comfort and as a result gives and preserves life. Learning this concept has equipped me with the necessary knowledge concerning the impacts of an individual’s cultural background on their beliefs and values.
These concepts are integral in the nursing practice, as they form the basis for service and care delivery. By learning these concepts, I will be able to understand the patient needs and respond to their needs appropriately and in line with the professional requirements of the nursing practice. The concept of patient confidentiality, for example, will enable me to safeguard the patient information and not disclosing it without consent.
References
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2019). Nursing ethics. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Cook, W. E. (2016). “Sign Here”: Nursing Value and the Process of Informed Consent. Plastic Surgical Nursing, 36(4), 182-186.
Harte, J. D., Homer, C. S., Sheehan, A., Leap, N., & Foureur, M. (2017). Using video in childbirth research: Ethical approval challenges. Nursing ethics, 24(2), 177-189.
