In every industry, there are rules and regulations placed in every organization. These rules act as; points of reference for employees on how to better act and ensure that the company’s rapport is maintained; seek to ensure there is organization in service or product delivery, and management of employees to ensure customer rights are not violated. The provision of rules and regulations is not only in organizations, rather, governmental bodies are also tasked with the development of laws that stipulate a right from a wrong in a given industry. Customer or citizens’ rights are not only maintained by management, rather government as well. In the healthcare industry, the provision of strict ethical and moral codes of conduct are a vital necessity when ensuring the success of an industry. In this regard, it is important to identify the importance of these laws in this industry and further identify the ethics in practice as well. This paper gives a description of the laws and ethics that impact the nursing practice (Benjamin & Curtis, 2010).
Ethics, are defined as the moral behaviours, principles and values that govern a person’s behaviour when performing or conducting an activity. It refers to the standards of right and wrong that tells humans what to do with respect to the benefits of the society, rights to obligations, fairness and specific virtues. In medical Care provision, there is a grave necessity for the enactment of moral codes of conduct among all employees to ensure the lives of people are taken seriously and adequate and quality healthcare is provided to the people. There have been cases where patients have been stigmatized or discriminated against when receiving medical care. In addition to this, there are various cases of unprofessionalism in the industry when dealing with patients (Benjamin & Curtis, 2010). Every nurse requires ethical decision making when providing healthcare. In traditional medical settings, nurses are required to make decisions on a daily basis and at times find themselves in dilemmas. Different governments have provided various ethical principles that are to be followed to the latter when providing care. Breach of these principles allows a nurse to be brought forward for litigation if it is proven they acted against their ethical code of conduct. The emphasis is placed on the care given and not the objectives or goals placed upon the employees in the organizations (NCSBN, 2017).
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Nursing is an act that requires skill and knowledge. There is a vast amount of information required to allow a nurse to be qualified for the position. The exposure to environments where lives are at risk involves a skilled and educated individual to provide the necessary care to save a person’s life. If this is practiced by an unprofessional, then there are unending consequences to be experienced by the general public who entrust their lives to nurses. Conscious knowledge of this has allowed various governments all over the world to develop Statues and laws that govern the nursing Practice. They not only stipulate what is right and wrong, but also give guidelines on how to manage various ethical situations that could end up causing harm to an individual (Butts & Rich, 2015).
The Nursing practice Act is one of the codes of conduct that have been developed in America to guide nurses on their responsibilities. The code was developed to guide and allow nurses to carry out nursing responsibilities in a manner that is applicable and respectful of people’s rights. The development of American Nursing Association also allowed various nurses to have a voice when rendering such services to patients. Many instances have been recorded where a person’s rights were violated or neglected and this consequently led to a loss of life. In such instances where a loss of life or consequences have been experienced due to neglect or lack of unprofessionalism, there are legal actions that are to be carried out in order to ensure the act is punished. All this information and scope of responsibility is provided in such Acts of Law and thus, people are able to determine the scope of responsibility for nurses at any one time. The public, through this, expects a certain amount of quality to be provided when they attend medical facilities. In this way, ethical codes that are linked to state and federal laws ensure all nurses practice care delivery in an ethical manner (Butts & Rich, 2015).
The medical industry is not only linked to public and private healthcare, rather also includes correctional settings such as prisons and psychological institutions. There are various ethical principles that are applicable across all these platforms. They include; respect for persons, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, veracity and fidelity. Respect for others involves autonomy and self-determination. In order to provide healthcare in a manner that is suitable to all patients. They must have freedom from external control and have the determination to ensure that a person’s health is their number one priority. Nurses should also have beneficence. There are many situations where nurses are faced with dilemmas on whether to save, or care for a patient who is not likable to them due to one reason or another (Benjamin & Curtis, 2010). In Correctional settings for instance, it is important for nurses to have beneficence i.e. the will to do good irrespective of what the person has done in the past or the nurses’ personal feelings. In doing do, a nurse is able to avoid maleficence. This is where they deliberately do harm to their patients as a punishment or revenge method. Nurses are expected to treasure and value each and every person’s life irrespective of their status, deeds or title. They must at all costs avoid deliberate harm to the patients. Nurses must also possess justice. They must be fair, equitable, and truthful. Being a nurse requires a person to provide their service at their best and ensure that each patient receives the same amount of care as the others. They must ensure that any information relating to the patient’s condition is truthful, in this way, they not only practice justice, but also veracity, where they are truthful in their practice. Finally, all nurses must possess fidelity. A nurse’s commitment is vital to the success of the industry, abandonment of their commitment translates to the loss of lives and proper or quality medical care. The above are the six basic ethical principles a nurse should possess (Association, 2001).
The success of any Medical institution depends on how well the ethical practices are practiced. For medical institutions that do not practice ethical behaviours, it is common to hear of situations where there are legal cases pending in court due to neglect. Discrimination of patient’s due to various reasons is also a common factor observed in various nursing institutions. The absence of adequate guidelines in the nursing industry is a recipe for disaster where the human life becomes a toy to be played with. Providing a code of conduct does not guarantee the successful implementation of the code in the industry, rather, there must be measures put in place to ensure any person who breaks the values and codes stipulated has to face various consequences. This not only guarantees the implementation of ethical values and principles in daily care giving, rather it also improves the conditions present in the Medical Industry during care giving. Implementation of the codes should also be practiced by the management and the government. Ensuring the necessary tools required for quality healthcare provision is not only a nurses job, rather, the management of the institution and the government as a whole should ensure that medical Institutions are well stocked with medical provisions that allow a nurse or any hospital employee to practice their work in a free and comfortable manner (Association, 2001).
In conclusion, the success of the Nursing Practice is heavily dependent on the presence of ethics and laws that govern the practice. Seeing the importance of the practice and its relevance in all states in the world, laws and regulations that not only address the rights of the patients but also the rights of the nurses are required. Ensuring the responsibilities of each individual in this industry is well understood is required. The Introduction of laws and ethics in nursing also allows a nurse to better their skills in care giving. The best type of service is provided where the patients trust their care givers and are not opposed or distrustful of their actions. Having rules in the nursing practice acts as a positive impact for the implementation of ethics and values during caregiving.
References
Association, A. N. (2001). Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements . Nursesbooks.org.
Benjamin, M., & Curtis, J. (2010). Ethics in Nursing: Cases, Principles, and Reasoning . Oxford University Press.
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2015). Nursing Ethics . Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
NCSBN. (2017). Nurse Practice Act, Rules & Regulations . Retrieved June 2, 2017, from https://www.ncsbn.org/nurse-practice-act.htm
