Nursing Ethics: What Every Nurse Needs to Know

The two cases bring about the issue of care for caregivers especially in Nurse Julie Thao’s case. Her mistake may have resulted from fatigue and burnout as she had worked continuously for many hours and only rested at the hospital before resuming work on the fateful day ( Brown, 2013) . It is necessary that as nurses, we take good care of ourselves, get enough rest, exercise and eat well to ensure that we are in the right form of health to care for the health of others. These cases demonstrate the passion both nurses had for their profession. One had stayed on duty for more than she needed to and the other had served as a nurse for more than twenty years. It is evident that their actions were founded on benevolence and beneficence where they were focusing on protecting their patients while targeting for the best outcome in their health. However due to medical errors that resulted from fatigue, the nurses failed. 

Their colleagues needed to demonstrate teamwork to help leaven the workplace burden these nurses were experiencing. They also needed to show fairness in determining the fault of Hiatt and Thao and avoid harsh judgment towards these nurses. The virtue of kindness from their colleagues would have helped the nurses respond to the tragedies positively. These nurses identified as second victims because other system errors would have resulted in the deaths of the patients including understaffing ( Brown, 2013) . Both nurses deteriorated holistically after these incidences with one committing suicide and the other going into depression. However, the virtues of kindness and fairness would have helped them cope better. They needed to exercise these virtues towards themselves and not judge themselves harshly. It would have been somewhat easier for them to heal if they had been fair in judging the mistake they made and being kind towards themselves for the mistakes they had made. 

Reference 

Brown, T. (2013). Should Nurses Be Terminated for Fatal Medication Errors? | TheONC | A Gated Community for Oncology Nurses and Cancer Care Teams. Retrieved from http://www.theonc.org/author.asp?section_id=2312&doc_id=269269