Ethical Issues and Dilemma, Reaction Paper Example

Introduction

Nurses are trained to provide the best possible quality of care to patients on a daily basis. However, in some cases, ethical dilemmas occur which play a significant role in reconsidering the scope and quality of care in some settings. Ethical dilemmas provide food for thought for nurses in their efforts to improve practice methods and approaches across nursing environments. One issue of importance is accountability, whereby nurses must exercise sound and reasonable judgment and make decisions that will have the greatest impact on their patients in a favorable manner. Nurses must be held accountable for these actions and must consider the challenges associated with poor decision-making that may contribute to negative patient outcomes (Kurtzman, 2010).

Analysis

Nurses who demonstrate accountability for their actions are likely to learn valuable lessons from these experiences that will enhance their careers. For example, a nurse who knowingly contributes to a medication error when he or she is late to work and is rushed as a result must be held accountable for these actions because he or she was late and then acted carelessly in order to catch up. These circumstances require nurses to examine their actions and to exercise caution when making decisions so that they do not compromise the lives of their patients and contribute to poor quality of care and possible adverse events (Lucero et.al, 2010). The actions taken in these cases must be addressed by the management team in order to determine the level of accountability and if any disciplinary action is required for the nurse (Lucero e.t.al, 2010).

Conclusion

The efforts made by nurses should minimize ethical dilemmas and create an environment that embraces high quality of care and treatment at all times. However, when ethical dilemmas arise, the nature of these dilemmas and the role that nurses play must be addressed in a cohesive and appropriate manner to prevent any possible harm to patients.

References

Kurtzman, E.T. (2010). A transparency and accountability framework for high-value inpatient nursing care. Nursing Economics, 28(5), 295-306

Lucero, R.J., Lake, E.T., and Aiken, L.H. (2010). Nursing care quality and adverse events in US hospitals. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(15-16), 2185-2195.