Riverbend City Simulation: Ethics Mission, Coursework Example

Introduction

Nursing legislative bodies have established specific frameworks for treating patients effectively under a variety of conditions. These conditions cross many boundaries and require a greater understanding of the issues and dilemmas that nurses face as they provide treatment to their patients on a regular basis. However, some nursing practice issues are very difficult to manage, as they require significant ethical frameworks that govern decision-making. One area of particular interest is assisted suicide, whereby individuals with terminal illnesses seek assistance to pull the plug and to end their lives. This is a very difficult decision to make and it requires significant attention and focus. Many people possess an ethical value system that does not include the provision of assisted suicide under any circumstances; therefore, it is likely that most nurses will object to these circumstances and will not have any part in these activities. However, these issues must be considered in greater detail in order to convey the significance of assisted suicide and the position of nurses regarding these activities.

Analysis

According to the American Nurses Association, nurses are responsible for providing care and treatment to all patients in order to conform to the standards set forth to protect all patients from unnecessary risk or harm at all times (2010). Nurses, therefore, must be able to demonstrate these ideals and apply them to all patient experiences, including patients with terminal conditions. At the same time, nurses must be able to exercise sound and reasonable frameworks in their practice settings as a means of making decisions that will have a positive impact on patient care at all times, and this includes the development of patient-centered care experiences that will provide patients with the best possible opportunity for recovery under these conditions (Black, 2005). However, some patients who are terminal may seek other alternatives, such as assisted suicide, as a means of ending the pain and suffering that they are experiencing.

The needs of patients must reflect the importance of developing new strategies for improvement that will have a positive impact on patient care outcomes. However, when patients seek an end to their lives, nurses may not understand this affirmation because it contradicts their principles to provide care to all patients to improve their health, promote healing, and achieve greater comfort (Ohnsorge et.al, 2012). Therefore, nurses must seek to better understand patients’ wishes and how to frame these situations effectively in order to improve patient perspectives and outcomes (Ohnsorge et.al, 2012). This process is critical to the success of patient health and wellbeing, in addition to other factors that require nurses’ attention and focus so that patients at the end of life are provided with a safe, caring, and nurturing environment (Ohnsorge et.al, 2012).

According to MacLeod, Wilson, & Malpas (2012), “The dilemma for healthcare practitioners then is how to balance the patient’s view of quality versus quantity of life against the historical and culturally developed roles and responsibilities of  their healthcare profession to support life and prevent suffering” (p. 88). With this framework, assisted suicide is in direct contrast to nursing practice ethics, as it supports the early termination of life, based upon a patient’s wishes (MacLeod et.al, 2012). When nurses are put into a position to potentially make decisions regarding assisted suicide, these decisions contradict their principles and severely limit their ability to be successful practitioners of care and treatment (MacLeod et.al, 2012). This process requires a greater understanding of a patient’s wishes and how these wishes may ultimately oppose the true intent and purpose of nursing practice to heal and promote recovery and comfort in the lives of patients (MacLeod et.al, 2012). These circumstances lead to any number of ethical dilemmas, as nurses are required to make all possible efforts to promote recovery and wellbeing in the lives of their patients, rather than prematurely end their lives (MacLeod et.al, 2012).

Most importantly, patients seeking to end their lives via assisted suicide are likely to seek support from nurses with conducting these actions. However, nurses who adhere to the standards of nursing ethics will not be receptive to these decisions, as will seek to preserve patients’ lives using their knowledge and resources. These circumstances, therefore, may contribute to a widespread ethical dilemma that requires nurses to adhere to their ethical standards and to recognize that they must actively promote the preservation of human life and dignity at all costs, without conforming to patients’ wishes. This process supports the development of ethical frameworks that are specific to cases involving assisted suicide so that patient care is not compromised in this manner. Nonetheless, there is a general lack of support for assisted suicide across many regulatory and governing bodies, including those that directly impact nurses, as well as state and federal governments. Through these regulations, it is possible for nurses to have a voice in their express beliefs against assisted suicide, particularly those that impact their activities directly. Therefore, in many ways, the position of the American Nurses Association coincides with state and federal policies regarding this practice.

Conclusion

Nurses possess a responsibility to optimize the care and treatment for their patients at all times, using the resources that they are given in the context of nursing practice. This framework includes a responsibility to care for and treat all patients with dignity, respect, and support, while also considering the patient’s health status and long-term prognosis. When a patient is terminal, he or she must continue to receive quality care and treatment from nurses in order to preserve quality of life as best as possible. These actions support the continued effort made by nurses to provide for their patients and to promote a comfortable living environment for as long as possible to ensure that these nursing standards of ethics are upheld until the end of life as best as possible.

References

American Nurses Association (2010). The nurse’s role in ethics and human rights: protecting and promoting individual worth, dignity, and human rights in practice settings. Pp. 1-17.

Black, R.M. (2005). Intersections of care: an analysis of culturally competent care, client centered care, and the feminist ethic of care. Work 24, 409-422.

MacLeod, R. D., Wilson, D. M., & Malpas, P. (2012). Assisted or hastened death: the healthcare practitioner’s dilemma. Global journal of health science,4(6).

Ohnsorge, K., Keller, H. R. G., Widdershoven, G. A., & Rehmann-Sutter, C. (2012). ‘Ambivalence’at the end of life How to understand patients’ wishes ethically. Nursing ethics, 19(5), 629-641.