Running head: ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN NURSING

Ethical Principles in Nursing

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Ethical principles in nursing

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Introduction

Health care profession involves many ethical principles that guide nurses in their daily
work. Nursing involves the obligation of upholding professionalism where the nurses have the
duty of being loyal, honest and operating for the best interest of their patients. The nursing code
of ethics then provides several principles or codes that nurses have to follow in arriving at the
best decisions for their patients. The ethical principles include the principle of autonomy, justice,
beneficence, nonmaleficence and informed consent (ANA, 2010). The ethical principles have a
diverse application and ability to generate a decision that appeal to both the patients needs and
those of the nurses and the institution they are employed. To determine the strengths and
weakness of these principles the paper considers several ethical principles.
Overview of ethical principles
The principle of autonomy
The principle of freedom, as noted by Beauchamp and Childress, is a set of notations that
include self-guidance, liberty, individual being and choice. In health care, autonomy means the
right of a person to decide what should and should not be done to his body. An example is
whether to or not to undergo resuscitation process (Bauchamp & Childress,2011). A patient only
makes sound decisions when provided with relevant information about his health. There are,
however, some justifications against the principle. The paternalism and harm principle.
Paternalism states that medical professionals possess more knowledge on right or wrong for a
patient (American Nurses Association, 2010).
Fairness and justice

Ethical principles in nursing

Justice and truth are principles govern the conduct of nurses in their profession. Being
fair means treating people without showing favorism on one side. It involves coming up with
decisions of the best interest of a patient rather than the interest of the nursing profession. Justice,
on the other hand, is being morally right or equitable. The nurses, therefore, are obligated to
enhancing justice and fairness to their patients.
Principle of informed consent
The principle of informed consent becomes achieved through the mode of provision of
information and the method used to deliver it to the patient. Truthful information is the ultimate
right of the patient and nurses, therefore, have the right to provide it to their patients. Patients
consent in the decisions made by practitioners should be the first part of arriving at a conclusive
decision.
The information primarily determines the legibility of the decision made by the patient or
family on whether to consent to a medical service or not. Medical practitioners, therefore, have
the legal and moral right to tell the truth. Consent get appreciated and written in a form that
involves disclosure, competence, understanding, consent and voluntariness (Ugboma et al.,
2011).
Beneficence/nonmaleficence
Beneficence indicates that medical practitioners act to do good for their patients while
nonmaleficence is where the nurses work to avoid harm or take due cares for their patients
(Beauchamp, & Childress, 2001). Nurses should therefore at all-time undertake actions that
ensure doing good to the patient and the patients involved parties. Information misrepresentation
might cause harm to the patient or his family members. Despite the fact that nurses should do

Ethical principles in nursing

away with actions that might cause harm to a patient or his family, they are legally required to
provide truthful information about the patients health.
Most important ethical principle: principle of justice and fairness
The principle of justice and fairness among all the ethical principles stems out as the most
important principle above all. Justice and fairness principle may to a wider extent play the roles
of other ethical principles in decision making. The notion of fair treatment implies giving people
or rather patients what they deserve. According to the principle of nonmaleficence and
beneficence, the nurses have the obligation of doing well and avoiding the wrong. It is under the
principle of justice and fairness where nurses practices are expected to be fair and just. Being
fair and just is simply doing what is good and right while avoiding what is believed to be wrong.
The principles become centralized to retributive, procedural and restorative justice, and
they ensure unbiased, reliable and consistent methods of arriving at decisions. It is legally right
for nurses to adhere to the laws governing the provision of healthcare services. Upholding of the
fairness and justice principle ensure that the rules are strictly followed even without having to
read them. It is evident that when making a nursing decision without consideration of the
principle of justice and fairness the outcome might either go against the legal laws or patients
rights might be violated. Overcoming the weaknesses that might prevail in the absence of the
principle, it is necessary always to include the principle of fairness and justice.
Conclusion
Decision-making in the nursing profession is an essential part of all the practices that
nurses do their daily chores. Nurses handle ensuring that patients receive the required treatment
services and that their rights are reserved. To ensure that the decisions arrived at by the nurses

Ethical principles in nursing

are optimal and appeal to the needs of the patients and the nursing profession code of conduct,
application of ethical principles is an important thing. Nurses use these guidelines in their daily
operations that aid them in making decisions about the patients and the instruction. All the ethical
principles are essential in the process of these decisions making, but the principle of fairness and
justices is of the most importance among all. The reason is that when the principle receives a
good appreciation in decision making, it entails all the other roles of other principles. It aligns
itself with the legal framework that governs the nursing profession.

Ethical principles in nursing

References
American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing's social policy statement: The essence of the
profession. Nursesbooks. org.
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2001). Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford University
Press, UK.
Long-Sutehall, T., Willis, H., Palmer, R., Ugboma, D., Addington-Hall, J., & Coombs, M.
(2011). Negotiated dying: A grounded theory of how nurses shape withdrawal of
treatment in hospital critical care units. International journal of nursing studies, 48(12),
1466-1474