respond to discussion with 175 words citations 1
In the field of healthcare, nurses may face ethical situations on a daily basis. As nurses, I feel that practicing beneficence is foundational guiding principle for practice. With the pandemic of COVID-19 on the forefront of our minds and practices, I have been faced with ethical issues that I had never dealt with before as a nurse. The issue I am facing right now has come about due to the hospital where I work implementing a No Visitor Policy in response to COVID. This has caused an ethical issue that revolves around moral distress and the ethical principles of beneficence and confidentiality. Moral distress can be defined “as a phenomenon when an individual knows the right thing to do but cannot pursue that action due to organization or other constraints,†(ANA, 2017. Page 5). Beneficence can be “defined as an act of charity, mercy, and kindness with a strong connotation of doing good to others including moral obligation. All professionals have the foundational moral imperative of doing right. In the context of the professional-client relationship, the professional is obligated to, always and without exception, favor the well-being and interest of the client†(Kinsinger, 2009. Paragraph 2).
Patients that are being admitted with COVID into hospitals are put on very strict isolation precautions. Many of these patients are very ill, in the Intensive Care Unit, and intubated and sedated. Since families are not allowed to see these patients, with the exception of the imminent death of the patient, in which two designated family members may be present, nurses are being pushed by the organization and management where I work, to go into the room and to use unsecured social media applications such as, Face-time and Skype to allow family to see their loved one. The ethical issue I am struggling with is, is it right for the nurse to broadcast the patient on unsecured social media applications without their consent and in a situation in which they may not be comfortable being shown? Is this morally the right thing to do, is this beneficence? Is this protecting the patient’s right to privacy?
I am a patient advocate manager and I have taken numerous concerns regarding the No Visitation Policy from family members. I understand the family’s struggle with not being allowed to visit their loved one. I understand that under normal circumstances, families could visit their loved ones, even if the patient was sedated and unable to give consent.
My moral distress regarding this revolves around what is the right thing to do for the patient during these uncertain times. Is it morally right to broadcast the patient on unsecured media applications, is it right to not allow a family member to see their loved one in person or online, and how does a nurse know what is right when he or she is being pressured to do something that feels uncomfortable?
American Nurses Association (ANA). (2017). A call to action report: exploring moral resilience toward a culture of ethical practice. https://www.nursingworld.org/~4907b6/globalassets/…
Kinsinger F. S. (2009). Beneficence and the professional’s moral imperative. Journal of chiropractic humanities, 16(1), 44–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.echu.2010.02.006 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC33428…
