Essay on Code of Ethics and Decision-making in Healthcare

The ANA Nursing Code of Ethics plays a crucial role, as it is a statement of the ethical responsibility and roles of every individual in the nursing field. It is a nonnegotiable ethical standard, and it expresses the nursing understanding of commitment to the society (Epstein & Turner, 2015). The National Code characterizes the qualities which are exhaustive and socially adjusted. The code sets out the required components for moral guidance and engages nurses to settle on ethical choices appropriately as they perform as nurses, researchers, administrators and strategy creators. The ANA Code of Ethics likewise helps the medical attendants to remember the important role of their calling as medical attendants in offering medical care to patients. For instance, provision 4 indicates that a nurse is responsible for individual nursing practice and delegate tasks appropriately to offer optimum patient care. This provision guides the nurse to make ethical decisions regarding a patient by ensuring the decision made are consistent with the nurses obligation of providing quality care. The code also plays a vital role as it guides nurses in performing supervisory and administrative duties (Chism, 2015). The seventh provision stresses on the nurses participation in the development of profession through contribution to practice, education, administration and skill advancement hence, guiding them on decision making when conducting research and administration duties.

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The Most Beneficial Code for Safety

The most important ethical code in protecting the security of patients is the third provision under the ANA Code of Ethics. The provision indicates that the nurse advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety, and the rights of the patient (Zahedi et al., 2013). The nurse is under the obligation to protect the safety of the patients by advocating for the patients rights to privacy, being confidential with medical information of the patient protect the patients in research. Patients have the right to refuse to participate in a research project. Hence, the nurse is under the obligation of ensuring patients are informed about investigations concerning them.

Advantages of Applying the Code of Ethics and Politics and Policies in Healthcare

The benefits of applying the Code of Ethics to politics and policy in health care are that it helps in the legal dimensions involved in nursing. While the law and ethics are different, there are instances when values such as integrity and social justice become important particularly when nurses need to collaborate with stakeholders to change legislations that are not in line with ethical practices (Butts & Turner, 2012). Finally, ethics is applied to politics and policies to ensure principles of justice, equity, and fairness are achieved.

References

Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2012). Nursing ethics. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Chism, L. A. (2015). The doctor of nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Epstein, B., & Turner, M. (2015). The nursing code of ethics: Its value, its history. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 20(2).

Zahedi, F., Sanjari, M., Aala, M., Peymani, M., Aramesh, K., Parsapour, A., ... & Dastgerdi, M. V. (2013). The code of ethics for nurses. Iranian Journal of Public Health, 42(1), 1.