Health Care Ethical Principles - Essay Example

Essay Exam Polk College Introduction Ethics is important for the success of any leadership and especially in a nursing setting.The ANA code of ethics together with the ethical principles provides the guidance necessary for the leaders. Gardner’s leadership tasks support the leaders and this is explained in details using examples. Ethical Principles Utilitarianism aims to have greatest happiness while deontology aims for adherence to the rules. The ethical codes are rules for the nurses which are meant to bring greatest happiness to the patients while following the set rules to maintain the morality of the professionals. The first of the ethical principles demands beneficence and non-maleficence meaning that the nurses should aim to do no harm to the patient and safeguard their rights. This is also captured in the third provision of the ANA code of ethics for nurses which indicates that the nurses should always seek to protect the rights of their patients as well as their health. The next principle is that of justice where the patients should be given equal quality treatment in procedures and services and elimination of any biasness. This is supported by the first provision of the nurses’ code of ethics which insists on respecting the dignity and uniqueness of every individual no matter their differences or the nature of their health problems. This is possible through maintenance of professionalism. Integrity is another ethical principle the nurses should adhere to. This principle aims at honesty and truthfulness to be maintained in order to maximize the benefits and happiness of the patient. The same is articulated in provision nine which demands for the nurses to maintain integrity during their practice. Lastly is the principle of responsibility and fidelity to not only the patients but to those they work with as well. Provision four of the ANA code of ethics emphasizes the same principle of nurses being responsible in their actions and in their professionalism conduct. Responsibility comes with accountability and this leads to following of the set rules of the practice (Nunnery, 2012). Gardner’s leadership examples Effective leadership according to Gardner means that the leader is involved in performance of the following tasks: motivating, managing, affirming values, having goals, achieving unity with the people they lead, trust and serving as a symbol (Gardner, 1993). This level of leadership is evident in my supervisor. She is a very motivating individual always seeking for those under her to be motivated in their jobs. She does this through different techniques such as rewards to the best of her nurses who get to participate in specific medical cases as well as get an extra day off work to just relax. There are also instances where the motivation is a chance at promotions within the hospital facility. Her leadership is also one that leads to unity within her group of nurses. Twice every week we get to meet the whole group under her leadership and she would encourage dialogue, sharing of our experiences, challenges and any hardships or success we might have encountered so far and lets the others assist as well. These informal meetings have not only brought the group closer but have made us more of a family than just co-workers. The unity has made us look out for each other in every case and our professional success rate has increased tremendously. She is also a manager who has specific goals for use each and every week which we work hard to fulfill while still ensuring that we maintain the ethical principles. The goals help in affirmation of the values of the hospital as well as ensuring that we work harder to provide the best care to the patients. Cultural values examples SH is a hospital worker of the Somali origin who does cleaning in the hospital wards. He however cannot clean in the mental ward because of cultural beliefs in their community. He believes that mentally ill people are queer and they should not be associated with in any way to avoid risking the “frowned-up” illness to the rest of the people. He therefore works in all the other places other than this ward and even threatens to leave work and sue the hospital if he is forced to go against his culture. I respect everyone’s culture but it should not interfere with one’s source of livelihood. Another example happened earlier years of my career and it involved a staunch Chinese man who was brought to hospital after an accident. The man refused to be treated by the doctors using western medicine as he did not believe in them and would only allow treatment if it was traditional. He insisted his beliefs were against the conventional medicine which did not heal but added more complications to the health of the patient and he would not allow that to his body. His family was notified and they demanded his immediate discharge and he was taken to a health facility specializing with the traditional medicine he wanted. I believe that as long as he was going to seek medical help which had kept him alive for over 50 years, then he was right to demand it. The last case involved a catholic woman whose religious beliefs she insisted did not allow her to use any form of contraceptives. She had been giving birth to children without any spacing and it was posing a great health risk to her body and if she did not use any contraceptive to prevent any more pregnancies she might die during childbirth or even before. This was a sensitive case and in as much as I am a religious believer, the health of an individual should come first. Patient education scenario JJ is a patient who has been in hospital for the last couple of weeks with burns on the hands. The nurse comes into the room wanting to teach him how he will be cleaning the wound and dressing it instead of having to come to hospital for the same procedure. The communication in this case is both verbal and non-verbal as the nurse explains through actions to JJ. She has to touch the patient’s hand to demonstrate and she carefully does this with professionalism that is without being inappropriate while still maintaining the verbal talk (Northouse & Northouse, 1992). He asks the patient to respond in case of any question. Once the demonstration is over, the nurse asks the patient to repeat the process on his own in order and she guides him through the procedure several times until she is satisfied he can do it without supervision of a health care worker. Conclusion The explanations and examples above are true indication that ethics and communication are important issues in leadership and that an individual who follows these to the letter is bound to succeed immensely. References Gardner, J. (1993). On Leadership. New York: Simon and Schuster. Northouse, P.G., & Northouse, L. L. (1992). Health communication strategies for health professionals (2nd Ed.). Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange. Nunnery, R. (2012). Advancing Your Career: Concepts of Professional Nursing (5th Ed.) New York: F. A. Davis. Vaughn, L., Jacquez, F. & Baker, R. (2009). “Cultural Health Attributions, Beliefs, and Practices: Effects on Healthcare and Medical Education.” The Open Medical Education Journal, vol. 2, pp. 64-74. Read More