Nurses sometimes face ethical questions on the job.
Nurses should practice nursing in an ethical way at all times. At times, though, they may face ethical problems. Nurses may be asked to administer improper medications or treatments, to perform duties outside the scope of their practice, to share information that should be kept confidential, to ignore patients' rights or to do something else improper or unethical. Sometimes nurses can clearly see what to do but other times there are gray areas and nurses find themselves facing ethical questions and must determine the proper course of action.
Instructions
1. Consult the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics to see if the code of ethics offers any guidance relating to the ethical nursing question you face.
2. Consult the ethics committee at the hospital or other facility at which you work, if your employer has such a committee. Hospitals and other large organizations often do, while small nursing homes and other small organizations often do not.
3. Consult an ethics committee at any local hospital or other local health care organization, if one exists and see if the committee will provide advice to a nurse who doesn't work there at that institution.
4. Contact your state board of nursing, supposing you hold a license issued by the state board, and ask for help with an ethical question.
5. Contact a local college or university and ask if it offers medical ethics courses. If so, ask to consult with the professor.
