VA Caregiver Support can let you know about support available from VA, help you access services, connect you with the Caregiver Support Coordinator at a VA medical center near you, and simply listen when you need it. Support line 1.855.260.3274. Nurses have a duty to maintain a safe work environment that promotes quality care for all patients. Institutions are responsible for setting safety standards and enforcing ethical obligations in care to ensure optimal patient outcomes. iv Nursing and Midwifery Council (2010) Standards for Pre-Registration of Nursing Education. Nursing and Midwifery Council, London, p. 17. By uniting behind this promise in large numbers, nurses and other health professionals are sending a strong message to policymakers, health care associations, and the American public that future attempts to engage health professionals to design, investigate, or enforce practices that lead to serious physical or mental abuse will not be tolerated. The pledge also serves as a statement of support for medical professionals who defy orders to torture or harm. Case law is the second branch that oversees ethical standards in nursing and the medical profession. Recently, various high-profile medical cases have been heard, particularly with regard to nurses providing assisted suicide, denial of medical treatment by a competent patient, and the use of frozen embryos for IVF.
xvi In England, no one can consent to the treatment of an incapable adult, so the court must make a declaration in the best interests of patients and medical practice generally. However, before litigation arises, caregivers are often expected to be competent to make these decisions and inform their supervisors and, subsequently, the court of the patient`s consent. XVII Nurses need a good understanding of the ethical and legal principles at stake to make such a judgment, and this is best understood by implementing rigorous teaching and education procedures before practicing in a health clinic to ensure that they can apply the principles of health care and ethics. Nurses should continue to meet on committees and organize groups where they can share and evaluate values for accuracy and the pursuit of the profession. Within these organizations, nurses can come together to advocate for social justice. Continued political awareness is necessary to maintain the integrity of the nursing profession. The ability of nurses to contribute to health policy should be shared among the professions, bringing together nurses around the world for one voice. Nursing practice adheres to its own code of ethics, which is governed by strict disciplinary guidelines, with the governing body having more influence over its members in medical matters than legislative bodies. The Ministry of Health issued Health Services Circular 219.99 which required certain requirements for a new nursing education program.
The Nurses and Midwives Ordinance 2001 requires the Council of Nurses and Midwives (NMC) to establish minimum standards and requirements for professional and ethical nursing education.iv The NMC is an organisation created by Parliament to protect the public and regulates nursing medical and professional standards through the Register of Physicians (RMP). The purpose of the registry is to allow the GMC to monitor entry to the profession only by meeting the standards required to obtain an RMP and also monitoring the “fitness to practice” procedure to ensure that all practitioners maintain high and consistent standards of behaviour. The NMC provides guidance regarding expectations with respect to certain obligations such as confidentiality, medical research obligations, consent rights and autonomy. Nursing practice is expected to adhere to these guidelines on a daily basis at the individual level. The NMC`s “Code of Ethics: Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics” is widely respected in this profession. To be registered, it is generally a rule that nurses must undergo training, in addition to personal advice through merit and training, that they intend to follow ethical standards in order to maintain a nursing license.v The next morning, I met her mother [the patient]. A medical student was with me. The mother said, “I really liked the way you talked to my daughter yesterday and thank you so much for taking the time to explain.” I told the student, “That`s why I love what I do. That`s why I turned to medicine” [26]. Ethics is the branch of philosophy that focuses on the moral life.
Ethics is usually the basis of right and wrong that helps formulate law. Also highlights whether actions and decisions are good or bad (Kangasniemi, Korhonen and Pakkanen 2015). Nursing ethics comes from medical ethics, which is just as important as medical ethics. Although ethics is considered a fundamental part of nurses` practice, they face ethical issues related to the clinical issues they face in patient treatment and decision-making (Haddad & Geiger, 2019). Ethical questions and challenges faced by caregivers could arise with patients, family members, colleagues or other professions. With respect to the given case scenario, there are questions about ethical and legal concerns on both the patient and caregiver sides.