Applying Ethical Principles to Nursing Practice

Applying ethical principles helps nurses make sound judgment calls and support the emotional, physical, and mental health of patients. Nurses who abide by these principles also develop strong relationships with their colleagues and patients, which can lead to improved health outcomes. Ethics are a central component of ace my homework and all aspects of healthcare. Understanding how to apply these principles can help you create a holistic care approach that respects patients regardless of their situation. Autonomy is an ethical principle that expresses one of the fundamental values of moral personhood. It is an essential aspect of a functioning democracy, where individuals are free to choose their own values and commitments without interference.

There are several different ways to conceptualize autonomy, but a number of writers argue that it is the capacity to reflect on and endorse one's own desires, values, and personal traits that constitutes autonomy. This model of autonomy emphasizes internal self-reflection and procedural independence, but it also requires the agent to act in a way that would be expected of all similarly situated rational agents. However, some authors argue that it is important to take NHS FPX 4000 Assessment 3  account of social and personal relations in developing a fuller understanding of autonomy. For example, if an autonomous agent does not have the emotional or affective connections she needs to develop and enjoy her autonomy, it is unlikely that she will be able to make decisions independently.

Beneficence is the ethical principle that requires people to act for others' benefit. This can mean preventing or removing potential harms and promoting a person's important and legitimate interests. It also can mean promoting the well-being of the community in which we live, and helping those who are in a vulnerable position. In medicine, beneficence is often accompanied by other principles such as nonmaleficence and autonomy.

A common issue in moral theory is how to define the limits of a principle of beneficence, a question that has been debated for centuries and remains open. The challenge is to find limits that reduce the burdens on agents' life plans and make it a realistic possibility for them to meet their obligations of beneficence. Some philosophers, including Kant and Hume, seem to have Applying Ethical Principles embraced the notion of obligatory beneficence as an important principle of duty. This obligation can be on a continuum, ranging from weak obligations of assistance (e.g., a person's conscientiousness in attending to the welfare of a friend who is disabled) to strong obligations of benevolence (e.g., rescuing someone who is in danger but is not seriously injured).

Ethical principles are a set of values that health care professionals can refer to when they encounter conflicts or confusion. They are the basis for things like informed consent, truth-telling, and confidentiality. In healthcare, the principle of nonmaleficence (first do no harm) is a cornerstone of the doctor-patient relationship. It is the first obligation that every health care provider must embrace and it is derived from the Latin maxim primum non nocere meaning "first, do no harm". Physicians must be careful not to provide ineffective treatments or act with malice towards patients. This is a tricky ethical issue because many beneficial treatments also come with serious risks. Balancing beneficence and nonmaleficence is one of the most common ethical problems in medical practice. This balance between the benefits NHS FPX 4000 Assessment 3  Applying Ethical Principles  and risks of treatment plays a role in almost every medical decision, including whether to order a test, medication, procedure, operation, or treatment.

Justice is an ethical principle that involves fair and equitable treatment of people. It applies to the distribution of resources within a society, and is also used to decide how people are treated by the state and other institutions. In addition to the distributive approach, which focuses on what is to be distributed and between whom, theories of justice include retributive and restorative approaches. Retributive justice aims to punish individuals who do not act justly, and restorative justice tries to repair the harms caused by unjust relationships between people. Some of these theories do not imply a distinction between the principle of justice and injustice, but others do. For example, relational theory holds that when people associate with each other in the way they need to, they become agents of justice. It is therefore important to distinguish between those principles of justice that are universal - they apply whenever agents A act towards recipient B, regardless of the relationship between them - and those that are Locating Credible Databases and Research contextual in character, applying only within social or political relationships of a certain kind. Some are straightforwardly non-comparative, for instance,'sufficiency' principles that require each person to have 'enough' on some dimension or other - though they may not be understood as requiring equality of outcome.