Bioethics in Nursing Practice

Bioethics in Nursing Practice

Definition of Bioethics

• Bioethics is the systematic study of morals, visions, decisions, conduct, and policies in the life sciences and healthcare, employing various ethical methodologies in an interdisciplinary setting.

Importance of Studying Ethics

• Knowing moral conducts and ethical systems helps evaluate and criticize them intelligently.
• Ethics stimulates the moral sense, discovers true values of life, and inspires men to join the quest for these values.

Responsibilities of a Nurse

• Promotion of Health
• Prevention of Illness
• Alleviation of Suffering
• Restoration of Health

Human Rights

• Respect for Person is considered the most fundamental human right.

Ethical Theories

• Teleological Approach: based on the outcome of the action, as long as the end or outcome is good, it is considered good.
• Deontological Approach: actions conform to RA 9173, focusing on the moral obligation and duty.

Ethical Principles

• Autonomy: respect for an individual's right to self-determination.
• Veracity: truth-telling and accurate documentation.
• Fidelity: doing what one has promised and keeping confidentiality.
• Justice: equitable distribution of potential benefits and tasks.
• Beneficence: doing good and taking beneficial actions.
• Non-Maleficence: doing no harm.
• Double Effect: when an action has both good and bad consequences.

Informed Consent

• Disclosure of information
• Voluntariness
• Affordability
• Written consent is legal when the person is 18 years old, secured without force, and not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Lawsuits and Liability

• Res Ipsa Loquitur: the thing speaks for itself.
• Respondeat Superior: the superior (hospital) is responsible for the actions of the inferior (nurse).

Code of Ethics for Filipino Nurses

• Also known as BON Resolution No. 425.

Ethical Responsibilities of a Nurse

• Primary responsibility: promoting health at all cost.
• Maintaining a healthy environment.
• Accurate, prompt, and legible documentation.
• Informing patients about their disease condition and treatment.

Moral Organisms

• Totality: applicable to moral organisms.

Doing Good and Autonomy

• "Doing good" should take precedence over autonomy except for religious beliefs.

Incident Reporting

• Documenting the incident report with accurate information.

Force Majure

• Unforeseen circumstances beyond one's control.

Patient Advocate

• Representing the client's viewpoint to others.

Mentally Competent Adult

• Can legally refuse treatment if fully informed about his medical condition and aware of the likely consequences of his action.

Beneficence and Non-Maleficence

• Providing wound dressing changes and emotional support to alleviate pain and anxiety.

Ethical Principles in Patient Care

• Refraining from discussing the disease condition of the patient with those not involved in his care (Confidentiality).
• Refusing to divulge confidential information to others (Breach of Confidentiality).

Organ Donation

• Transplanting organs from one living person to another is ethically acceptable provided certain criteria are met.
• Donors can be brain dead.

Cessation of Brain Function

• Criteria include irreversible coma, no spontaneous respiration, absence of brain stem reflexes, and no movement.

Origin of Ethics

• Ethics comes from the Greek word "ethikos," not "moralis."