Professional Ethics in Healthcare and Nursing
Moral features of practicing nursing are the ethics that addresses the requirement of providing proper care and attention to patient with discipline. Sometimes violation of the professional ethics leads to accidents that can harm patients and may cause death. Such incident is shared in the case of a 76-years-old lady, Mrs, Montalto was an inhabitant in the dementia unit. She was found dead in the vicinity of the fountain near the Jasmine unit of Arcare Pty Ltd.’s Arcare Hampstead. Dr. Elberg and the family of Mrs. Montalto were kept in dark about the reality of death. A young carer at Arcare Hampstead reported to her union about the unusual circumstances and after reporting to the Coroner, case was investigated by police.
This paper will discuss ethical issues of healthcare a professional including standards, laws and codes; violation of the standards, codes, and laws; the values of nurses; the alternate option for handling such situation; next section share strategies to avoid reoccurrence, the personal reflection is granted in next section; and the conclusion.
Written laws of a country set the legal standards a healthcare service follows, while rights and wrongs of moral of human groups are the ethical standards. Ethics in healthcare and nursing is the functional discipline that addresses some moral characteristics of nursing (My account course, 2021). The ethical guidelines promote extraordinary levels of attention and care for the patient. However, issues in practicing ethics happen in situations when moral conflicts arise along with addressing them; in such cases, the moral standards of healthcare services are questioned. The duty of care for a carer is the legal duty for providing sensible care for patients to prevent self-harm risks.
Standard of practice is the discipline and guidelines for carers about performing nursing. Clinical service includes standard operating procedures, standard of practice, clinical procedures, clinical practice protocols, and clinical policy statements. Standards of practice guide the skills, knowledge, attitude, and judgment that are essential for safe practice (Wallen & Fisher, 2017). Every nurse at the care center is responsible and accountable in practice. The term ‘Mandatory Reporting’ is used to label the legislative requirement forced on specific classes of people for reporting doubtful cases of notifiable conduct, elder abuse, and child abuse attempted by another practitioner (AMNJ Contributor, 2019). A carer can report such cases to Government authorities.
In the Laws and Regulations of ethical and legal obligations, Professional conduct is the way a carer behaves while performing professional capacity and duties (HCPC, 2018). The collection of laws is termed a Code. The Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia supports The Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia. These codes are processed in combination with additional published practice standards like decision-making frameworks, competency standards, position statements, and guidelines (Nursing Broad of Australia, 2018). These two codes with the Code of Ethics for nursing in Australia are designed differently. Breaching any code may create professional misconduct and unprofessional conduct.
Numerous laws and codes and standards were breached in the case of Mrs. Montalto. Policies and procedures at Arcare were breached by the staff of the care center which complicated the death case of Mrs. Montalto. The reality was well-kept from Dr. Elberg and the Family of the dismissed. Events were revealed by the police investigation. This incident revealed the cracks in conducting the standards of practice at Arcare; as clearly she was wandering unheeded in a dangerous area of the fountain, and she was not checked while she was absent. Investigation revealed that some of the statements from Australia’s Codes of Professional Conduct were disobeyed by the staff of Arcare while hiding the reality of death that occurred due to their carelessness. Some statements of the Code of Professional Conduct were violated include the safe manner of practicing care, nursing practice in agreement with standards of the broader health system and professional, conducting practice according to profession-related laws, providing accurate, honest, and impartial information regarding patient’s health, health care products and nursing care, preserving and building trust on community, and practice of ethical and reflective nursing (Nursing Broad of Australia, 2018).
Breaching of Standards, Codes, and Laws
Value of professional nursing are describes as the important principles that serve as framework for professional practice, standards, and evaluation. The values are defined according to findings of research and codes of ethics. These principles include justice, altruism, integrity, and Human dignity (Poorchangizi, Borhani, Abbaszadeh, & Moghaddameh Mirzaee, 2019). These values are integrated by caring professional in clinical practice. Nursing values are essential for the practice of nursing as these values influence practice decisions, guide standards for action, and provides the framework for estimating behaviour. The value of Diversity is affected for nurses as treating Mrs. Montalto with dignity would have ensured meeting ethical and moral standards. Among the values of professional nursing, trustworthiness is affected for family members of patient, as they were misinformed about death of Mrs. Montalto; also for other residence trust for Arcare has affected as family is worried about father as he is also an inhabitant at Arcare.
The staff of Arcare hid the reality of the death of Mrs. Montalto from doctors, and her family members. The investigation of police was unable to collect valid evidence for the case. An autopsy of the dead body of this old lady was not conducted properly and did not provide a valid reason for death. Firstly, care providers had the option of following the guidelines of Arcare and should have prioritized the service of taking care of the patients, because that might have avoided the accident. Providing proper service justifies this option as it ensures the moral and ethical standards of healthcare service.
The accurate condition at the accident spot and evidence was not shared with the doctor and the family members of Mrs. Montalto. Even, the incident was not reported to the Coroner for investigating and finding the reality and reason for death. The healthcare staff members avoided the examination process for keeping away from any complications at a healthcare center in the future and hiding the reality of the incident. The Coroner must have been informed to investigate the sudden death as CCTV footage did not provide any confirmed theory regarding her health because the autopsy report and CCTV footage had destroyed the evidence and the incident remained a mysterious death and provided actual reality and reason of death is important for giving justice to family members.
Some of the common causes of failures and problems in nursing include supply issues, staffing problems, missing pieces of equipment, medical orders, housecleaning work, and attending to clients. There are six common reasons responsible for negligence in nursing: failure to monitor and assess; failure of working as a patient advocate; failure in meeting standards of care; failure to carefully responsibly use pieces of equipment; failure to document; failure to communicate (Berger Lagnese, 2021). According to the lawsuit, some essential elements required for establishing negligence for avoiding legal obligations include ‘duty of care’ based on duty, breach, causation, harm, and foreseeability for providing standard care (Rockafellow Law Firm, 2013).
Some common examples of malpractice in nursing involve failing in properly observe a patient, timely responding to a patient, calling a physician for support, and updating the progress chart of a patient (Berger Lagnese, 2021). In nursing, negligence can be avoided with help of four strategies: maintaining expertise, sharping interpersonal skills, adhering to the policies of organizations, and arranging documents (Brusie, 2021). Nurses may apply strategies for preventing the recurrence of malpractices in nursing. These strategies include being attentive about provided care and patient, enrolling in proceeding education, taking time for processing and explain the consent data of the patient, and documenting all the activities (HCI News Nursing, 2021).
Reasons for Negligence in Nursing
The accident at Arcare Hampstead’s Jasmine Unit was a revelation for me, about the malpractice and carelessness of nurses towards their residential patients. The way Mrs. Montalto died and no staff member at the care service was ready to provide any evidence and information to solve the mystery of her death. Their manner of providing service to old people had a destructive effect on me regarding working as a team with them, and it changed my practice. I think providing proper care service to old people living at Aged Cares is a responsibility that must be pleased. According to the findings of the investigation, Mrs. Montalto died from immersion that resulted after considering submissions and shreds of evidence available. This would change my practice toward patients for improving their situation and providing better service to them from my end. Also, I will take action at the aged care center and report the incidence if situations like these reoccur in the future.
Conclusion
Overall, the complicated circumstances related to the death of Mrs. Montalto and actions taken by staff were regrettable for Arcare Hampstead, case was reported by a carer among the staff which led to an investigation of the accident and findings suggest that she died from immersion. The carer staff breached all the standards, codes and laws, care of duty, and mandatory reporting. The nurses must uphold the main values at stake, under the perspectives of police, family, nurses, and other residents for not working or being able to work effectively. Organization and staff members had options to work in different manners other than hiding, to provide justice to the accidental death of the old lady due to the carelessness of staff. Organizations and nurses must apply strategies for preventing the reoccurrence of such incidents by avoiding malpractice and negligence at service. Some safety measures at Arcare were still not measured including the internal courtyard fountain, locking access doors, and pooling water.
References
AMNJ Contributor. (2019, February 13). ANMF’s Continuing Professional Education: What is mandatory reporting? Retrieved from ANMJ: https://anmj.org.au/what-is-mandatory-reporting/#:~:text=The%20Aged%20Care%20Act%201997,government%20subsidised%20Aged%20Care%20home.
Androus, A. B. (2022, Feburary 09). How Nurses Can Avoid the Most Common Ethics Violations. Retrieved from Registered Nursing: https://www.registerednursing.org/articles/how-avoid-common-ethics-violations/
Berger Lagnese. (2021, February 20). The 9 Most Common Examples of Nursing Malpractice. Retrieved from Berger Lagnese: https://www.bergerlagnese.com/blog/what-are-the-most-common-acts-negligence-by-nurse/
Brusie, C. (2021, August 26). What Is Negligence in Nursing? Retrieved from Berxi: https://www.berxi.com/resources/articles/what-is-negligence-in-nursing/
HCI News Nursing. (2021, October 27). How Can Nurses Prevent Malpractice? Retrieved from HCI College: https://www.hci.edu/hci-news/12278-how-can-nurses-prevent-malpractice
HCPC. (2018, June 14). Standards of conduct, performance and ethics. Retrieved from HCPC: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/
My account course. (2021). What are Ethical Issues? Retrieved from My Accounting Course: https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/accounting-dictionary/ethical-issues
Nursing Broad of Australia. (2018, Feburary 5). Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia. Retrieved from Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia: file:///C:/Users/SystemUser/Downloads/6_New-Code-of-Professional-Conduct-for-Nurses-August-2008-1-.PDF
Poorchangizi, B., Borhani, F., Abbaszadeh, A., & Moghaddameh Mirzaee, J. F. (2019). The importance of professional values from nursing students’ perspective. BMC Nursing.
Rockafellow Law Firm. (2013, July 01). Top Causes of Nursing Malpractice. Retrieved from Rockafellow Law Firm: https://www.rockafellowlaw.com/blog/top-causes-of-nursing-malpractice/
Wallen, G. R., & Fisher, C. A. (2017). Principles and practice of Clinical Research (4 ed.). Cambridge: Academic Press. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/C2014-0-03999-8
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