Running Head: CURRENT ETHICS ISSUE IMPACTING NURSING 1

Current Ethical Issues that Impact the Nursing Profession

Jessica I. Welsh

Youngstown State University

*NURS 2610

Louise Aurilio

Fall 2015

FINAL DRAFT
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Abstract

This paper is about the ethical issues that impact the nursing profession. Many research questions

were posed, such as; what are the legal issues in nursing, how severe are these issues, and how

do these ethical issues affect the nursing profession? The methods used to do this research were

to first find ethical issues relating to nursing. Than find how the ethical issues affect nursing and

how much they affect nursing as a profession. Getting as much information on the issues was key

in my research. Without extensive knowledge on the issues the research questions could not be

answered. I found many issues in the ethics that impact the nursing profession. Some of these

issues include confidentiality, improving the access to health care, and other ethical issues. In

conclusion there are many legal issues surrounding the nursing profession, These issues need to

be addressed for nurses to do their jobs properly in the future.

Running Head: CURRENT ETHICS ISSUE IMPACTING NURSING 1

Current Ethical Issues that Impact the Nursing Profession

There are multiple ethical issues that impact the nursing profession. Many of these

prohibit nurses to do their best and need to be reformed. Some of these issues including; getting

health care to everyone, autonomy, and confidentiality. Each of these issues are impacting the

nursing profession in a negative way and guidelines need to be set to deal with these issues.

There is a lot of gray area dealing with the ethical issues impacting the nursing profession and

discussing these different issues help the nursing profession function within these gray areas.

Health Care for Everyone

The first ethical issue that will be discussed is getting health care to everyone. Larson

(2013) states that “the ongoing issue of providing everyone with access to basic medical care

remains concern”(p.1). Many issues arise around the reformation of health care. As Ford states

“we had endless change and people are fed up of that sort of change” (p. 4). One of these issies

includes nurses being able to do their jobs to the best of their ability. According to Larson (2013)

“there are still questions about the implementation of the health care reform law, as well as

Medicaid expansion efforts in the states. Most ethicists believe that access to basic care is a

hallmark of a civilized society” (p. 1). Health care becoming available to everyone is a positive

thing because it will call for more nurses to be needed in the workforce, however it also increases

their workload. Causing the ethical issue for nurses determining if this is truly a good thing or

not.

Autonomy

Another ethical issue posed to the nursing profession is the patients autonomy.

Huddleston (2013) says “ the concept of autonomy would support the right of persons to obtain
CURRENT LEGAL ISSUE IMPACTING NURSING 2

their genomic information, but it could also be used to defend their right to refuse information”

(p. 1). When it comes to genetic testing the ethical issue comes up as whether or not to tell

someone of finding during the test that the patient did not consent to. An example of this would

be if a women had genetic testing and the doctor found “BRCA1 (breast cancer susceptibility

gene) varient” (Huddleston, 2013, p. 1). The ethical question is posed if the doctor is to tell the

patient of this variant. The doctor does not need to tell the patient because she did not consent to

the test and is not their to find out that information. However; this information could save her

relatives some future trouble.

As Huddleston (2013) states in her article “as [the] knowledge of genomics increasingly

influences clinical care, the ethical, legal, and social implications of care decisions demand

further inquiry and discussion within hospitals, medical practices and communities” (p. 2). This

issue will only continue to grow along with the advancement of technology. The more genetic

testing, and any other testing becomes more common the more this problem will grow. It is a

ethical problems for everyone in the health care profession. According to Huddleston (2013) “the

ethical challenges in our genetic and genomic era regarding questions like these are intertwined

with legal and social issues that lead to different interpretation of data privacy” (p. 2). This issue

relates to another very important issue of confidentiality.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality “requires ethical awareness, knowledge, and decision-making skill”

(Badzek, 1998, p. 1). Confidentiality is key in the patient provider relationship however it can

have some gray areas. Confidentiality becomes a huge ethical issue when it comes to dangerous

situations or information that needs to be shared. A “major ethical issue as whether or not a nurse
Running Head: CURRENT ETHICS ISSUE IMPACTING NURSING 1

administrator may legitimately violate the confidentiality of an individual...” (Badzek, 1998, p.

4). There are many reasons to break confidentiality in the health care profession such as legal

issues and cases that may put a third party in danger. “Confidentiality is particularly important

when the revelation of intimate and sensitive information has the potential to harm the

individual” (Badzek, 1998, p. 4). When a third party becomes involved in confidential

information it may be okay for the provider to break the confidentiality between them and the

patient. Only if the information acknowledges that the third party may be in danger. According to

Huddleston (2013) “professional codes of ethics, including that of the American Nurses

Association and those of professional organizations in other countries...provide guidance” (p. 2).

They do not provide near enough guidance when it comes to the ethical issue of confidentiality.

Another reason to break the confidentiality of a patient would include “communicable

diseases including sexually transmitted diseases, child abuse, and gunshot wounds. [These] are

all examples of reportable information that promote a public good required by state or federal

law” (Badzek, 1998, p. 5). Confidentiality is one of the largest ethical issues the nursing

profession faces currently due to all of the different rules surrounding it. Confidentiality issues

will always be a problem because one of the largest promises health care providers make is to

keep their information private, and this breaks that promise causing it to be an ethical issue.

Conclusion

There are many Ethical issues surrounding the nursing profession and all of them have

their own problems. All of them need to be addressed to eliminate all of the gray areas in the

health care field. Health care providers would be able to provide much better care to their

patients if these ethical issues were touched on more heavily.

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References

Jennifer Larson. 2013. “Five Top Ethical Issues in Heatlhcare.” Retrieved Oct. 8, 2015

(http://www.amnhealthcare.com/latest-healthcare-news/five-top-ethical-issues-

healthcare/)

Kathi C. Huddleston. 2013. “Ethics: The Challenge of Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications in

Genomic Nursing.” Retrieved Oct. 8, 2015 (http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenu

Categories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/Ethics/Ethical-Legal-

Social-Implications-in-Genomic-Nursing.html)

Laurie A. Badzek. 1998. “Administrative Ethics and Confidentiality/Privacy Issues” Retrieved

Oct. 8, 2015. http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/

ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol31998/No3Dec1998/PrivacyIssues.html

Steve Ford. 2009. “The big issues in nursing.” Retrieved Oct 8, 2015. http://www.nursingtimes

.net/whats-new-in-nursing/management/the-big-issues-in-nursing/5001025.article