ETHICS & VALUES

Reported By:
Rachel M. Alambag
Ericson C. Mitra

Ethics

derived from the Greek ethos, meaning

custom or character.
is the study of conduct and character. It
is concerned with determining what is
good or valuable for individuals, for
groups of individuals, and for society at
large.

Branches of Ethics

Normative Ethics
Meta-Ethics
Applied Ethics
Moral Ethics
Descriptive Ethics

Morality

usually refers to private, personal

standards of what is right and wrong in
conduct, character, and attitude.

Values

is a personal belief about the worth of a

given idea, attitude, custom, or object
that sets standards that influence
behavior.

Health Ethics

is a thoughtful exploration of how to act

well and make morally good choices,
based on beliefs and values about life,
health, suffering, and death.

Code of Ethics

is a formal statement of a groups ideals and

values. It is a set of ethical principles that:
a) is shared by members of the group,
b) reflects their moral judgments over time, and
c) serves as a standard for their professional
actions.

Ethic of Care

is concerned with relationships between

people and with a nurses character and
attitude toward others.

Bioethics

is ethics as applied to human life or

health (e.g., to decisions about abortion
or euthanasia).

Ethical Dilemma

also known as amoraldilemmas, are situations in

which there is a choice to be made between two
options, neither of which resolves the situation in an
ethically acceptable fashion. In such cases, societal and
personal ethical guidelines can provide no satisfactory
outcome for the chooser.
Moral dilemmas occur when some evidence indicates
that an act is morally right and some evidence
indicates the act is morally wrong; yet the evidence on
both sides is inconclusive; or an individual believes that
on moral grounds, he or she cannot commit an act
(Beauchamp & Childress, 2008).

Bioethical Principles

The ethical principles provide a foundation for nursing

practice. Ethical principles are defined as basis for
nurses decisions on consideration of consequences
and of universal moral principles when making clinical
judgments. The most fundamental of these principles
is the respect for persons.
The primary and basic ethical principles are the
following:
Respect for autonomy
Nonmaleficence
Beneficience
Justice

 The secondary ethical principles that

can be incorporated with the primary
principles when interpreting ethical
issues and making clinical decisions are
the following:
Veracity
Confidentiality
Fidelity

Steps In Processing An
Ethical Dilemma

Step 1: Ask the question, is this an ethical

dilemma?
Step 2: Gather information relevant to the
case.
Step 3: Clarify values.
Step 4: Verbalize the problem.
Step 5: Identify possible courses of action.
Step 6: Negotiate a plan.
Step 7: Evaluate the plan over time.

Issues In Bioethics

Quality of Life
Quality of life represents something
deeply
personal.
Health
care
researchers work to develop quality-oflife measures to define scientifically the
value and benefits of certain medical
interventions. Statistical analyses help
scientists apply the measures in
research and other settings (Walters,
2009).

Issues In Bioethics

Genetic Screening
Genetic testing can alert a patient to a
condition that may not yet be evident
but that is certain to develop in the
future. What are the risks and benefits
to individuals and to society of learning
about the presence of a disease that
has not yet caused symptoms or for
which a cure is not yet available?

 Patients may be eager to learn if they

will develop the disease so they are
able
to
make
decisions
about
childbearing, career, and retirement
planning. Others are reluctant to face
the knowledge that they have the
disease
before
symptoms
begin,
unwilling to compromise healthy years
with anxieties about pending emotional
and intellectual losses (Wexler, 2010).

Issues In Bioethics

Futile Care
The term futile refers to something that
is hopeless or serves no useful purpose.
In health care discussions the term
refers to interventions unlikely to
produce benefit for a patient. The
concept is slippery when applied to
clinical situations.

Issues In Bioethics

Access to Care
Access to care and health care reform
may seem distantly related to your
daily job or a specific patient care
assignment. But as a nurse you will
certainly deal with ethical issues related
to access to care. You may care for a
patient about to be discharged from the
hospital when you find that he or she
cannot afford to fill a prescription.

Issues In Bioethics

Nursing Shortage
During
nursing
shortages
or
staff
downsizing
periods,
the
issue
of
inadequate
staffing
occurs.
The
Community Health Accreditation Program
(CHAP) and other state and federal
standards require institutions to have
guidelines for determining the number
(staffing ratios) of nurses required to give
care to a specific number of patients. Legal
problems occur if there are not enough

 If nurses are assigned to care for more

patients than is reasonable, they need
to bring this information to the
attention of the nursing supervisor
(Guido, 2010). If nurses have to accept
unreasonable assignments, they need
to make written protests to nursing
administrators.

THANK YOU !!!