In human life and work environment, issues of law, ethics, and morals are inevitable. These are evident when people face questions regarding the morality of the justice system in addressing foreign policy, clinical technologies in prolonging human life, and the rights of vulnerable members of the society. These issues have defined the headlines in the daily newspapers and bulletins. In some instances, these cases have compromised the jobs of many individuals. According to various studies, addressing the moral and ethical challenges has proved challenging and complex (Downey, Parslow, & Smart, 2011). Despite the many questions revolving around these issues, one thing is clear that an intensive analysis and incorporating the opinions of stakeholders should be considered. Different scholars have defined ethics as a system that embraces moral principles meant to guide the behaviors of individuals (Woods, 2014). Ethics deals with disciplines that emphasize bad or good behaviors but stresses the moral obligation and duty.
Ethics encompasses principle systems which can change one’s past decisions, actions, or thoughts (Downey et al., 2011). Besides, Meyer and O’Brien-Pallas (2010) viewed it as the best measure that is essential in guiding people actions and protecting society. For anyone to make ethical decisions in any environment, it is critical for the person to have relevant knowledge regarding the ethical frameworks and principles. As such, the individual can use a leadership style that is beyond trial and errors as it emphasizes on the model founded on decision-making. Without a doubt, many organizations have established moral, ethical, and legal standards to prevent and control ethical issues. Through this paper, it would be prudent to describe the ethical dilemma evident in a healthcare environment, introduce the conceptual framework regarding the ethical construct of ethics, consider the leadership style as determined by the self-assessment method thus justify the effectiveness of the style in addressing the ethical issue.
In the healthcare career, especially the nurse, one can never avoid facing multiple dilemmas. As a nurse, one always experience more dilemma than he/she would admit. To this effect, the nurse would face difficult situation to make decisions which must demonstrate the outcomes of patients, with whom the nurse interacts with. Without a doubt, some critical ethical dilemmas nurses experience is evident in the mental health care. In these situations, the nurse has to make difficult decisions on privacy and confidentiality, compulsory treatment and patient independence, the mental illness definition, and the addiction’s moral dimensions. The ethical framework guides people to find solutions to the ethical dilemma (Downey et al., 2011). The managers use these ethical frameworks to clarify personal beliefs and values relevant to solving the problem. According to Meyer and O’Brien-Pallas (2010), the duty-based reasoning, intuitionism, utilitarianism, and rights-based reasoning are important frameworks used in solving ethical problems.
The utilitarian approach compels the nurses to apply the method that produces the least distress and pain because an individual’s action would be viewed as bad or good based on the level of pain or pleasure. This approach is used in making ethical decisions where the consequences concern many people. The duty-based reasoning emphasizes on the personal intention and will in making the ethical decision. In this approach, people view good actions based on the intention of performing them not consequences. A nurse would perform the function because he/she has the obligation to perform the work.
Patient advocacy is an important role of nurses because they have to protect and support patients. Indisputably, patient advocacy exposes nurses to ethical situations which seem to conflict with their professional and personal morals. For instance, the patients completely trust the nurse and such a person expect the nurse to have the moral courage to meet his or her needs. Some of this demonstration exposes one to conflicting loyalties in the conflict situation. Sometimes, the nurse has to violate the patient’s rights while demonstrating the moral courage (Lachman et al., 2012). In my case scenario, I face moral distress when the patient advocacy met resistances as my moral courage was being tested or challenged. For instance, a patient needed more sedation but I was reluctant to take the sedative orders. Many nursing colleagues are unhappy with my inability to take moral courage to speak about the issue for fear of adverse consequences.
The role of any medical staff is to uphold the ethical standards. I experienced obstacles in advocating for patients because some nurses would circumvent moral courage. The organizational culture could be the barrier to demonstrating the moral courage. The culture fails to indicate how to respond to unethical behavior (Woods, 2014). Without an interdisciplinary dialogue, resolving unethical behaviors may be difficult. This makes employs to avoid morally courageous behaviors. Sometimes a medical staff would compromise professional and personal standards, especially where an employer tolerates the unethical situation.
As an agent of ethical practices in the nursing setting, it is critical to analyze the situation to determine whether the anticipated moral courage is relevant. Indisputably, the situation where the patient advocacy compromised my professional standard, consulting with colleagues and the management would be prudent. Based on the advice received from my peers and seniors, I would take the moral courage and obligation for the quality patient care. I understand that making judgmental communication is dangerous thus giving room for consultation.
Based on the self-assessment, I have transformational leadership qualities. This is because, the emergency cases evident in the nursing setting requires collaboration and teamwork (Smith, 2011). This involves engaging others, especially the followers so that they can raise their morality and motivation level. Nursing needs hard work, compassion, and integration. For instance, the intellectual stimulation defines the success of the nurses. Through the intellectual stimulation, it is possible to encourage the followers to use their critical thinking skills to solve problems. The intellectual stimulation also motivates them to be creative and innovative in handling the ethical dilemma. According to Benoliela and Somecha (2014), individualized considerations would allow me as a nurse to express and recognize the concerns of other team members based on their needs, strengths, and feelings. This can be achieved by supporting and mentoring the individual nurses so that they can develop and grow professionally.
As a nurse leader, inspirational motivation is relevant to handling the situation. For instance, it is necessary for nurses to create the visible and active relationship with staff and patients. The nurturing relationships would make the medical staff responsive because the leader encourages them to fulfill their obligations (Doody, & Doody, 2013). Idealized influence is also necessary for nurse leaders. This involves walking the talk or becoming a positive role model. The nurse leader has to remain consistent in actions and words so that it becomes possible to support the organization’s procedures and policies (Phang, 2014). It also involves displaying positive traits including honesty, enthusiasm, and dependent so that the nurse can achieve quality patient care. The transformational leaders appeal to moral values and higher ideas thus allowing staff to pursue a greater good.
References:
Benoliela, P. & Somecha, A. (2014). The health and performance effects of participative leadership: Exploring the moderating role of the Big Five personality dimensions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23(2), 277-294.
Doody, O., & Doody, C.M. (2013). Transformational leadership in nursing practice. British Journal of Nursing, 21(20).
Downey, M., Parslow, S., & Smart, M. (2011). The hidden treasure in nursing leadership: Informal leaders. Journal of Nursing Management, 19(4), 517-521. Doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2834.2011.01253.x.
Lachman, V.D. & Murray, J.S., Iseminger, K., & Ganske, K.M. (2012). Doing the right thing: Pathways to moral courage. American Nurse Today, 7(5). Retrieved 4 November 2017, from https://www.americannursetoday.com/doing-the-right-thing-pathways-to-moral-courage/.
Meyer, R. M., & O’Brien-Pallas, L. L. (2010). Nursing services delivery theory: An open system approach. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66(12), 2828–2838.
Phang, K. (2014, July 8). Nursing leaders: How to apply the 4 components of transformational leadership. Nursing Community Journal. Retrieved 3 November 2017, from https://onlinenursing.wilkes.edu/nursing-transformational-leadership/.
Smith, M.A. (2011). Are you a transformational leader? Nursing Management, 42(9), 44-50.
Woods, M. (2014). Beyond moral distress preserving the ethical integrity of nurses. Nursing Ethics, 21(2), 127-128.
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