Nurses: where's the caring?

Nurses are essential in patient care, upholding the ethical principles of their profession and effectively navigating ethical dilemmas. Neglecting ethical issues can lead to inadequate patient care, compromised therapeutic relationships, and moral distress among healthcare workers.
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:

Nursing involves independent, cooperative, person-centered care for people of all ages, families, groups, and communities. Nurses assist the sick or the well person in all settings. Nursing includes promoting health, preventing illness, and caring for ill, disabled, and dying people. Health promotion encourages people to take responsibility for their health. It focuses on the healthy behavior of individuals, families, and the community and the factors that impact their health. Examples of...

Establishing a secure, collaborative nurse-patient relationship is crucial for delivering high-quality care. This relationship, founded on trust, respect, and honesty, enhances the patient's comfort and willingness to share vital health information. For example, a nurse who listens actively and without judgment provides clear information about health conditions and treatment options and respects patient decisions, which builds a trusting relationship.
Communication between nurses and...

Nurses are responsible for caring for patients during birth, death, illness, and healing. Professional values guide the decisions and actions that nurses make in their careers. If nurses know the decisions and actions to take, providing patients with exceptional care is possible.
The values that are the foundation of the nursing profession are altruism, autonomy, human dignity, and social justice.
First, altruism refers to the concern for the welfare and well-being of others without personal...

The American Nurses Association (ANA) created and implemented the first nationally accepted Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. The Code of Ethics is a living document regularly updated by the ANA and establishes an ethical standard that is non-negotiable for nurses in all roles and settings.
The Code of Ethics provisions outline the nurse's duty to the patient, the healthcare team, the profession, and society. The Code's fundamental principles include advocacy,...