Ethics 1 & 2

Question 1

Today nurses are expected to..

Answer 1

• Think critically
• Offer evidence-informed solutions
• Respectfully challenge physicians and other health care professionals when they have concerns about the treatment plans of patients.

Question 2

Today, nurses face a myriad of ethical dilemmas

Answer 2

• The use of restraints
• Issues of consent
• Continuing futile care for terminally-ill patients
• Use of reproductive technologies to manipulate the creation of life
• Prioritize care for complex patient loads

Question 3

Why must we study ethics?

Answer 3

We must study ethics to become better at justifying our ethical standpoint and contribute to important discussions about patient care.

Question 4

Ethics

Answer 4

• A branch of philosophy that examines social morality, norms and practices.

Question 5

Ethical Theory

Answer 5

• Provides a rigorous and systematic approach to justify decision making when considering moral problems

Question 6

Biomedical Ethics

Answer 6

• Explores ethical questions and moral issues associated with health care.

Question 7

Code of Ethics

Answer 7

• Explicit declaration of the primary goals and values of the profession that indicate the profession’s acceptance of the responsibility and trust with which it has been invested by society

Question 8

Moral justification

Answer 8

The use of ethical theories and principles to make and defend ethical decisions

Question 9

Ethical Dilemma

Answer 9

• A situation that requires an individual to make a choice between two or more alternatives when the best course of action is not clear.
• Often we must choose the best or the “least worst” course of action

Question 10

Values

Answer 10

• An ideal that has significant meaning or importance to an individual, a group or a society.

Question 11

Modes of values transition: Conciously

Answer 11

Learned through parents, teachers, mentors, religious leaders or social groups.
• Values may be formally adopted by groups and written into professional code of ethics, laws or philosophies.

Question 12

Mode of values transition: Unconsciously

Answer 12

Modeling: persons act in a way to show others the preferred ways to behave.

Question 13

Process of values clarification

Answer 13

• A process through which individuals come to understand the values they hold and the importance of these values relative to others.

Question 14

Requirements for the process of values

Answer 14

• Open discussion
• Communication
• Active listening
• Understanding
• Mutual respect

Question 15

Utilarianism

Answer 15

• Focuses on the ends and outcomes, the consequences of decisions/actions.
• The ethical choice is the one with the best consequences, outcomes or results.

Question 16

Deontology

Answer 16

• Makes explicit the duties and principles that should guide our actions.
• Rules are established to determine what is right or wrong based on one’s obligation and duties.
• Consequences are irrelevant to moral evaluation.
• An act or rule is right if it satisfies the demands of some overriding principle or principles of duty.
= NO OUTCOME

Problem: by failing to consider possible consequences, potentially disastrous situations may be created

Question 17

Feminist Ethics

Answer 17

• Focuses on the nature of relationships between people, the role of community as well as the issue of gender inequality.

Question 18

Moral distress

Answer 18

Is a reaction to a situation in which there are moral problems with a clear solution yet we are unable to follow our moral beliefs because of external constraints

Question 19

Morality

Answer 19

Social and cultural institution with a history and a code of learnable rules