Ethics is a concept that outlines what is anticipated in regards to what is proper and accurate and what is incorrect or erroneous in terms of attitude. All areas of nursing care incorporate standards and moral conduct. Utilitarian theory and deontological ethics are the two basic categories of ethical standards and ethical theory. The distribution of restricted resources and end-of-life difficulties are two of the most prominent ethical dilemmas and issues in medicine (Fowler, 2017). This work was written with the aim of studying and analyzing the ethical theory of nursing.
Bioethics is a theory concerned with ethical decisions and good behavior in the biological sciences. Nursing ethics is a component of bioethics, which has grown into an umbrella word encompassing the ethics of the many disciplines of medicine (Jaimes, 2022). As a result of four societal pressures, bioethics combines ethical guidelines, nursing principles, public health moral standards, and other practically oriented ethics into a unified topic (Johnstone, 2019). The fast advancement in life science and healthcare technologies during the last century was the first cause for the birth of bioethics.
Bioethics arose as a result of media reporting on human research violations. The press solicited comments on medical technology developments from physicians, nurses, attorneys, theologians, philosophers, and other experts concerned with ethical concerns in the biological sciences. Patients sought the authority to make their own healthcare decisions. Patients and families demanded to discover the condition’s predictive value. Instead of just being a topic of healthcare coverage, they desired to collaborate with health care providers in determining treatment, improvement, and quality.
Bioethics concerns the interaction of healthcare, legislation, government policy, theology, and science. Each profession brings valuable ideas, resources, and approaches, and attempts to consider or reform behaviors and regulations that raise ethical issues are frequently most effective when they rely on resources from many disciplines (Martins et al., 2020). Organ transplantation and donation, comparative genomics, dealing with death, and environmental issues are some of the long-standing topics of bioethics. New scientific and technological advancements have an intense focus on problems such as assisted reproduction and nanoelectronics.
The importance of debate and exposition in bioethics is a crucial premise. There are several conversation bioethics organizations at campuses around the United States that advocate for precisely such aims. Many bioethicists, particularly medical researchers, place the highest value on independence (Veatch and Guidry-Grimes, 2019). They think that each patient should decide whatever course of action is best consistent with their values. In other words, the patients should always be able to select their own therapy.
Medical sociology has investigated the practice of bioethics in clinical treatment. Ethicists frequently place essential choices in the hands of doctors rather than individuals. Communication tactics advocated by ethicists reduce patients’ dignity. Instances entail physicians reviewing treatment alternatives with one another before speaking with patients or their families in order to portray a united front, limiting patients’ dignity and concealing professional doubt (Lamb and Pesut, 2021). Decisions regarding broad treatment goals were reframed as technical issues that excluded patients and family members.
Biological sciences, biotechnology, healthcare, pharmacy, government policy, legislation, philosophy, and religion are some of the disciplines of study that frequently intersect in bioethical problems. They emerge in medical, academic, and governmental settings, typically as a result of developments in biology, health care, and technologies, notably biotechnology. Although it originated as a heterogeneous field of knowledge, bioethics is today a full-fledged subject in its own right. As technology improves, bioethics will grow and become increasingly relevant.
References
Fowler, M. D. (2017). Why the history of nursing ethics matters. Nursing Ethics, 24(3), 292-304.
Jaimes, S. D. P. (2022). Role of ethics and bioethics in nursing. Revista Ciencia y Cuidado, 19(1), 5-8.
Johnstone, M. J. (2019). Bioethics: a nursing perspective. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Lamb, C., & Pesut, B. (2021). Conscience and conscientious objection in nursing: A personalist bioethics approach. Nursing Ethics, 0969733021996037.
Martins, V., Santos, C., & Duarte, I. (2020). Bioethics education and the development of nursing students’ moral competence. Nurse Education Today, 95, 104601.
Veatch, R. M., & Guidry-Grimes, L. K. (2019). The basics of bioethics. Routledge.