As a nurse, I am subjected to various challenges while on duty, requiring more knowledge and wisdom to solve them, especially ethical dilemmas. Unlike other professions where one can make errors and correct them later, nursing does not give room for costly errors. With over five basic ethical nursing principles, decisions might vary from nurse to nurse but still be correct. These principles as applied under different circumstances, and a nurse might further seek help from other health professionals to handle them. However, irrespective of the advice they receive, they will have to be responsible for their action. Working as a nurse, I am not any different, and I go through all these challenges like other colleagues, with some other experiences being more memorable than others.
On the eve of New Year 2021, I was among the nurses scheduled to be on duty that night, with others having the New Year excitement in them. The night started lively, with 75% of the scheduled medical practitioners reporting, whereby only 65% of the nurses reported. The absentees cited that we had a low number of admitted patients by then who could be handled by just 50% of the nurses available. This seemed to fool the management since they had scheduled each on their shift irrespective of the patient’s number. Unluckily, only two senior doctors out of the seven scheduled doctors reported necessitating only one doctor to remain in the emergency room. At the same time, the other responded to other calls from the already admitted patients.
When only three nurses were assigned to the accidents and emergency rooms, our dilemma hit us. The hospital has two Emergency rooms indicating that the absent staff had inconvenienced us, leading to understaffing. Barely 30 minutes after assignment to our designations, we received the first patient involved in a car accident. He had lost a lot of blood, and the doctor, with the help of the other two nurses, handled the situation, and she was scheduled for immediate surgery. The incident left me in the emergency room as the sole qualified medical practitioner. In less than 10 minutes after my colleagues had left to stabilize the first patient, the second patient arrived with the help of the police ambulance. The patient was a cancer patient who was through with his chemotherapy treatment but had severe side effects.
I moved swiftly, conducted a routine checkup, and realized she was low on red blood cells count despite his immunity being better. I tried reaching the other doctor to come and help, but they were all handling severe cases. I was left with no options but to step up my roles where I had to make serious calls which have always been left for senior doctors. I instructed our guards to reach more nurses, at least two of who might not be so engaged to come and assist me in handling the patient and even make a decision. My first call was to administer intravascular (iv) fluid to stabilize the patient while waiting for the doctor. Before administering the procedure, the patient whispered and asked me not to continue with the treatment claiming that she was aware she was about to die.
Broken by emotions, but as a medical practitioner, I had to act in favor of a patient in which two or more ethical principles were crashing. One, the patient has the right of autonomy to choose medication (Varkey, 2020). Secondly, nonmaleficence and beneficence dictate I should not inflict harm on my patient. Lastly am obligated to inform her of the consequences if I do not administer the medication. So, out of the experience, I acted on my conscience and ethics and administered the procedure. She regained strength, which was a treat for her health because she was becoming violent. I forcefully sedated her until the doctor took over about 25 minutes later. After five days, the patient was released from the hospital with significant improvement in her health reported. I counted it a personal win; although I received criticism when we admitted her, her recovery made me happier.
References
Varkey, B. (2020). Principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. Medical Principles and Practice, 30(1), 17-28. Web.