Nurses quite often experience moral distress while on the job. Two days ago, Mr. Gared, who had an accident, was brought to the hospital. Mrs. Gared comes to talk to the doctor about her husband’s condition. Dr. Jackson tells the woman that her spouse has every chance of recovery; however, he doubts this. An hour later, in the patient’s room, Mrs. Gared meets the registered nurse Jane, who has witnessed her conversation with the doctor. Mrs. Gared asks the nurse about her husband’s condition and Jane, seeing her tear-stained face and red eyes, says that he will be recovered. The nurse has moral distress because Jane knows that she acts contrary to her professional values, but she cannot behave another way. The source of this distress is her understanding that she has given false hope to Mrs. Gared. Jane feels headaches and insomnia caused by realizing her guilt. As for the possible mitigation strategies, Jane could speak with Dr. Jackson and ask him why he said that woman that her husband could recover. Maybe he noticed several signs in Mr. Gared’s condition, which Jane missed.
Social media use may cause the violation of ethical nursing norms; however, it can benefit both professionals and patients. Since, to date, doctors can utilize social media to communicate with patients and monitor their conditions, a lot of personal data are preserved on different appliances and can be hacked (Butts & Rich, 2020). Therefore, one of the main ways that social media can harm is the possible violation of confidentiality. Moreover, the problem can arise in the case of personal data use without preserving patients’ anonymity. On the other side, social media use can be helpful because it offers various tools, allowing doctors to control the patient’s health condition and patients to monitor their state independently. Thus, although social media use can cause several challenges, it can be pretty helpful.
Reference
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2020). Nursing ethics: Across the curriculum and into practice (2nd ed.). Jones and Bartlett Publishers.