Nursing ethics: helping on the ward and teaching nursing students key skills

Jacob Molyneux, ALL editor

Just as no two hospital wards are the identical, no two ethical conflicts are ever the exact same. There are too many variables, too many interpersonal and situational differences. This month Ethical issues column “Teaching key knowledge and helping the unit”, explores the potential ethical and practical issues facing the clinical instructor who must balance the responsibility of teaching nursing students basic skills with the necessity to assist staff in meeting the care needs of patients.

Will there be a straightforward and specific answer? Probably not. Analyzing a hypothetical scenario, the authors state the next:

Because latest situations arise on a regular basis and every situation is ethically diverse, rigid rules often cannot guide ethical behavior. Instead, analytical skills and transparent negotiation are key to resolving value conflicts as they arise in on a regular basis interactions and to supporting the solutions we decide.

While human skills might be as vital as abstract ethical evaluation in coping with real-world situations, identifying which ethical principles or priorities come into conflict can provide us with some clarity in our approach. The authors present the conflict described within the article as follows:

Clinical nurse instructors have two primary ethical responsibilities: to make sure a reliable nursing workforce by educating students within the physical and psychosocial skills that constitute good nursing care, and to be certain that patients who allow students to look after themselves receive protected, high-quality nursing care. Both responsibilities can often be met without unnecessary compromise. However, if department resources are inadequate and can’t easily meet patient needs, the mandate to coach students may interfere with the department’s immediate patient care priorities.

Click the link above to read the article, follow the hypothetical scenario and check out to use it to your personal experiences, and you may see how the authors ultimately expanded their evaluation to incorporate the potential role played by such persistent systemic problems in nursing as inadequate staffing.

Sometimes, as they note, we can have to work on changing the system itself or get stuck in the identical conflicting situation over and all over again.