Ethical Dilemmas

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Natural Disasters and Crisis Situations: Ethical issues During the best of times nurses are called to meet the needs of the community and individuals. Hospitals, clinics, and other institutions are the normal point of care locations where nurses fill their duties. The institutions follow the rules, laws, social contracts and other defining factors which provide a framework for safe, productive interactions. The American Nurses Association (ANA), in particular, seeks to define standards that elevate care provided and includes safety for nurses providing care. Provision 2 and provision 5 of their code of ethics demonstrate this fact. “Provision 2: The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an Individual, family, group, community, or population. Provision 5: The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety, preserve wholeness of character and integrity, maintain competence, and continue personal and professional growth (CITATION FOR ANA). While there are many grey areas, during the normal course of a day, these standards help guide nurses to positive ethical conclusions supporting both the nurse and the patient. Examining only the two provisions …show more content…
People, institutions, communities not normally in communication lack the agreements and understanding required to provide safe, effective, respectful care and safety when first working together. As a result, moral and ethical decisions are problematic. Definitions of responsibility, safety, effective care, personal obligation, professional duty, once relevant in an intuition are not applicable or agreed upon in the larger scope of the crisis. Nurses may become torn between the desire to support their family and the call to duty in the community. ANA Standard 2 would have the nurse leave their family during a natural