Autonomy In Nursing

Compassion, competence, and autonomy are the special ethical features of any profession. Compassion is the understanding and concern for another person’s distress. Competence is essential in the patient care to prevent any unwanted outcomes. Autonomy in decision-making is the core value in patient care. It is the self-determination about the care aspect. (World Medical Association (Author), & GoldenNet (Web Designer / Webmaster), n.d.).

The responsibilities of the registered nurses in relation to ethical practice include the following. The nurse must be compassionate and respectful in all the professional relationships. The primary commitment of the nurse should be to the patient. Hence, the nurse should promote, protect, and advocate …show more content…
An old patient was brought dead to the ICU from OR after a pacemaker insertion. He was a VIP patient. So the surgeon did not want to disclose to the family that he was dead on the OR table. The patient’s pacemaker rate was set up at a slower rate so that the cardiac monitor would show a slow heart rate when the family visits. The family was notified by the surgeon that the patient is deteriorating after the procedure and they were allowed to visit the patient. All the nurses were told not to mention anything other than the surgeon mentioned about the patient, to the family if they ask. Within a short time, the pacemaker was turned off and the surgeon declared the death and notified the family. The nurse who took care of the patient was told to document the vital signs as unrecordable since the patient was there in the ICU which was true. Still to keep the truth away from the family was a morally distressful situation. At that time, being a novice in the nursing profession, I was not sure whom to address this problem. Seeing my anxious face, the surgeon came to me and explained that it was not right that he did, but if he would have told the family about the death as soon as the patient died, it would be a shock to them. By delaying the news, they could mentally prepare for the worst. I still do not understand the logic behind such a

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