Nonmaleficence In Nursing

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Ethics is concerned with determining what is good or valuable for individuals, groups, and society at large. Nonmaleficence is the avoidance of harm or hurt, while trying to do good. Decisions about the best course of action can be difficult because nurses agree to avoid doing harm. With this situation, taking the phone away from M.M. is beneficial because it will lessen the amount of frequent non emergency 911 calls made by her when nursing staff are taking too long to assist her. . But taking away M.M’s phone from her to avoid the occurrence of a legal issue, will only cause her symptoms of depression and anxiety to worsen.
Based on M.M. chart she has a diagnosis of depression. According to Tiong (2013), depression is a common disabling psychiatric disorder that has a negative impact on the well being and daily functioning of the elderly, especially to those who belong to an institutionalized care setting. Some symptoms of depression are a low tolerance level, and a short temper. Loneliness and unmet emotional needs are the main causative factors for depression in the elderly. Factors that are associated with the development of depression in the elderly are old age, poor or lack of social support from family, presence of
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Research conducted by Godin (2015), proves that resident quality of life in institutionalized care is impacted by being able to communicate their wants and needs with family and staff. Nursing staff can reach out to the son, and negotiate a time he can be available everyday for 15 minutes to have a conversation with his mother. Increasing communication between her and son allows her to express what she needs to be done, and communicate certain frustrations she has with the staff, and etc. Her son can then relay this information to nursing staff, making everyone aware of what M.M’s expects from them, decreasing