Free Essay - Summary of What is Known About the Ethical Issue

The year 2020 has been tough for everyone, especially healthcare workers. The outbreak of COVID-19, one of the most dreadful outbreaks globally, has shaken almost all aspects of human lives. For example, it has caused the death of people, including providers, and ruined economies. The disease is caused by severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus virus. The first case was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. In January this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a public health emergency of international concern (Cucinotta & Vanelli, 2020). These are trying times not only for the infected but also for healthcare workers at the forefront of the outbreak. The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses (2014), states that the nurses’ primary concern should be the patient. However, it also maintains that nurses should prioritize their self-care as much as they do for patients. These policies present a dilemma, especially during pandemics, such as COVID-19, where the illness is contagious, and outcomes are fatal.

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To protect themselves, nurses should use protective gear while handling patients with infectious illnesses. Sufficient resources are required to allow healthcare providers to employ themselves towards caring for the infected ethically. During pandemics, nurses and other healthcare providers have to decide how much care they can provide for others while maintaining their health and safety (Winland-Brown et al., 2015). The pandemic came at a time when most nations and their health systems were unprepared. Moreover, little is known about the disease, which places nurses at a greater risk of contracting the virus and even dying. If healthcare providers were to get sick during pandemics, the outcomes would be devastating as there would be a shortage of caregivers. Thus, the outbreak has significant ethical implications regarding whether nurses, who are leading the fight against COVID-19, should die while in service to save humanity.

Disease outbreaks are often met with particular constrictions. These regulations are put in place to control the spread of these outbreaks. The rules also mitigate the spread of infections and the mortality rates associated with the diseases. The restrictions are more severe for infectious diseases such as the coronavirus. As healthcare providers, we must follow these regulations, maintain ethical policies when dealing with patients and, at the same time, ensure our safety. Due to the unique circumstances, some ethical practices may require revision or certain discrepancies to treat patients and keep everyone safe.

Ethical Dimensions of the Issue

The COVID-19 outbreak is a new threat that has consistently spread across the world. The virus is causing illnesses and deaths, and there is no vaccine yet. Such an outbreak has never been seen before, and it presents new ethical issues. The world’s population is the most mobile it has ever been, for such a contagious disease, the spread is significantly higher today than it would be in previous years. One of the ethical issues to arise from this pandemic is the shortage of staff and resources (Hamilton, Duncan, & Gallagher, 2020). The policies and decisions regarding this shortage must be made ethically.

The most sort after resource regarding the coronavirus is ventilators. Due to the high number of infected, ventilators shall be scarce, not to mention the clinical staff. In the allocation of these resources, ethical values should be consulted. One moral issue that needs consideration is non-maleficence, minimizing harm, while also maintaining beneficence, doing good. The benefits of each decision need weighing to reach the conclusion that does the least harm but ensure the greatest good for patients and care providers (Hamilton et al., 2020). These values ensure that nurses do their best for the benefit of patients even where saving their lives is not possible, and organizations do their best for the good of nurses in their employ.

Ethical values require maintaining even during pandemics. Another ethical issue during this pandemic is the need for transparency and clarity when making decisions. Decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources are not easy but require collaboration between organizations, nurses, and other professionals. The decision-making rationale should also be clear to all parties involved, including patients, their families, and the general public (Hamilton et al., 2020). Transparency and clarity when making decisions ensure fairness since everyone involved has a chance to voice their concerns and challenge decisions.

A nurse’s primary ethical concern is the fundamental commitment to the patient. This ethical provision presents a problem for nurses. Nurses have to consider their safety when providing care to infected patients under the extreme conditions of an outbreak of infectious diseases. Scarce resources during pandemics also mean that protective gear may be unavailable in some areas. While professional nurses are known for their compassion when caring for ailing patients, they must also consider the risk to themselves (Betlehem, 2020). The coronavirus is contagious through contact with infected persons. Nurses have to consider their safety and safety for their families with whom they are in constant contact. If professional nurses contract these illnesses, then it translates to further shortages in healthcare personnel.

The Relevance of the Ethical Issue to Nursing

A nurse must operate under a particular set of morals. In nursing ethics, there are specific relational motifs that a nurse needs to put into consideration. These relational elements are nurse to patient, nurse to nurse, nurse to self, and nurse to the profession, nurse to others, and nurse and nursing to the community (Winland-Brown et al., 2015). Therefore, a professional nurse has a duty to their patients, themselves to other healthcare providers, and the whole world at large. A nurse’s obligation to the patient is to protect their health, to themselves is to avoid any risk, to other healthcare providers is to assist them in their profession and to the society is to carry out these duties to the best of their abilities.

Nurses and other healthcare providers have to protect their patients' lives to the best of their ability. The coronavirus has presented the greatest need for healthcare professionals. It is during such pandemics that the significance of nurses and other health care personnel is felt. The extent and speed of the spread of COVID-19 brought about the high demand for professional nurses. The vast number of infected far surpassed the number of nurses and care providers available. Retired nurses and some of those in training had to be called upon to curb the shortage of care providers and deal with the ever-expanding rate of infections. The coronavirus epidemic has availed an unwelcome opportunity for nurses and other healthcare personnel to utilize their knowledge, compassion, and skills for the salvation of humanity.

Decision-making during health pandemics is challenging. Nurses are on the frontlines of dealing with these health pandemics. Therefore, nurses’ opinions and input on decisions regarding coronavirus control are paramount when making decisions and policies (Betlehem, 2020). Nurses’ duty as professionals is to offer their expertise and experience to support or challenge decisions made by governing bodies as we try to deal with the virus pandemic. The unique effects coupled with a scarcity of resources in dealing with this epidemic requires experienced, professional, and compassionate decision-making.

Relevant Ethical Analysis

COVID-19 has redefined how we live our lives today. It has brought about different interpretations of laws, ethical theories, healthcare principles, and standards of practice. In an ideal situation, the ethical structure, policies, and standard practice would have been prepped before arriving at such a crisis point (Morley, Grady, McCarthy & Ulrich, 2020). Despite this lack of preparation, these structures have been redefined and tailored by healthcare providers and the relevant governing bodies to deal with the current epidemic.

Standard practices have evolved since the onset of the coronavirus. People worldwide are encouraged to use Personal protective equipment (PPE) to mitigate the virus spread through personal contact. Nurses and other healthcare providers also require protective gear since they are likely to be exposed to infected patients (Cucinotta & Vanelli, 2020). This unique equipment prevents the infection of healthcare providers. However, they also present some problems. There is the issue of scarcity in the equipment’s supply, and some difficulty in divulging services to patients while in full gear.

Isolation and quarantine for infected patients are paramount to curb virus spreading. This is another change observed with the onset of the coronavirus. Patients with symptoms or suspected infection are required to be quarantined for at least a fortnight. This isolation is done to confirm if the patient is indeed infected or not (Stinner, Lebrun, Hsu, Jahangir & Mir, 2020). Isolation of a healthy patient is against the ethics of nursing. However, due to the exceptional circumstances of such an infectious illness, such principles need redefining.

Governing bodies need to take measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Governments have enacted various policy changes across the world on advice from healthcare personnel. Such policies include the lockdown of non-essential services and businesses. The stay-at-home directive has also been enforced across the globe. Social distancing, especially when people are in public spaces, is another policy that has been adopted to try to mitigate the spread of the virus (Stinner et al., 2020). These changes in policies are encouraged since they decrease the possibility of contracting the virus through contact with infected individuals.

Maintaining proper hygiene is key to preventing all sorts of illnesses. With the current outbreak of COVID-19, the campaign for appropriate hygiene has geared up. The virus is likely spread through contact with droplets of human fluid from coughing and sneezing. These droplets are likely to land on surfaces that we touch with our hands. In turn, we use our hands to contact openings on our body, mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. We introduce the virus into our system (CDC, Show Me the Science - Why Wash Your Hands, 2018). Through regular washing of hands with clean water and soap, and sanitization, the viruses that reach our hands are eliminated.

Personal Professional Response to the Issue

It is a nurse’s professional duty to serve humanity during times of illness and disease. The current pandemic has brought about never-before-seen cases of infection and panic. During such periods where the world seems devoid of hope, it is our duty as healthcare providers to act as beacons of hope. My task as an ethical nurse compels me to assist in any capacity I can and to my most excellent ability. Ethics demands nurses make moral choices that maintain their professional integrity (Betlehem, 2020). Maintaining professional morality and ethics should be towards patients, self, fellow healthcare officials, and the community.

Despite the need to help infected patients, one must also look after themselves. The spread of the coronavirus is rampant and easily transferable. Therefore, dealing with infected patients comes with certain risks of contracting the disease. The chances are further extended to infecting my family and acquaintances with whom I associate.