1Lecturer, NINE, PGIMER, Chandigarh
2Principal, Saraswati Nursing Institute, Dhianpura, Distt. Roopnagar
3Principal, NINE, PGIMER, Chandigarh
*Address for Correspondence: MRS. MONALIZA Lecturer, National Institute of Nursing Education, PGIMER, NINE, E-mail: monaliza.mittal@gmail.com M. No. 9914477603
Online published on 29 November, 2017.
Codes of conduct and laws regulating the profession are devised and updated from time to time. These codes have been included in the health professionals' training curriculum, and there has been a growth in the number of ethicists and ethical committees. Despite this, complaints against healthcare professionals appear to proliferate. This may be a reflection of both an increased public awareness as well as the inappropriate practices by the healthcare professionals.
To explore registered nurses' experiences of ethics and human rights issues in nursing practice in Punjab and Chandigarh.
Descriptive survey of 67 nurses using a self developed survey questionnaire.
The most frequently occurring ethical issues reported by (50%) study subjects were: Not considering the quality of a client's life, Caring for client/families who are uninformed or misinformed about treatment, prognosis, or medical alternatives, Conflicts in nurse-physician (or other professional) relationships, Using/not using physical or chemical restraints, Determining the rights of minors (below 18 years) vs. parental rights, Providing care with a possible risk to your own health (e.g., TB, HIV, violence) and most personally disturbing issues reported by nurses surveyed were Poor staffing patterns that limit patient access to nursing care; Not Allocating scarce/costly resources (human, financial, equipment) according to need; Not respecting client confidentiality/privacy (e.g., HIV status, etc.); Working with unethical/incompetent/impaired colleague(s); Ordering too many or too few procedures or diagnostic tests for clients; Conflicts in nurse-physician (or other professional) relationships. The study subjects reported that that they were most likely to handle these issues through discussion with nursing peers (76%), and nursing leadership (55%). Only (21%) reported that they would discuss the issue with the patient's physician. None have mentioned any reporting or consultation with ethics committee or any professional body for these issues.
Nurses in Punjab and Chandigarh frequently experience disturbing ethical issues in nursing practice that warrant focussed attention by health service managers, educators and policy makers.
ethics, human rights, ethical issues, nursing
