ETHICS PAPER

Ethics Paper

Ethics Paper

Case 1

Chief resident tells the head nurse of a pediatric unit that he wants to transfer 5 patients with Cystic Fibrosis to another ward as there are too many of them on the floor and it is preventing his residents from having the variety of experience needed to make them outstanding pediatricians. The head nurse feels it is not right as the Cystic Fibrosis patients are used to their floor, are frequently hospitalized and will be distressed.

Define the ethical dilemma presented by the scenario and discuss why you see this as the dilemma.

Before going into the detail of the scenario presented over here regarding the ethical dilemma between Head nurse and chief resident, we need to understand the basic essence of ethics and what ethical dilemmas are. If we look at it from a broader prospective, ethics deals with what is morally right or wrong, what is morally desirable or undesirable. Ethics can have varying definitions, for every individual, but for certain issues, there are laid out ethical guidelines. These days, every organization or any social entity, pays a lot of attention of ethical behavior of their employees or members. In order to implement ethical guidelines, ethical code of conduct is present in almost every reputable company. If talk about dilemma, it is any situation where there are two possible solutions or two possible ways to go about something. In dilemma both options have different pros and cons and they lead to differing conclusions altogether.

Considering the above explanation of dilemma, an ethical dilemma is where a situation arises in which both the courses of action are correct, but they cannot both be satisfied at the same time and a choice has to be made. The scenario over here is about a Head nurse and Chief resident both of them are ethically correct from their own point of view. Head nurse has placed the comfort of patients on her top priority, which is justified. Chief resident has the development and nurturing of quality pediatricians has her top priority. Both of them are morally right on their belief, but both cannot be satisfied by choosing either option, which is the main reason why it is an ethical dilemma. The scenario presented over here, cannot be termed as a moral dilemma because in a moral dilemma, there is inconclusiveness about the course of action, where a particular action has various consequences, but they are comparatively easier to resolve as predetermined moral polices and guidelines are already in place for these issues.

Define and discuss what the important issues are in this scenario (dilemma)

If we look at this scenario in depth, we will realize that the dilemma is complex over here. While discussing and defining the set of problems we have over here, we will go through the case of both Head nurse and Chief resident. First, we will analyze the situation of Head Nurse in the presented case. The job description of head nurse includes the supervision and coordination of nursing ...