Resources for Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing

Nurses and other healthcare professionals are not expected to be able to resolve complex ethical problems alone, using only a code of ethics. Often, other resources are needed to grasp the full complexity of an ethical dilemma. Selected potentially helpful online resources are listed in Table 2. Today’s professional nurses are engaged in ethical thinking and ethical challenges in a wide variety of settings. The following recommendations can be helpful at any level of practice:

• Research hospital policies and legal information related to the concern under review.

• Consider an ethics consult service. It often requires a team of individuals to fully understand and resolve difficult ethical problems. However, professional codes of ethics provide support and direction about behavior(s).

• Consider the three levels of ethical engagement when reviewing a dilemma, specifically the broad, societal level of biomedical ethics where questions affecting health and healthcare are generated (e.g., stem cell research, healthcare for undocumented immigrants); the organizational level (e.g., hospital system obligations to its employees, hierarchical structures, bed allocation); and the clinical level (e.g., withdrawal of aggressive treatment, surrogate decision making).

• Participate in the ongoing revision of the nursing Code. This article provided an outline of the modern process for Code revision. Nurses in every role and every setting were invited to, and did, participate in the process. When the next call is made, take time to offer your suggestions to ensure the Code continues to remain a relevant resource for practice.