Ethics is a large part of the nursing culture in the year 2000. With many nurses increasing their qualifications and hence increasing their status thus, taking on proceedures that traditionally were only classified as being performed by doctors in the past. This immence turn around will pose many questions by the nurse in regards to ethical problems or dilemmas which they may encounter in their working environment. Ethics in nursing is seen in many variations. Firstly we can look at the notion of autonomy, not just for the patient but for the nurse also. For a patient autonomy is usually the only power they have left when illness weakens their body. The nurse must be aware of this autonomy and the process of maintaining autonomy for the patient. A patient can be seen as an autonomous being if and only if they are of sound mental capacity. The importance of autonomy then can be seen to stem into the issue of informed consent. Again, to consent to anything in the medical world the patient must be mentally able, be of a specific age and be informed in broad terms of the proceedures likely to take place. Problems in these areas of autonomy and consent can be seen in situations where information is being witheld from patients usually on request of a family. It is clear that a patient cannot consent and thus loose their autonomous choices in such a situation. Thus, nurses must know how to ethically deal with these problems. We must be able to critically think and work with other medical professionals and families in order to ensure ethically sound and competent patient care.
