Sense of Duty Vs. Your Ethics

[old-master]

I need my fellow nurses experience in this matter.

Would you or would not work in area of Nursing that needed us, but was against what you believed in? For example: I will not work in plastic surg field, that gives this processors for looks. My wife informed me that I was a bad nurse, because I will not go into a field of Nursing that I do not believe in nor want to work in. So, my question is will you work against your ethics in a field that needs you, or do you follow you own set of ethics?

old-master has spoken...

[mario_ragucci]

Your nursing endevours should make you smile #1, and make others smile #2, and feel pleasure from your eye-hand coordination during proceedures. Your true reality willl ensure peace and happiness for yourself forever. :-)

[SKM-NURSIEPOOH, BSN, RN]

it's one thing to not work in certain areas due to ethical or religious beliefs; but a totally other thing not to give full nursing care to those patients that we may not agree with (ethically or religiously) in the area of our chosen profession.

for example, i personally couldn't work on a daily basis in abortion clinics, mental institutions, or prisons (especially when it comes to setting-up & administering the medications needed for the death penalty) for various reasons....some having to do with ethics or religion...some having to have to do with whether i like that area of nursing or not. but if those are the only places where i had to work as a nurse, i would try to make those patients as comfortable as possible...while under my care. i would have as much empathy as possible for my patients...& if the occasion would call for it...i would even pray for them (with or without their knowledge or them having to ask) for those situations are both emotionally & physically difficult for them.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Originally posted by mario_ragucci

Your nursing endevours should make you smile #1, and make others smile #2, and feel pleasure from your eye-hand coordination during proceedures. Your true reality willl ensure peace and happiness for yourself forever. :-)

>>>>>>>>Yes-and I especially love hospice patients-a real joy...a laugh a minute...miles of smiles...Anyhoo---We must give to care to all of our patients no matter how we feel about their race ,religion,politics etc.(I take care of many Republicans-lol)I believe that the only circumstances in which refusing a particular patient is warranted would be if you felt threatened personally or the patient is a close friend or family member.We are supposed to be professionals....

[4XNURSE]

Master,

I think you should be able to choose when and where you work, for any reason you choose.

I turned down a shift this AM because I didn't feel I was qualified to do the work it required.

I hope the hospital found someone else, but I didn't think I would have been serving the patients as well as some one else could do.

If you have a moral conflict with something you would not be the best nurse to take care of that patient, - if you have the knowledge before you take the patient.

If you are already taking care of a patient and find out about an issue, you need to continue to give the patient the best care you can, till the shift is over or the patient is discharged. I don't think there is ever a justifiable reason to abandon a patient. No matter what they have done, or how they believe.

just my $ .02

ken

[live4today, RN]

I would never abandon a patient simply because I didn't agree with his/her beliefs, however, I have interviewed in the past at a Women's Clinic - unaware that abortions were performed there, and when told what the clinic was about, I declined to continue the interview due to my beliefs. This is when the nurse has the choice of saying, "No thanks" to a job that he/she knows in advance would compromise their personal ethical and moral beliefs. I never refused to care for a patient when working in the hospital and received an assignment UNLESS I thought I wasn't capable of providing the best nursing care for that patient. It's pretty much understood that when one works as a nurse in a hospital, we will be assigned patients from all walks of life who hold dear their own personal beliefs that differ from the nurse caring for them. THAT'S A GIVEN we are all aware of. The opportunity to veto a work environment not conducive to one's beliefs should come prior to hiring on at a facility or hospital, not after, especially knowing before accepting a job what a nurse will face as far as patient care is concerned. :)