Chapter 9 is devoted to discussing the problem of the implementation of the Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM) program in nursing practices and its ethical considerations. The book’s authors highlight the vital role of this program in treatment, nurses working culture, ethics, and even the country’s economy (Furlong & Morrison, 2019). The Chapter addresses three ethical principles in nurses’ work. The Chapter also provides examples of SPHM equipment and positive statistics results enhanced by this program (Furlong & Morrison, 2019). The practical and ethical considerations of the patients’ mobility in nursing are vital topics for discussion.
The question of patient mobility is one of the recent problems causing many problems in the nursing work sphere and, thereby, within the healthcare area. An irrational approach to patient handling can harm the patient and cause the nurses turnover or trauma, leading to the lack of workers. SPHM program is essential to be developed further and implemented in practice to avoid mentioned problems in the Chapter. This approach is rational and can contribute to the increase in healthcare quality.
The most outstanding idea about Ethics and Safe patient handling mentioned in the Chapter is preserving the carer’s health. The ethical arguments for the SPHM program advocacy include nonmaleficence, beneficence, and social justice considerations (Furlong & Morrison, 2019). In order to help someone, nurses should be able to mind their own health state. This ethical principle may be variously applied in practice. For example, if the nurses are traumatized, they have to take treatment themselves. Therefore, they are not able to provide high-quality care for patients. Working as a nursing assistant, it is essential to remind the nurses about the vital role of their own health. This idea also can be applied when working with the family members of patients. It is vital to describe how to alleviate the care preserving their health using the SPHM equipment. Another ethical principle mentioned in Chapter 9 is related to nonmaleficence (Furlong & Morrison, 2019). Many nurses consider the patients’ safety. However, it should also be applied to the clinicians and nurses. This principle can be used in practice when developing the corporative culture of valuing the health of staff.
Social justice consideration, the last ethical argument for advocacy on SPHM, is vital in terms of health care development. The healthcare niche is one of the essential spheres of any county’s economy. SPHM can provide a fairer and more ethically correct distribution of the workforce evolving the innovative equipment. Thanks to this program, employment in the medical sphere can become more just contributing to reducing the nurses’ workload. The Chapter’s postulation can be applied as a nursing assistant in my practice. Ethical principles described by the authors are essential to be discussed with my colleagues. The corporative culture in our organization lacks the value of nurses’ health. It is critical for me to convey the actual meaning of the nonmaleficence principle to my colleagues in valuing not only the life of the patient but also of the nurse.
Therefore, the Chapter highlights the ethical and practical role of the SPHM program implementation in nursing. Thank SPHM, the quality of the healthcare sphere can be enhanced. This Chapter helped me reconsider the nurses’ role in caring, emphasizing their health. Treating ethically, exhausting work will cause many local and global problems. Moreover, it contradicts one of the main ethical principles of nonmaleficence. Thus, Chapter 9 was helpful for me in terms of revealing new aspect of the ethical principles applied in nursing.
Reference
Furlong, B., & Morrison, E. (2019). Health care ethics: Critical issues for the 21st century [Fourth ed.]. Jones & Bartlett Learning.