Pandemics bring up a complex of issues as the populations face a significant health threat in the condition of scarcely allocated resources. The situation escalates in the medical field with a high mortality rate among patients and long working hours. Moreover, ethical principles are often challenged in the position of moral distress and conflicts. The nurses are often responsible for serious decisions to be taken at a moment’s notice, which raises a profound moral dilemma.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the medical institutions were not prepared to accept so many patients and provide quality care for each of them. The nurses lack essential protective equipment to work with contagious patients, while the number of patients dramatically increases. This forced many brave healthcare workers to perform their nursing duties at any cost. Many have passed away because of the health system failure and societal pressure. Such an approach raises the question of the greater importance of the patients’ lives over the nurses’ ones.
The Code of Ethics for Nurses advocates that the nursing community should primarily be committed to the patients, whether it is a person, group, or the whole community (Stievano & Tschudin, 2019). However, the statement that medical staff has the same obligations to themselves just as to others to safeguard integrity is often forgotten (Stievano & Tschudin, 2019). Personal well-being should be a priority in the case of a moral dilemma in the pandemic for the nurses as well. The medical personnel should be saved first in the case of scarce resources and when urgent decisions need to be made. Extra risk-taking can lead to the loss of another nurse in the condition of a lack of medical staff and will have a more severe effect on the community.
During the pandemic, the current situation highlighted not only the healthcare system’s unreadiness to the significant flow of patients but the ethical controversies as well. The following field needs to be examined, and the relevant ethical policies for nurses should be established. After all, it is crucial to preserve balance and possess ethical integrity, especially in the nursing profession, when immediate decision-making is required.
Reference
Stievano, A., & Tschudin, V. (2019). The ICN code of ethics for nurses: A time for revision. International Nursing Review, 66(2), 154-156.