Ethics are essential to the integrity of the nursing profession as it helps ensure better patient care. Nursing is a fast-paced job with new challenges arising daily, but nothing has been more challenging than the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the image of our world with its circular impact on health, living tradition, economy, and politics. In particular, the tradition of the health industry has changed dramatically because of the unpredictable nature of the pandemic. Since the breakout of COVID-19, health care providers have faced multidimensional challenges in performing their professional duties and responsibilities. Health professionals are challenged by a lack of pandemic preparedness, scarcity of clinical supplies, and in the implementation of COVID related protocols such as social distancing. Many of these situations are rooted in protecting patients’ rights, adequate staffing, advanced decision-making, and quality patient care. Amid the pandemic, health professionals were challenged to apply the four main principles of biomedical ethics in taking care of the clients, i.e. autonomy, justice, beneficence, and non-maleficence. For instance, health workers who were assigned on duty without personal protective equipment were at high risk of infection not only to themselves but also to their families and other clients. Thus, it violates “no harm to others” or “non-maleficence” ethical principle. If nurses do not adequately deal with ethical issues, the result could be a decline in patient care, tense clinical relationships, and moral distress. <
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Please review the ANA Code of Ethic for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. Using the Provisions to substantiate your view, explain the changes in health care during the pandemic and the ethical implications to your future nursing practice.