Applying Ethical Applying ethical Frameworks in Practice

Applying ethical Frameworks in Practice Name Course Institution Date of Submission Applying ethical Frameworks in Practice Abstract Ethics is a subject that has given different professions not only headaches but also guideline to operations. Within a given profession, so many ethical issues arise. Ethics is regarded as a moral philosophy; branch of philosophy addressing moral issues, which include wrong or right, evil or bad, and vice and virtue. Amongst the earliest philosopher who proposed the idea of ethics is Aristotle who claimed that ethics is not a theoretical concept but something humanity should do practically. In most professions, the commonly used branch of ethics is applied ethics where employees are required to perform some ethical actions. One biggest challenge that has faced the community from classical period to contemporary period is the differences in what constitutes a good act and a bad act (Thompson, Melia & Boyd, 2006). For instance, whereas it is unethical to kill in some communities, some believe that it is ethical to do so while fighting ‘holy war’. Nevertheless, there has been incorporation of the different communities to come up with a universal accepted ethical code of conduct thus reducing the disparities. This paper focuses on the ethical issues within the nursing profession. It picks on confidentiality of medical information of patients and describes the ethical issues behind its breach. Introduction Nursing is a very important profession dealing with provision of healthcare service to patients. Some people believe that it is a profession of the ‘brave heart’ that is those people driven beyond time and quantity to offer hope to the sick and dying through medical attention. Recent developments in the contemporary world has affected this philosophical principles of nursing profession and now instead of being driven by time and quantity, most of the nurses are driven by monetary gains (Fry & Johnstone, 2002). Contemporary nursing unlike the classical one is deemed as versatile spreading across a spectrum of roles, duties, and responsibilities all with the aim of helping a sick person recover. Since nurses from classical period were seen as responsible people with ‘brave hearts’, most of their ethical guideline are not written down instead they are required to emulate the best within any available circumstance. Developments have however force the inscription of such ethical issues for a universal practice globally. Some of the ethical issues within the nursing practice include selflessness, timely deliver, integrity, confidentiality, honesty, and character amongst many others. This paper focuses on confidentiality as a nursing practice ethical issue. Ethical implications of a breach of confidentiality Fry and Johnstone (2002) confirm that within the nursing ethical code of conduct, it is stipulated that patients have the right to expect that the practitioners, nurses being one of them, will hold his or her medical information in confidence. It is vital for the patient and the nurse to trust each other and for the patient to know that his or her medical information will be confidential between the two parties. Some medical reports are too scary and when exposed they can ...