![]() ![]() This therefore presupposes that nurses’ efforts to provide comfort for their patients can be viewed as benevolent acts and professional duties.īeneficent actions of nurses could be thwarted when they are confronted with workload and less staffing since time may not be sufficient to perform the core duties of care. Comfort was seen as a state of being free from suffering and being in a calm environment. A phenomenological study conducted to explore nurses’ and patients’ views of comfort needs showed that comfort is an indispensable human need whether in illness or in good health. Comfort needs of patients should be viewed as beneficence since it involves providing measures to relief pain. It was argued that providing comfort can be deemed as an essential component of beneficence. Nonmaleficence is avoiding the causation of harm. Unintentional harm is when the risk could not have been anticipated. However, placing a patient at risk of harm has different facets. Intentional harm is never acceptable in nursing. Nurses are obliged to implement actions that benefit patients and their support persons. It may also include the injunction from inflicting harm. Beneficence involve the active promotion of benevolent acts such as goodness, kindness, charity. Beneficence is the principle of doing good. Beneficence and non-maleficence are closely related. Thus, in making decision to care for patients with postoperative pain, these principles influence nurses to achieve the objectives of care.īeneficence is an important ethical principle that underpins nursing care and is basically the duty to do good to patients while considering their desires. They form the basis for all codes of ethics and also the foundation of considerations for all professional groups in healthcare, including the nursing profession. These ethical principles provide a framework for the analysis and resolution of moral problems encountered in the delivery of healthcare. The underlying universal principles of ethics important for nursing practice are based on the obligation to do good (beneficence) do no harm (nonmaleficence) providing equal and fair treatment for all persons (justice) and defending individual determination (autonomy). Ethics also enable nurses with the power to influence the day-to-day decisions that are made regarding patients care. Nurses who are knowledgeable about ethical theories may be better prepared for ethical nursing practice as they will have thorough knowledge of the most appropriate ethical approaches in a given situation. ![]() Nurses are expected to work in an ethical manner in order to meet the individual needs of patients and enhance satisfaction. Ethics guide nurses in their practice on a daily basis to distinguish between right and wrong when the correct path is unclear in professional care environment. The study concluded that nurses are knowledgeable in bioethical principles underpinning post operative pain management and also applied these principles when caring for surgical patients.Įthics is important in the nursing profession. Nurses also demonstrated humanity by helping patients financially to settle hospital debts which explicitly shows the empathetic characteristics of nurses. Patients rights to refuse treatment was also appreciated by some nurses. Nurses knew their duties in advocating for patients. Findings showed that nurses had some appreciable level of knowledge of the fundamental principles related to ethics and applied them in postoperative pain management. Three main themes identified through inductive content analysis of data were: beneficence, autonomy and justice. Thematic analysis method was used and themes emerged inductively. Data saturation was reached at the fourteenth participant. Semi-structured interview guide was designed for data collection. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants from the surgical wards. The study employed qualitative exploratory descriptive design. ![]() ![]() Therefore, the study objectives were to: explore nurses’ understanding of the bio-ethical principles in postoperative pain management explore how nurses apply bioethical principles in postoperative pain management. However, there is scanty literature on the level of Ghanaian nurses’ knowledge and application of bio-ethical principles in postoperative pain management. Good insight on ethical principles and how they relate to pain management places the nurse on a better pedestal to manage postoperative pain effectively. It is important that health care professionals understand that patients in pain have the right to satisfactory management. Bio-ethical principles in health care include autonomy, beneficence, justice and nonmaleficence. Managing postoperative pain require good understanding of the bio-ethical principles in order to preserve patients’ rights. ![]()
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