Essay on RNs Ethical Obligation When Providing Care to Patients With EVD

RN has an obligation to their patients, and their focus should be on optimal health. However, in the case of Ebola virus diseases, they RN are required to provide care with caution because Ebola virus diseases are infectious and contagious. The RN is at high risk of contamination if they meet the fluids of the person with EVD. Therefore, the nurses are protected when it comes to providing CPR to the patient with EVD. Those with EVD requires CPR, and the nurses are obliged to provide the patient ICU care, and they should be provided with massive fluid replacement and dialysis, but when it comes to providing CPR nurses are asked to refrain because Ebola virus diseases are highly contagious (Garibaldi & Cher tow, 2017). Even though the ANA code of ethics states that nurses should practice with compassion, and respect the patient's inherent dignity (Torabi-Parizi et al, 2015). The patient should be taken care of with respect because the diseases (Kadri, Rhee, Fortna & OGrady, 2015) do not affect the worth of the patient. Secondly, the RN should be committed to the patient (provision 2), and provision 5 of the ANA code of ethics states that that nurse owes the same duty to herself as to others including the responsibility to be safe and keep the patients safe (Suffredini, 2015). The nurses are therefore expected to have a limit when it comes to performing CPR on the patient with EVD because the risk of infection in the process of providing CPR is very high and violates provision 5 of the ANA code of ethics (Leligdowicz et al., 2016; Burchum, & Rosenthal, 2016).

The nurses are challenged to accurately analyze the balance between professional responsibility to the patient and the risk to their persons including the moral duty and options in a situation such the Ebola virus outbreak when preserving the ethical mandates of the nursing profession. There are limits to the personal risk of harm that nurses are expected to accept as part of their ethical duty but providing CPR to Ebola virus disease patient should be subjected to individual assessment of the situation. RN should only provide CPR to a patient with EVR if they are in a resource-rich healthcare setting.

References

Garibaldi, B., & Chertow, D. (2017). High-Containment Pathogen Preparation in the Intensive Care Unit. Infectious Disease Clinics Of North America, 31(3), 561-576. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.idc.2017.05.008

Kadri, S., Rhee, C., Fortna, G., & O'Grady, N. (2015). Critical Care Medicine and Infectious Diseases: An Emerging Combined Subspecialty in the United States: Figure 1. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 61(4), 609-614. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/civ360

Leligdowicz, A., Fischer, W., Uyeki, T., Fletcher, T., Adhikari, N., & Portella, G. et al. (2016). Ebola virus disease and critical illness. Critical Care, 20(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13054-016-1325-2

Suffredini, A. (2015). Caring for Critically Ill Ebola Virus Disease Patients With One Hand Tied Behind Your Back. Critical Care Medicine, 43(10), 2249-2250. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/ccm.0000000000001221

Burchum, R., & Rosenthal, D. (2016). Lehnes pharmacology for nursing care. (9th ed.). Saunders. Amsterdam, Netherland

Torabi-Parizi, P., Davey, T., Suffredini, F., & Chertow, S. (2015). Ethical and Practical Considerations in Providing Critical Care to Patients With Ebola Virus Disease. Chest, 147(6), 14601466. http://doi.org/10.1378/chest.15-0278