Professional Roles and Values Task 2 Wgu

Professional Roles and Values

Task 2

This is not a scenario that would ever think about when it comes to ethics. And to be honest, I am not sure how I would react on the spot if a patient had made such request. But after reading through the course material and after giving a lot of thoughts to the scenario, my answer to Mr. Newcomb’s request would be: “ I understand that you would love to see your lady friend one more time and I respect your decision. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to lie to your wife about your care or where you will be to facilitate that visit. Has a health professional, I ought to be truthful with any statements I make regarding your care. This is a conversation that you will need to have with you wife on your own.”

Especially since Mr. Newcomb is a hospice patient with terminal illness, I can argue that granting him his last wish could be considered both a beneficent and non-maleficent act. By definition beneficence is “ an ethical principle stating that one should do good and prevent or avoid doing harm” and non-maleficence is “ an ethical principle stating the duty not to inflict harm”. Seeing is mistress will make him happy and considering his health state, that will be beneficial to his state of mind thus a good thing happening to a dying man. And I don’t see how seeing her would harm him in anyway. But on the other hand, as a health care professional, I have “ an ethical duty to tell the truth” called veracity. Because of that alone I can’t be part of Mr. Newcomer’s plan, which involves me to lie to his wife about him. Mr. Newcomb has the right to use the full extend of his autonomy, which is define as “ personal freedom and right to make choices”, to make his mistress’s visit happen. Even if this involves him lying to his wife or that I morally disagree to him lying, it’s his choice and I have to respect it.

My decision not to lie to Mrs. Newcomb was influence mostly by my duty as a health care professional to tell the true no matter what. But it was also influence by my own morals. I try my best to avoid telling lies in my personal life because I know it’s wrong. So if I wouldn’t lie for myself, why would I for someone else? Also I do not believe spouses should be cheating in their marriage. But despite my own morals, if Mr. Newcomb chose to lie to his wife, it’s my duty to respect his autonomy.

Working as a nurse can be a very stressful job that is extremely demanding both emotionally and physically. In the course of my carrier this is what I believed is the 3 most important strategies to promote self-care are to take care of my physical health, understand the boundaries of empathy, and to have a good stress coping mechanism. Take care of my physical health involves but are not limited to no skipping meals during shifts, sleeping at least 8 hours,