Psychiatry is a challenging and elastic area of medicine. Patients showing symptoms of mental health problems, claiming they have them or denying them all qualify for treatment. But the issue is that the range and degree of symptoms are extensive. It is the job of doctors and nurses to get them the help they need after identifying what they are treating. However, you encounter several ethical dilemmas and limitations while offering support, especially if you are a psychiatric nurse.
Treating patients with mental health problems require significant care, and doctors only conduct allocated sessions. The nurses, on the other hand, spend more time tending to patients. From the time of entry and registration, there is a tremendous responsibility on their shoulders. They need to address real, consequential concerns, and disregard hoax. While dealing with them, they have to maintain a level of compassion, but also take into account that it can be dangerous. Exercising caution is also a critical part of psychiatric nursing. Neglecting the outcomes of going overboard could cost them their career, or even their life. That is why you can’t take this profession lightly.
Nurses have to observe an extensive set of rules and practices if they are working in this capacity. Not only do they have to be careful about themselves, but they also need to prioritize the safety and privacy of the patient. Since psychiatric victims are most vulnerable, there’s a risk of leaking delicate information about them, which might disturb them. It is why ethical nursing practice is an integral part of the job.
Here are some ethical problems and challenges that they have to overcome serving in this field. They should help you better realize the importance of contribution and the dedication that this work requires.
- PATIENT AUTONOMY IN A CARE FACILITY
Unlike regular patients, nurses need to deal with psychiatric victims differently. Individuals seeking help in a care facility can come from any background and have a distinct degree of sanity intact. It means that it could be dangerous to work around them or get close to them, in some cases. But there’s also an opportunity that they might not be completely insane.
Nurses have to treat them accordingly and give them sufficient room to avoid suffocating them. While doing so, they also have to make sure that the autonomy that they offer them doesn’t upset the balance of unit control looking after them. Failing to provide this can prove consequential in psychiatry.
Emotionally and mentally vulnerable people can judge others based on their actions and conduct with them. Depending on that, nurses can worsen the situation if they shut them out or help them recover and improve their condition. Treating with the right amount of empathy and care is the best ethical solution.
- REGULATING THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone serving in this profession is human, and it’s difficult not to want to help a person suffering from a mental health problem. Nurses experience the same emotions and often try to establish therapeutic relationships with their patients. That enables them to achieve a decent understanding, and it proves to be helpful in some cases. But it can be equally fatal to aim for this.
In a care facility, you might be dealing with psychopaths who are the master of glib dialogues and con acts. A regular person can’t differentiate them and may become a victim by the hands of a perpetrator. That is why nurses need to distance themselves from the desire to have a therapeutic relationship.
In psychiatry, ethics require you to show compassion by limiting your actions if that results in helping the patients. You might need to fight against the urge, but you need to acknowledge that it’s for the best. If you can accomplish this practice, then you have well-defined ethical boundaries that suit this career.
- BALANCE THE RIGHTS & WRONGS
Psychiatric nursing offers a great deal of information and knowledge to the nurses treating vulnerable patients. Most of this is sensitive to particular cases, and need handling accordingly to abide with the doctor-patient confidentiality. However, it is not rare for nurses to use it in ways that might benefit them without considering the outcomes.
They often don’t realize the delicacy of the situation and spill the beans while discussing job challenges. It can be just complaining or motivated by the need to get along with their coworkers. Either way, it classifies as a misuse of power and breaches the confines of ethical nursing practice.
Medical information and the details shared during psychiatric sessions are classified, and choosing to disclose it can be consequential for both nurses and patients. Nurses to always keep this in mind and avoid violating their privacy casually for personal or professional gains. That makes them exhibit a more exemplary character for others and assist them in keeping their motivations aligned with their work.
SUMMARY
In a nutshell, nurses play a reasonably significant role in helping psychiatric patients improve their condition. But while doing so, they can’t overlook the standard regulations they need to practice. Realizing the power that they possess in this case and acknowledging the consequences of casually using it is a start to ethical nursing practice. Following the trail, they can expect to move ahead with this profession with the right motives and hopefully wouldn’t have to encounter any unfavorable circumstances and trauma from work.
