Ethical Dilemma Assignment-using restraints and seclusion in treatment Research Paper

Ethical Dilemma Assignment-using restraints and seclusion in treatment facilities - Research Paper Example According to a study, both psychiatric and emergency nurses hold the belief that these experiences of assault from patient is part of their profession and cannot be prevented (Haddad, 2004). This is quite a disturbing finding for those involved in providing mental health care. The Ethical Dilemma of Using Restraints in Treatment Facilities A patient receiving mental care behaves unpredictably. In some cases, they seem fine but suddenly perform violent acts—throwing objects, screaming or shouting angrily, and even posing as a threat to himself or to others. For clinical nurse practitioners in the psychiatric unit, this is the new dilemma they are facing: to use restriction or not. What is the ethical dilemma here? Nurses are expected to understand their role in patients’ lives. When it comes to the psychiatric care, one particular role stands out above all else—the nurse as an advocate for their patients (Park, 2009). It may be quite difficult to fight for the pat ients’ rights when faced with factors such as self-harming behavior, aggression targeted towards health care professionals, and the call as to whether restrictions should be used. It is often confusing where nurses should lie now—will it be in their role in advocating patient right to life, personal freedom, safety and preservation of dignity or will the nurse follow hospital protocols and use seclusion or restriction measures to avoid in any occurrence of harm to anyone? Most often, the latter is the case not because it was the appropriate response but because it is the instinctive human response to feel anger or fear (Haddad, 2004). What guide must a nurse use in correctly addressing the situation and what is the solution to this ethical dilemma? To make a nurse qualified for their roles in the hospital, ethical theories and principles have been established. Instructions have been specified to make the right choices. To start, ethical theories aim toward the achievem ent of an aggregate of objectives—beneficence, least harm, respect for autonomy and justice--called ethical principles. Beneficence is concerned with â€Å"do[ing] good† and is pertinent to the principle of utility where one aims to do the highest possible proportion of good over evil (Penslar, 1995). The next objective, least harm, is quite similar to the first principle. However, this is used when any decision made will have a malicious outcome. Respect for autonomy requires an ethical theory to result in patient’s complete dominance over their lives having the privilege to control the decisions which ultimately leads to the first principle of beneficence (Ridley, 1998; Ethical Principles, 2010). In relation to that, there are various perceptions of the connection between the two. Beneficence is given first concern rather than the autonomy of a person when viewing it paternalistically or the opposite in a libertarian view. Moreover, an ethical theory must acco mplish justice where fair actions are needed to resolve and is characterized by reasonable basis to (Ethical Principles, 2010). Moreover, nonmalificence differs from the least harm principle in that this aims to cause no harm at all and is considered to be of the greatest importance even if all principles are of the same significance in theory (Kitchener, 1984; Rosenbaum, 1982; Stadler, 1986). According to Rainbow’