Nursing Ethics: Key Considerations for Your Dissertation

Nursing ethics is an essential part of the field that helps nursing students and practitioners to make difficult decisions. To create a safe space for patients, along with maintaining integrity, respect and dignity, these ethics play an essential role. If you are studying nursing or medicine, understanding and following these nursing ethics is crucial, especially if you are writing a dissertation paper.

Well, if you have no idea about nursing ethics and how to address them in your dissertation, then don't worry. Professionals have crafted this blog for your understanding. In this blog, we have discussed all the nursing ethics that you must remember during your dissertation writing. This guide on key considerations will surely guide you in your research process. Professionals recommend getting nursing dissertation help if you need any assistance with your dissertation writing. Let’s start by understanding the ethical considerations in nursing.

Understanding Ethical Considerations In Nursing

Nursing practice is driven by the moral and ethical standards of nursing ethics. These ethics help nursing students to make essential and difficult decisions about patients and their healthcare. This especially guides students when they are facing any ethical dilemmas and no clear and right solutions. Here are some of the following ethical principles for nursing students.

• Autonomy: Honouring the patient’s choice and letting them decide about their own life, like how they will be treated.

• Beneficence: Taking the patient’s well-being and best interests into consideration.  

• Non-maleficence: Non-maleficence refers to “do no harm, which means no nursing action and intervention should cause harm to any patient. 

• Justice: Providing every patient equal and fair treatment, no matter what their backgrounds, cultures or economic statuses are. 

• Fidelity: Bolstering the trust and honesty between the nurse and their patients.

These ethical principles are often influenced by social norms and professional standards. This considers the individual needs of patients. Keep in mind that these guidelines are not just a theoretical concept of your curriculum, but they guide your entire research process for your dissertation. It helps to handle all the interactions and data morally.

Ethical Problems in Nursing Research

Dissertation writing in the field of nursing is already a daunting task because it requires a lot, like a deep understanding of concepts and a thorough comprehension of ethical dilemmas. These challenges can arise at any point in your research process. Therefore, every nursing student needs to make sure their research sounds scientific but ethical. Here are a few main ethical issues which are as follows.

1. Informed Consent

As we are talking about ethics, this is the first aspect that comes to mind. Taking informed consent from people who are participating in your research directly or indirectly. Every participant in your research must be aware of your research's purpose and any methods that you are using or any potential risks they may face. This will be the foundational aspect of your research.

If your nursing dissertation requires any interaction with people and patients, and you are conducting interviews and clinical trials, make sure that people willingly participate and understand clearly what they are committing to. Their full agreement is essential. When you are writing a dissertation, consider these pointers:

• How can we communicate and explain the research to participants, especially when they have no understanding of healthcare?

• Make sure that your participants are aware that they can leave the process at any point without facing any harmful consequences.

• Let your participants know that their data is completely safe and confidential

2. Confidentiality and Privacy

Another ethical problem is related to the confidentiality and privacy of participants’ data. This issue cannot be avoided in your nursing research. Patient confidentiality will be the core foundation of your healthcare research, and the same goes for nursing research as well.  Privacy is crucial, so make sure your research provides confidentiality to participants if your research includes interviews, case studies or any participant’s data. You should consider these points:

• How will you gather, store and manage the data securely?

• Putting techniques in practice, like data anonymisation, to keep the data confidential and private.

• Collect data with proper participants’ consent and ensure letting the participants know how their data will be used.

3. Vulnerable Population

In nursing research, you need to interest every age group of people, including kids and elder people and sometimes people with physical and mental disabilities. You need to be more careful while working with them; they need extra attention and protection during research. Being an ethical person and conducting ethical research, you must minimise the potential risk and ensure their safety. You must consider:

• If participants are kids or anyone who is unable to provide consent, obtain it from their legal guardian.

• Being empathetic and sensitive to the vulnerable group of people (emotional, physical and psychological).

• By adhering to ethical principles designed for these specific people and groups, you minimise the potential risks. Also, ensure research integrity.

Ethical Principles in Nursing Research

If you want to make informed and ethical decisions, then it's important that you follow established ethical principles. It will guide you and your entire research and will provide a framework for your decision-making process.

1. The Belmont Report

The U.S. Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioural Research constructed a report called the “Belmont Report” that contains the ethical principles for the research, which include human interaction and participation. The highlights of this report include:

• Respect for persons: Autonomy is in line with respect for people, which guarantees that people are recognised as independent agents and those with less autonomy are safeguarded.

• Beneficence: the advantages must be maximised and harm must be minimised by the researchers for their participants.

• Justice: People who are participating in research must share the equitable costs and rewards.

2. Code of Ethics for Nurses

A fundamental manual for ethical nursing practice that applies to research is the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics. This code focuses on maintaining professional integrity, enabling patient welfare, and respecting human dignity. By following this code while writing your dissertation, you make sure that your research method is based on ethical standards of the nursing profession.

3. Institutional Review Board Approval

Get permission from the IRB (Institutional Review Board) in writing before you engage in or conduct any research that involves human participation. The IRB is responsible for examining every research project and ethical standard that it includes, making sure that your research follows the proper guidelines that are essential for human protection. Before starting your research, the very first step is to prove to the IRB that you have carefully explored all the ethical considerations and your approach includes no risk for human participants.

Wrapping It Up

If you have a dissertation to write in the field of nursing, that means you have a great opportunity to contribute to the field. But the challenge arises when you face the ethical consideration part.  Nursing ethics play a vital role in making sure that your research participants are respected and their rights and dignity are in safe hands. These ethics guide your entire research.

You just need to consider a few things, like having informed consent, providing confidentiality, and avoiding conflicts of interest. Ensure to follow and address all the guidelines in your research.

By following this principle, you can help ensure that your dissertation paper is not only a great contribution to the field but also shows that your research aligns with the ethical values that form the nursing profession. The purpose of including ethical considerations in research is to foster trust and honesty and improve patient care. It helps to make sure that your profession is still committed to its goal, which is offering compassion, respect and care to people.