Nursing profession and patient care are closely associated with the moral, ethical and legal implications because they introduce the higher quality of services provided to the individuals. Each nurse should be endowed with the mandatory set of values and qualities that shape them as effective healthcare professionals. Leaders should also take responsibility for the insurance of comfortable environment and organizational culture to make sure that patients rely on morally and ethically conscious medical attendants. A responsible leader, creating their own accountability essay, stands at the core of all ethical and legal decisions because leaders impose duties and control on their followers.

Ethical Frameworks

The presence of high morale and ethical conduct in a nursing unit is the sign of authentic leadership, which determines the potential outcomes for the quality delivery of healthcare services. In this regard, Cianci, Hannah, Roberts and Tsakumis (2014) have focused on the role of authentic leadership in influencing ethical decision-making of one’s followers concerning temptation. They have researched interaction of authentic leadership and temptation with ethical decision-making of adherers. It has been suggested that genuine leadership prevents individuals from making unjustified resolutions in the light of temptation, whereas followers of less authentic leaders tend to be subjected to the latter. However, authentic leadership did not have a powerful impact on the decision-making in the absence of temptation underpinnings to disobey. It has also been found that a mediated effect on the connection between temptation and leadership was based on the genuine nature of the ethical decision.

It is an acknowledged fact that nurses have a daily encounter with ethical dilemmas, problems and challenges, in particular moral distress. The latter is essential for understanding the negative outcomes of constant communication with patients when they have to deal with the ethical issues in their practices. Moreover, one needs to consider the pertinence of all the research results to the topic. The major causes for moral distress in nursing are diverse, but all of them are placed within the external and internal constraints. A number of nurses have families with the issues, and it is often difficult to determine the necessary relevant actions because there are multiple conflicting as well as controversial possibilities and interpretations. However, the line between moral distress and moral dilemma can be blurred. The nature of the mental issues relates to significant ethical concerns. According to Woods (2014), “lack of organizational support across all levels, indifferent and unsupportive organizational cultures, poor leadership, lack of adequate resources, recruitment and retention issues, government interferences and dubious policies are but a few of the main ones” (p. 127). Therefore, each leader should take control over the psychological state of his/her followers to make sure that they can adequately react to the stressful situations in the workplace.

Ethical Dilemma

While working in a hospital, there is always a chance to encounter some ethical, moral and legal dilemmas, which can arise due to the lack of communication, patient’s specific concerns, or nurses’ unpreparedness to act under different circumstances. Hence, an ethical issue occurred with one elderly patient who was unable to normally access care because of the difficulty of transportation. Thus, social workers should be more active to organize volunteering activities for the volunteers to check patient’s lab results at their homes, where the medical tests will be conducted and the corresponding medicine will be prescribed; therefore, there will be no necessity for the disabled people to go to the healthcare facility. In such a way, it will also be possible to outline the new course of actions for the volunteers and leaders who are morally conscious.

Solution

With regard to the above-presented ethical dilemma, one should admit that each patient should be approached individually and the task of a nurse leader it to assume control over the decision-making problem and rationally distribute the duties among the healthcare practitioners to reduce the potential negative outcomes and moral distress. At this point, it should be acknowledged that in this situation the role of a leader is intensified because it offers an outlook on the prospective frameworks and strategies of effective interaction and communication between a leader and a follower (Marquis & Huston, 2017). Different backgrounds of patients make medical attendants feel concerned with the approaches and psychological dimensions in the course of communication, but the task of the leader is to reorganize the staff to provide for the comfortable environment or engage the workforce into specialized training programs that would solve the conflict.

Leadership Style

Transformational and authentic leadership styles should become the basis for effective interaction with the patients and the personnel. Therefore, the role of nursing development as the resource for patient advocacy in terms of cultural issues is essential. One should consider the influence of changing demographics, established policies, support for civil rights and emphasis on linguistics. Hence, the attention to local policies, standards and framework constitutes one of the major strategies. Leadership should monitor any changes in law and apply them into a practical environment (Martin, 2014). Consequently, the synergy of transformational and authentic leadership could serve as the optimal decision for the presented ethical dilemma.

Leadership style affects the outcomes for the healthcare advocacy and evidence-based practice. The latter is essential for reaching higher level of medical expertise that ensures the increased quality of patient care. Sustainable improvement is possible through proper management of evidence-based advocacy, as well as the ability of nurses to take advantage of science and policies, which can contribute to change in a wider context (Disch, 2014). Therefore, the concept of effective evidence-based practice focuses on the way a nursing organization can apply evidence-based advocacy and exert a positive influence on national health as well as development of the nursing profession. Leadership styles play an important role in promoting these initiatives because they are concentrated on the concept of efficient management of all nursing activities, their decision-making, and their ability to communicate with patients. Individualized approach should be used in combination with the holistic frameworks employed by medical attendants while treating a patient. Additionally, they should realize that each patient has a specific cultural and social background, which can further be critical in defining the course of therapeutic interventions. Furthermore, there are specialized managerial strategies, which can provide a firm ground for the advancement of communication and professional skills among nurses.

Conclusion

With regard to the presented arguments, it can be concluded that the profession of nursing should exist in correlation with proper management and leadership. The role of a leader in healthcare settings should not be underestimated because it shapes the ground for ethical, moral and legal standards of the code of conduct among nurses. It also affects patients’ response and perception concerning the quality of medical services. Therefore, it is highly important for leaders to employ different moral and ethical decision-making frameworks that would motivate and encourage medical attendants to be more determined in their professional growth, as well as master their skills in patient care and evidence-based practice. Nevertheless, there are many policies and ways, which provide new solutions to the given ethical dilemma such as holistic management and authentic leadership that can establish greater control over all nursing activities. Furthermore, it can shed light on new insights into the improvement of management and settlement of conflicts within the organization, which is the primary approach to effective cooperation.

References

Cianci, A. M., Hannah, S. T., Roberts, R. P., & Tsakumis, G. T. (2014). The effective of authentic leadership on followers’ ethical decision-making in the face of temptation: An experimental study. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(3), 581-594.
Disch, J. (2014). Using evidence-based advocacy to improve the nation’s health. Nurse Leader, 12(4), 28-31.
Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2017). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and applications. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
Martin, M. B. (2014). Transcultural advocacy and policy in the workplace: Implications for nurses in professional development. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 30(1), 29-33.
Woods, M. (2014). Beyond moral distress preserving the ethical integrity of nurses. Nursing Ethics, 21(2), 127-128.