Ethical Behavior

Ethical Behavior
Ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. It comes into play when we work, when we play, and at any time that we are interacting with others. Ethics is a set of rules that we each live by, essentially, although they are generally unwritten rules.
Definition
Ethical behavior is acting in ways that are consistent with one’s personal values and the commonly held values of the organization and society. It is the continuous effort of studying ones own moral beliefs and moral conduct, and striving to ensure that he or she lives up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.
Development of an Individual’s Ethical Behavior
Each individual has his or her own set of moral code. The sense of right and wrong for each person is based on what the individual sees around him or her. Often, despite what you were raised with, you can redevelop your moral code and practice ethical behavior as a grown up. This is first done by establishing what ethical behavior or unethical behavior is exactly in the world that you live or work in.
Ethical Behaviors
Ethics are basic to the establishment of a moral obligation. The following are few principles and conduct that defines an ethical behavior.
1. Taking responsibilities sincerely for which an individual is morally and legally accountable for.
2. Identifying and knowing the importance of decisions. The individual then, considers the effect of his or her decision on others and on him or herself.
3. Stating the fact.
4. Being true to oneself.
5. Respecting the rights of others.
6. Stating honest statements when another individual wants and needs to know the truth as the basis for self-determination or participation in decision making.
7. Communicating feelings openly.
8. Promoting honest relations to other individuals to foster effective communication and establish trust and confidence.
9. Abiding not only to personal values but also to professional standards, codes, institutional policies and procedures and societal and legal responsibilities.
10. Assessing interventions done and what will be the benefits of those actions and the possible harm it can cause.
11. Evaluating the alternatives in choosing decisions and choosing an intervention.
12. Differentiating right from wrong and acting accordingly.
13. Showing genuine concern and interest in the welfare of others and in oneself.
Values, Morals and Ethics
To formulate an ethical decision, the nurse should gain knowledge on the situation taking a look at all angles to promote maximal benefit to the client. Aside from scrutinizing every possible aspect of the problem the nurse should be able to understand the relationship between values, morals and ethics.
The values of the client, nurse and society and so as the morals interact to set the environment for ethical behavior. If in a given situation the value systems of the nurse, client and society is opposing, an ethical dilemma will most likely occur. A dilemma is a situation with unsatisfactory alternatives or options. Ethical dilemma requires the medical team to make challenging and difficult decisions regarding the possible best way to care for the patients.
Values are operational beliefs an individual chooses as the basis for behavior which can change over time. These beliefs serve as the building blocks of moral and ethical development. Values influence not only the behavior but also the decision making of a person. It could be based on the following:
* Experience
* Religion
* Education
* Culture
* Professional peer group
Morals are personal opinion or principle that a particular action or behavior is absolutely right or wrong in all situations. Usually a person is reluctant or unwilling to change his personal opinions on specific issues of a moral nature. For instance, some people view abortion a totally wrong and there is no justifiable excuse for it. However, some hold the belief that aborting a fetus is better rather than improperly rearing a child.
Ethics in Nursing
Nursing ethics provides the standards of professional behavior for nurses and the principles of knowing right from a wrong conduct during implementation of nursing duties and responsibilities. Through this set of standards, nursing duties and responsibilities of nurses towards their clients, co-workers, profession and community is made known. It promotes the philosophical and theological study of morality, moral judgments and moral problems. The three types of ethics are the following:
1. Descriptive ethics – this type of ethics provides an accurate and realistic narration of moral behaviors without producing a moral judgment.
2. Metaethics – the center of this type is on reasonable and justifiable judgments. It is basically concerned with theoretical issues of meaning and its justification.
3. Normative ethics – with this classification, a question is raised about what is right or wrong. Something should be done in a situation that calls for an ethical decision. For instance, a teenager who is maintaining a scholarship is pregnant. She is to decide whether she will abort the baby to avoid issues and being kicked out of the school or sustain the pregnancy and deliver the baby.