Impact of the Code of Ethics for Nurses on the Coordination and Continuum of Care
Impact of the Code of Ethics for Nurses on the Coordination and Continuum of Care
The nursing code of ethics outlines ethical codes that guide nursing practice and help them in their clinical decision-making processes. The major ethical provisions of the nursing code of ethics outlined by the American Nursing Association are beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and autonomy. These provisions may help nurses navigate the ethical challenges raised by various policies during the coordination and continuum of care (Jakobsen et al., 2017). Beneficence requires that they promote the welfare of their patients, while non-maleficence requires that they do no harm to their patients. Lastly, autonomy requires them to allow their patients to make decisions on their treatment. These provisions will enable them to make decisions that are in the best interest of their patients.
Factors Contributing to Health
Several factors contribute to health. These factors are mainly categorized into individuals’ behaviors and characteristics, physical environment, and social and economic environment. The social and economic environment encompasses factors such as income, educational levels, social support networks such as family, and access to health. The context of the physical environment includes factors such as access to clean water and air, safe housing, workplaces, infrastructure, and others. Lastly, individual behaviors and characteristics are factors of self that contribute to diseases and illnesses, such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and health-seeking behavior. All of these factors interplay in various illnesses and human suffering.
Factors Contributing to Health Disparities and Access to Care
Health disparity refers to the identifiable variations in health and healthcare between communities and groups. Several factors contribute to health disparity. Some of these factors include health behaviors, community characteristics, gender, race and ethnicity, poverty, and the physical environment. Access to care is another area that remains a topic of discussion in many American societies. Factors that influence access to care include poverty, geographical proximity to care centers, race and ethnicity, disability status, age, sex, and language spoken. These factors inform an individual’s ability to utilize care services and have been implicated in poor access to care among many American communities.
Social Determinants of Health Identified in Healthy People 2020
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. Healthy People 2020 outlines the social determinants of health grouped into five domains. The first domain is economic stability, which encompasses employment, food insecurity, and others. Education entails access to quality education, enrollment in higher education, and others. Another domain is the social and community context that encompasses social cohesion, civil participation, and others. The health and healthcare domain entails health literacy, access to quality healthcare, and access to primary care, while the neighborhood and built environment domain entails crime and violence, access to healthy foods, and others (SDOH, 2020).
Key Ethical and Policy Issues Affecting the Coordination and Continuum
Several ethical and policy issues affect the coordination and continuum of care. The lack of resources and informed consent are some ethical challenges in nursing homes. The nursing code of ethics guides the clinical decision-making process in nursing homes, thus helping nurses in these facilities navigate these challenges. Lack of resources is another challenge that may affect operational efficiencies in these care institutions. Policy issues affecting nursing homes are those on preserving patients’ rights and funding these institutions. HIPAA and Residents Rights in Nursing Home Act aims to protect the privacy of residents of these care homes, and Medicare programs fund these institutions through reimbursements.
Summary
In summary, nursing homes maintain significance in providing physical care and emotional support for patients with AD and other forms of dementia. They are, however, subject to policy regulations. Policies such as HIPAA and the Residents Rights in Nursing Home Act play a role in providing the necessary oversight in these care institutions. These policies aim to direct funding and protect the welfare of residents of these institutions. The implementation of these policies may, however, raise ethical questions such as informed consent. Nonetheless, the nursing code of ethics may help nurses navigate these ethical challenges.
References
Bastani, P., Mohammadpour, M., Samadbe