There are many advanced registered nurse roles, each come with their own set of ethical guidelines. The desire to add to the welfare of others is often thought to be a virtue. The advanced practice registered nurses play a very active role in their clinical education, executing their roles, and different involvements as they influence the medical practice in a clinical role (DeNisco, 2024). APRN’s must be able to recognize ethical conflicts and help to resolve them while still being resourceful to their patients, families, or other nurses. Ethical issues can and will arise when dealing with complex issues. Ethics are used to understand the moral life, normal, social customs, and the rules of the world’s views of what’s right and what’s wrong. However, there are some similarities between the ethical guidelines that govern these roles. When you look at a NP and a CNS. Both roles typically require a commitment to providing quality care and protecting patient privacy. There may be some situations where the ethical guidelines for one role would require a different response than those for another. Suppose a patient in the ICU is requesting information about their prognosis. The ethical guidelines for a CNS may require the nurse to provide this information. In contrast, the ethical guidelines for the NP might instead allow the nurse to withhold this information if deemed it was medically necessary. Again, suppose a patient is requesting specific treatment that isn’t a part of the standard of care. The ethical guideline for the NP might allow the nurse to provide this treatment but the ethical guidelines for the CNS requires the nurse to adhere to the standard of care. Both roles must adhere to the American Nurse Association (ANA) code of ethics for nurses. The nursing profession has a code of ethics that outlines the expectation of members of the profession and defines the personal and performance standards that represent what is best in the work of the profession (Barkhordari-Sharifabad et al., 2017). The nursing code of ethics spells out the role and relationship of the nurse with the individual patients and addresses the issues that advance the health needs. It’s important for ARNP’s to be aware of the differences in the ethical guidleines that govern their roles to ensure they are providing the best possible care to their patients.
Barkhordari-Sharifabad, M., Ashktorab, T., & Atashzadeh-Shoorideh, F. (2017, February 21). Obstacles and problems of ethical leadership from the perspective of nursing leaders: A qualitative content analysis. Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5432950/
DeNisco, S.M. (Ed).(2024).Advance Practice Nursing: Essential knowledge for the profession(5th ed.).Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN-13:9781284264661