Nurses have a role in providing holistic care to their patients, ensuring all aspects of their health are taken care of, including physical, mental, and spiritual health. Nurses can thus utilize ethical principles to guide them while providing holistic care. An ethical principle that is crucial to patients is autonomy. Nurses are entitled to respect every patient’s autonomy and their decisions. As a result, nurses are responsible for providing patients with all relevant information regarding their health condition, including potential risks, benefits, and alternatives, to enable them to make informed decisions based on their personal preferences (Varkey, 2021). The nurses should, therefore, not impose or coerce treatment and interventions without the patient’s consent, as this would negatively impact their spiritual and emotional health. However, if the ICU patient is incapacitated, the nurses may consult with family members, caregivers, or legally appointed representatives to make decisions that align with the patient’s values and preferences.
Another principle that can be utilized in ICU patients is beneficence. The principle guides nurses that while respecting their patient’s autonomy, they should provide care that maximizes the patient’s benefits while protecting them from harm (Cheraghi et al., 2023). As a result, nurses need to account for possible harms and benefits, including psychological, physical, legal, social and economic. This ensures that the nurses use interventions and provide an environment that can enhance the patient’s spiritual and mental well-being (Stilos et al., 2021). While observing both principles, it is the nurse’s duty to ensure they respect and promote patient’s dignity and respect by treating them with kindness and empathy that corresponds to Christian values. This ensures patients’ care respects their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being while enabling fair and equitable care to all patients regardless of their religious background. In addition, the nurses can provide spiritual care to their patients while collaborating with spiritual leaders and chaplaincy to provide spiritual care to the patients. Lastly, the nurses can advocate for respect for religious beliefs and educate fellow healthcare providers on the various beliefs.
Cheraghi, R., Valizadeh, L., Zamanzadeh, V., Hassankhani, H., & Jafarzadeh, A. (2023). Clarification of ethical principle of the beneficence in nursing care: an integrative review. BMC Nursing, 22(1), 89. https://bmcnurs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12912-023-01246-4
Stilos, K. K., & Wynnychuk, L. (2021). Call to action: The need to expand spiritual care supports during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal, 31(3), 347.
Varkey, B. (2021). Principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. Medical Principles and Practice, 30(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000509119