Concept of the Impaired Nurse

Introduction

Impaired nurses cannot meet the requirements stipulated by the code of ethics that governs the nursing profession and the standards of professionalism dictated. Typically, impaired nurses neglect their fundamental duty of caregiving to their patients, commit numerous medical errors, and fail in pain management (EMC, 2018). Ideally, impaired nursing may entail drug addicts, drunkards, mentally disturbed nurses, and even sleep enthusiasts (EMC, 2018). Lately, the issue of impaired nursing continues to attract significant attention, given the encumbrances surrounding this problematic situation, which compromises healthcare significantly (Toney-Butler & Siela, 2021). The danger posed by assimilating impaired nurses is the risk of patients losing their lives. Such nurses would be largely incompetent and bound by minor ethical stipulations that compel them to fulfill their duty of care as salient caregivers.

Ethical and Legal Ramifications of Impaired Nurses

Ethical Implications

The healthcare sector has incorporated four fundamental ethical principles that define how it should render its services as caregivers: non-maleficence, beneficence, justice, and autonomy (Feinberg, 2010, p. 623). The philosophical framework of principalism requires that nurses prioritize benefiting their patients and doing everything within their control to ensure that harm is not sustained (Feinberg, 2010, p. 623). Essentially, deontology also comes into play when focusing on the extent to which duties and responsibilities should be performed as required and the condemnation of omission, which tends to result in complications and ethical compulsions (Feinberg, 2010, p. 623). Indisputably, assimilating impaired nurses into the healthcare sector has several ethical ramifications around it, all of which should not be juggled.

As required for nurses and healthcare professionals, the ethical principle of autonomy posits that patients should be thoroughly brought to speed on critical issues surrounding their health (Feinberg, 2010, p. 624). On top of that, it speculates that patients should be allowed to take part in their healthcare as they best understand their health complications and can, thus, provide feasible intervention strategies that would benefit them (Feinberg, 2010, p. 624). To this end, dealing with an impaired nurse is not a reliable guarantee that a patient's autonomy would be respected, mainly because impaired nurses tend to complete tasks and " do what they think is best for the patient" (Feinberg, 2010, p. 624). When this happens, the autonomy of a patient is highly disregarded, which then implies that the impaired nurse commits an ethical breach.

The principle of non-maleficence asserts that no harm should be done and is considerably supported by the Latin maxim, primum non-nocere, meaning, first, not harm (Feinberg, 2010, p. 624). Healthcare professionals must inflict no harm in patients, mainly requiring them to eliminate any interventions that might cause the same since pain elimination in toto is nearly impossible in health matters. Given this dilemma, pain management strategies such as anesthesia were introduced to cushion patients from pain, especially when undergoing critical surgeries. However, dealing with impaired nurses and requiring them to uphold the non-maleficence ethical principle might be difficult to sustain because their drug-induced states or sleepiness modes might cause them to forget to administer pain management interventions (Feinberg, 2010, p. 624). Therefore, a patient is taken care of by such a nurse would have their health and life compromised immensely.

The ethical principle of beneficence requires that medical professionals do good and benefit their patients by providing the best healthcare techniques to ensure optimal good health (Feinberg, 2010, p. 624). Ideally, this ethical principle is derived from radical non-maleficence and requires nurses to offer patients non-punitive treatment options that warrant their well-being and subsequent health sustenance (Feinberg, 2010, p. 625). However, dealing with impaired nurses who unsuccessfully try to hide their addiction might...

…also feel affected by their behaviors because their caregiving becomes less standard and radically ineffective (Feinberg, 2010, p. 599). They may also fear becoming stigmatized and criticized by others for their impairment when they fail to understand their driving force (Feinberg, 2010, p. 600). The loss of licensure also heavily weighs on impaired nurses and causes them to keep on with their behaviors because withdrawing may attract considerable attention, illuminating their impairment (Feinberg, 2010, p. 600). Indisputably, these ethical dilemmas faced by impaired nurses contribute immensely to their failure to seek help for their impairment.

Agencies are also affected by impaired nurses as they would be forced to take stringent measures in ensuring that their incompetent staff is dealt with by the law, contrary to which legal sanctions follow (Toney-Butler & Siela, 2021). Further, the risk of being investigated by medical boards is also guaranteed because all the processes conducted in institutions with impaired nurses would become questionable (Toney-Butler & Siela, 2021). Additionally, agencies face the risk of being publicly humiliated when impaired nurses are exposed publicly, which might affect the public's confidence in them in the future (Toney-Butler & Siela, 2021).

Conclusion

The issue of impaired nursing remains a prevalent issue in the healthcare sector that should be dealt with tactically to ensure that repeat medical offenses do not present themselves. Appreciatively, nurses are tasked with upholding their care duties to patients, which should prevail before any other matters. It is worth considering that impaired nurses face substantial issues that prompt them towards such lifestyles; hence, massive support should be given to them to help their case. Stigmatization only forces them to remain impaired because they would be wrongly informed that everyone would be cynical about their depressed states. Therefore, as impaired nursing continues becoming a prevalent issue, so should the level of…