Relational Ethics In Nursing

Up holding the patient’s wishes to the best of the nurse’s abilities can seem fairly straight forward. Often, there are situations where this could be hindered by the family, who also have good intentions to protect the patient. Although the nurse may feel strongly to advocate for the patient, in these situations, it becomes difficult to ignore the request of the family who know the patient and have their best interest at heart. This creates an ethical dilemma as to how to approach the situation because there is no clear answer to what would be best for the patient.

In this scenario between Michael Grigio, the patient, and his family (See Appendix A) there are several factors that affect how to resolve the situation at hand. Relational ethics can be used as a guide to assist the family with determining a decision that will primarily respect the patient’s autonomy. Relational ethics centers on the notion that moral good and happiness of a person is rooted in our relationships with others (MacDonald, 2006). It has a strong emphasis on an authentic dialogue while respecting emotions, as well as reasons expressed by the persons involved
The nurse must focus on each of the relationships between the patient and his family and the relationship with their patient and their families. This is important for gathering information to fill in the gaps created between family members through lack of communication or strained relationship caused by the illness. In this scenario, the best way for the nurse to advocate for the patient would be to fully understand the patient’s reasoning behind wanting to know his full diagnosis and help him deliver that message to his family. Since the patient desires to please his family members, once the patient and his family are able to carry out an authentic conversation, the parents can negotiate with the patient on how much information he should know about his