UUSTAL MODEL OF DECISION MAKING
Ethical dilemmas are part of the nursing profession regardless of area of practice and health center of practice. These ethical dilemmas affect them and their clients (Saucier et al, 2009). The major ethical decision I have faced in my career is truth versus deception. This occurs many times when the family of the patient wants the patient not to know the truth about serious medical conditions. I normally encounter such situations where there is dilemma of maintaining the right of the patient to know and telling the patient the correct prognosis of a life threatening illness and acquiescing to the wishes of the immediate family members of the client to withhold information from the patient.
I always used the Uustal model of decision making to make a decision about this ethical model. The nine steps of Uustal, model of decision-making are identification of the objectives, exploring the options of the case, the identification of the implicated values, assessment of the importance of a decision, and then budgeting the time and energy for the decision. The last three steps of Uustal decision-making model are identification of options, evaluation of the options and then making a choice based on the available time and budget (Saucier et al, 2009).
In these ethical dilemmas, the decision I always make is disclosing the information to the patient and not acquiescing to family wishes for the benefit of the patient. The primary commitment of the nurse is promoting, protecting and safeguarding the rights of their patient. It is therefore not correct to acquiesce to the demands of the family members regarding disclosure of treatment information to the patient. The patient has a right to know the details of their treatment and the nurse should always safeguard this right (ANA, 2001).
References
Saucier, K., et al (2009). Community health nursing: Caring for the public health.
Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ANA (2001). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Retrieved from
http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/CodeofEthicsforNurses/Code-of-Ethics.pdf.
