Help In Understanding CNA Legal and Ethical Issues

One challenge many CNAs face is adhering to the set legal guidelines set by lawmakers and the ethical codes compiled and published by the American Nurses Association. While the law might undergo many different changes and may be different from state to state, the fundamental ethical principles will always stay the same. Ethical guidelines are based on the four core pillars that every nurse should be familiar with. Attentiveness requires that CNAs be ready to attend to the needs of patients, team members, patients’ families, the employer, and the whole community. Responsibility means CNAs are obligated to make wide decisions with consideration of all possible consequences. Competence obligates the CNA to posses the necessary knowledge and skills to handle required tasks and duties. And lastly, patient responsiveness requires the CNA to be able to monitor treatment responses and apply interventions as necessary. To know how to deal with these ethical codes, the CNA has to ask him/herself the following important questions before performing any task.

Does the Decision Respect Patient Autonomy?

There are many areas in medicine and healthcare where the CNA may hold a different belief or perspective to the patient and other key players. For instance, when it comes to pro-life and pro-choice issues, everyone has a different strongly-held belief. As a CNA, one may only play an advisory role but should always be ready to support the patient’s decision even if it differs with the CNA’s preference.

 

Does The Patient Benefit From The Decision?

One key role of a CNA is to help the patient achieve the best possible healthcare objective. The CNA should be compassionate and objective when providing care to a patient. This involves making decisions that are for the benefit of the patient even when such a decision goes against the CNAs main beliefs. For instance, do you deny a same sex partner access to the patient where only legal spouses are permitted in a state where homosexuality is not legal? If the presence of that partner provides much needed support for the patient’s recovery then the CNA can allow access to the partner provided it stays within the legal stipulations.

 

Is The Decision Loyal To The Patient?

Part of a CNAs mandate requires complete loyalty, faith, and truthfulness to the patient. Being in a position of closest contact with the patient, the CNA effectively becomes an advocate of the patient. For instance, CNA’s are always forced to make decisions on whether to share the patient’s condition with other parties or even with the patient. Information should only be withheld from the patient if it is deemed likely to negatively impact on the recovery process.

Is It A Just Decision?

Ethics is directly related to justice and has a lot to do with how scarce resources are utilized. A CNA needs to know how to prioritize and ensure that patients are fairly treated depending on the limited available resources. Such ethical considerations are mostly faced during times of war or during emergencies that involve high numbers of patients in need of scarce resources. If you have ever been faced by such a situation, it helps to use a CNA Resume Sample to detail how you managed to make just decisions for your patients.

The ethical and legal aspects of being a CNA may seem complicated at first. However, based on these few questions, every CNA can work out what is the right thing to do given any situation.