In my opinion, the nurse’s role has always been to be an ethical advocate for their patients. As you may be aware, studies progress immensely with each decade that passes. With that, comes new evidenced based practice. Each generation of nursing has a different perspective when it comes to implementing these in their practice. For example, nurses in the early to mid-nineteen hundreds were endorsed in a medical era where studying diseases were important. At the time, they had an ethical standpoint in which patients did not need to know what they were being studied for, as they were likely to decline is they were educated. Therefore, healthcare systems were imposing harm in some cases. For example, proper medication regimens would be avoided in the Tuskegee study to see what would happen to the African American race if they were to be left untreated This is a key example of denying patients proper care as the result of a medical team’s interest. The nurse’s role at the time was the abide by these guidelines as they were low on the hierarchy of medical staff. They might not have agreed with the process, but were enforced by higher staff.

            Since then, our government has implemented rights that patients are to be protected under. This includes to right to be involved in your own plan of care, as well as education on their treatment. Healthcare teams are no longer allowed to perform studies that could be potentially harmful to patients without consent. We have found alternative ways to get results on questions that we might have revolving around healthcare, but we perform these in a more humane fashion. Most studies are performed in labs that work primarily with diseases and donated cells. This imposes no harm to living beings. Nurses are also encouraged more in the system to be advocates for their patients. If an ethical barrier is disturbed by staff, the nurse is expected to speak on behalf of the benefit of their patient. Overall, as nurses, we are the primary voices that allow patients to be heard. Therefore, the ethical developments of nursing over time will continue to be for the interest of the patient.

                                                                           References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, April 22). Tuskegee Study – Timeline – CDC – NCHHSTP. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm?msclkid=9581d668c29711ec9ec588c559482f2a