Table of Contents
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Principles serve as established guidelines for action in specific situations, providing guidance and direction. In order to effectively learn this course, one must be provided with guidance. Below are the principles of medicine and medical nursing.
Let’s delve into each principle, starting with autonomy.
- Autonomy: It emphasizes the recognition of individual rights, privacy, and the freedom to make choices. As such, it is imperative for nurses to uphold the patient’s autonomy, including respecting their right to refuse therapy. Additionally, nurses should actively empower patients by providing them with comprehensive information (Young Medicine, 2014).
- Confidentiality stands as a cornerstone in the management of patient-specific information, crucial for fostering and preserving trust within the nurse-patient relationship. This principle is closely tied to the notion of privacy, emphasizing that information obtained from individuals should not be divulged to others without the patient’s explicit consent.
- Fidelity symbolizes the obligation to remain steadfast in one’s commitments and promises. It highlights the importance of nurses adhering to their duties and responsibilities towards their patients, ensuring reliability and trustworthiness in their actions.
- Justice: pertains to the equitable distribution of healthcare services and allocation of resources. It emphasizes fairness and impartiality, advocating for all patients to be treated equally and without discrimination. This principle underscores the importance of ensuring fairness in healthcare delivery and resource allocation processes.
- Respect: For Persons emphasizes the importance of treating clients with dignity and honor, irrespective of their gender or societal status. It underscores the need for healthcare professionals to recognize and value the intrinsic worth and autonomy of every individual they encounter.
- The sanctity of life principle asserts that life should be revered and prioritized above all else in healthcare practice. It underscores the fundamental value of preserving and protecting life in all medical decisions and interventions.
- Veracity : states the obligation to uphold truthfulness and avoid deception or dishonesty in interactions with others. It underscores the importance of transparent communication and maintaining trust through honesty in healthcare relationships.
- Beneficence: embodies the ethical principle of doing good and acting in the best interests of others. Within the medical realm, beneficence entails taking actions that promote the well-being and welfare of patients, ensuring that interventions and treatments serve their best interests.
- Informed consent pertains to the active involvement of patients in decisions regarding their healthcare. It underscores the importance of patients being fully informed and understanding the potential benefits and risks of treatment options before making decisions about their care.
- Cultural concerns: highlight the complexities that arise from cultural differences in medical ethics. It acknowledges that diverse cultural beliefs and practices can present challenges in reconciling spiritual or magical theories about disease origins with Western medical principles. Healthcare professionals must navigate these cultural differences sensitively and respectfully in their practice.
- Sexual relationships between healthcare providers and patients raise significant ethical conflicts due to the inherent power dynamics and fiduciary responsibilities involved. Such relationships can compromise patient trust and autonomy, leading to professional repercussions for healthcare providers, including deregistration and legal prosecution. Therefore, maintaining clear boundaries and upholding professional ethics are essential to safeguarding patient welfare and maintaining the integrity of healthcare practice.
Nature and Causes of Disease
The term “disease” refers to any condition that disrupts normal bodily function, leading to a departure from health. This departure from normal function can vary in severity, ranging from incapacitating conditions to milder disruptions that allow individuals to remain active but may affect their sense of well-being. Diseases can arise naturally or be acquired artificially. They can be caused by external factors such as waterborne pathogens like cholera or by internal factors such as hypertension.
Individuals with a disease may exhibit specific signs and symptoms, or they may not, depending on factors like the presence of normal cells maintaining some level of function or compensatory mechanisms like tissue hypertrophy (an increase in cell size leading to increased tissue or organ size). Disruptions in the function of one part of the body can impact the functioning of other systems due to their interdependence for essential resources like oxygen, nutrients, and waste elimination.
Causes of Diseases
Diseases can result from various factors, including those originating from within the body (internal) and those stemming from external sources. The following are identified causes of diseases:.
Let’s examine each cause of disease in detail, starting with hereditary factors:
- Hereditary: These are diseases that are passed from parent to child. Hereditary diseases can be transmitted from one generation to another due to genetic or chromosomal disorders in one or both gametes, such as sickle cell disease.
- Developmental Defects: Failures or abnormalities in the developmental process during the embryonic or fetal stage lead to developmental defects. In most cases, the exact cause is unknown. Developmental defects may occur in infants born to mothers who had viral infections during the first trimester of pregnancy (the first three months). Toxic chemicals taken during pregnancy can disrupt normal fetal development. Radiation exposure is also believed to cause developmental defects, examples include spina bifida and cleft palate.
- Biological Agents: One of the most common causes of disease is the invasion of the body by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. These agents harm and destroy tissues either directly through their action on cells or by the toxins they produce. Diseases caused by biological agents are referred to as infections.
- Physical Agents: Tissues can be injured or destroyed by external forces in the environment. These forces include pressure, blows, falls, lacerations, and the entry of foreign bodies such as bullets. Cells may be destroyed when exposed to extreme heat or cold. Exposure to excessive sunlight or radiation from x-rays or radioactive material can alter cell structure and activity or cause cell destruction.
- Chemicals: The introduction of certain chemicals into the body can have harmful effects on tissue cells. These chemicals may disrupt normal cellular chemical reactions by forming incompatible compounds or by interfering with normal enzymatic action within the cells.
- Deficiencies and Excesses: An inadequate supply of essential materials necessary for normal tissue structure and function can lead to various diseases. This deficiency may stem from insufficient intake of nutritional substances or specific elements, a lack of absorption from the intestine, or impediments in the delivery of essential substances to cells by the circulatory system.
- Insufficient oxygen supply to any tissue significantly impairs its function, and complete deprivation leads to rapid cell death. Local hypoxia can result from vessel blockages in the affected area, while general oxygen deprivation may arise from respiratory insufficiency or disturbances in oxygen-carrying or delivery mechanisms.
- Excessive nutrient intake can also pose problems, such as increased demands on bodily functions and the storage of excess fat. Diseases resulting from nutrient excess include hypertension, certain cardiovascular conditions, and diabetes in obese individuals.
- Emotions: Psychological reactions to stressful situations can influence a person’s autonomic nervous system, altering its control of visceral activities. Changes in autonomic innervations may enhance or diminish the function of certain structures, thereby impacting overall body functioning significantly.
- Tissue Responses: Diseases can arise from the reactions or responses of tissues to injury or irritation. Examples of these responses include inflammation and allergic reactions.
- Unknown/idiopathic: The cause of certain diseases remains unknown, such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, leukemia, and psychosis. While predisposing and perpetuating factors may be recognized in some cases, the primary causative factor remains unidentified. Despite this uncertainty, understanding predisposing and perpetuating factors can aid in preventive care. In cases where the cause is unknown, treatment and therapy primarily rely on managing the signs and symptoms.
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