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Advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) include, Nurse practitioners (NPs), Clinical nurse specialists (CNS) Certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) and certified nurse midwives, and they play a significant role in advancing the future of nursing profession and the changing healthcare system. APRNs often work in the forefront, providing primary care roles providing preventive care services. Nursing profession is based on ethics, since the profession involves life and death decisions, everyday nurses try their best to fulfill their ethical obligations to patients and public, which is truly challenging in the ever-evolving healthcare set up. (nursingworld.org,2018). Advance practice nurse ethics account for more extensive duties incurred in these roles.
Let us compare a nurse practitioners’ role to a CRNA. Professionally, NPs provide primary, acute and specialty healthcare across the lifespan, through assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of illness and injuries, whereas CRNAs provide full range of anesthesia and pain management services. Although basics of ethics and code of conduct, remains the same for both these roles, ethical guidelines that governs these roles may vary accordingly. Ethical judgements can be based up on our own experiences or based up on nature of principles of the reason. (DeNisco & Barker, 2016, p.655) Let us assess a situation where one of these roles respond differently, based on ethical guidelines. Informed consent protects patient’s autonomy and gives them the right to accept or refuse healthcare treatments regardless of risks, presumed that they know themselves better and what would benefit them. There are different types of consents, and I am discussing verbal and written consents in this scenario .Gaining informed verbal consents from patients for certain routine procedures and care, including evaluation, tests, therapeutics and discussing best ways to manage their conditions is best suited for a primary care nurse practitioner (NP) role rather than a CRNA role where more complex practices like administering anesthesia before a surgical /medical procedure is involved, in which case, an informed written consent that could better protect patients from, ethical or legal breaches and their right to relevant information is required.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) created the professional code of ethics and conduct for professional nurse and it is a vital tool for nurses now and in the future, while foundational values in nursing do not change, “The code†is regularly updated to reflect the changes in healthcare and supports nurses in providing, consistently respectful, humane and dignified care.
