ETHICAL & CULTURAL

ISSUES IN MEDICAL &

SURGICAL NURSING

Presented By
Dharajiya Chandrika
 INTRODUCTION
• Medical surgical nursing involves providing
care to adults of all ages.
• Nurses need to provide culturally sensitive
care to patients from a variety of cultural
backgrounds.
• While doing this, they must adhere to ethical
principles of providing nursing care.
•
 Significance of Culture in Nursing

• Being aware of or inquiring about a

person's culture or religion with respect to
medical care helps the nurse avoid
causing cultural pain to his patient in
addition to what already ails him or her.
 Religious Issues
• Religion may be part of a person's culture.
The nurse may encounter issues related to
diet, prayer rituals, death rituals or refusal
of medical procedures like blood
transfusions based on religion
 Communication Issues
• Certain cultures value modesty, and
females are only allowed to talk to and be
cared for by female healthcare providers.
Other cultures deem eye contact as rude
or disrespectful.
• Conflict may arise when the cultural
communication pattern of a patient is
ignored.
 Family Organization Issues

• Some cultures require a certain member of

the family to communicate with the
healthcare providers in behalf of the sick
individual.
• The patient and his or her family may feel
offended if this cultural practice is not
taken into consideration by the medical
surgical nurse.
 Ethical Principles in Nursing Care
• The medical surgical nurse respects the right of
the patient to make decisions about his or her
care whether it is safe or not, and this is patient
autonomy.
• The nurse does no harm to and acts in the best
interest of the patient, which is beneficence.
• Maleficence occurs when the nurse causes pain
in order to minimize harm and increase positive
health outcomes for the patient.
• Justice involves providing equal care to every
patient regardless of race or socioeconomic
status.
 Ethical Issues
• These occur when the medical surgical nurse
is put in a position where she has to ignore
the principles surrounding provision of ethical
care.
• Examples are unsafe nurse-to-patient ratio,
• nonresponse by a physician, inappropriate
medication orders and refusal of lifesaving
treatment by a competent adult patient.
•
THANK
YOU!!!!
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