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Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID‐19 pandemic
AIM: In this paper, we critically discuss the ethics of nurses' choice to strike during the COVID‐19 pandemic, considering legal and ethical arguments, overlaying the Ubuntu philosophy, an African ethic. BACKGROUND: The recent unprecedented coronavirus disease pandemic and the increased reports...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8653359/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34551118 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/inr.12703 |
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author | Mavis Mulaudzi, Fhumulani Mulaudzi, Mutondi Anokwuru, Rafiat Ajoke Davhana‐Maselesele, Mashudu |
author_facet | Mavis Mulaudzi, Fhumulani Mulaudzi, Mutondi Anokwuru, Rafiat Ajoke Davhana‐Maselesele, Mashudu |
author_sort | Mavis Mulaudzi, Fhumulani |
collection | PubMed |
description | AIM: In this paper, we critically discuss the ethics of nurses' choice to strike during the COVID‐19 pandemic, considering legal and ethical arguments, overlaying the Ubuntu philosophy, an African ethic. BACKGROUND: The recent unprecedented coronavirus disease pandemic and the increased reports on the absence of personal protective equipment in South Africa places many health workers' lives at risk. Nurses spend most of their time with patients, which exposes them to fatal risks as they work in unsafe environments. RESEARCH METHODS: Exploratory literature review was conducted using Pubmed, CINAHL, Google Scholar and Science Direct) and law cases repository. FINDINGS: Nurses thus may be justified in striking to protect their safety. State healthcare entities are obliged to ensure safety and protect the health of professionals during the pandemic. According to their Code of Practice and Pledge of Service, they are ethically obliged to put patients first, and as a result, they are legally barred from engaging in strike action. CONCLUSION: We conclude that there may be constitutional human rights arguments to support strike action. We also find that ethical principles alone do not provide clear direction to guide nurses in making justified and ethical decisions regarding service provision in an environment threatening to compromise their safety. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8653359 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-86533592021-12-08 Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID‐19 pandemic Mavis Mulaudzi, Fhumulani Mulaudzi, Mutondi Anokwuru, Rafiat Ajoke Davhana‐Maselesele, Mashudu Int Nurs Rev Nursing and Health Policy Perspectives AIM: In this paper, we critically discuss the ethics of nurses' choice to strike during the COVID‐19 pandemic, considering legal and ethical arguments, overlaying the Ubuntu philosophy, an African ethic. BACKGROUND: The recent unprecedented coronavirus disease pandemic and the increased reports on the absence of personal protective equipment in South Africa places many health workers' lives at risk. Nurses spend most of their time with patients, which exposes them to fatal risks as they work in unsafe environments. RESEARCH METHODS: Exploratory literature review was conducted using Pubmed, CINAHL, Google Scholar and Science Direct) and law cases repository. FINDINGS: Nurses thus may be justified in striking to protect their safety. State healthcare entities are obliged to ensure safety and protect the health of professionals during the pandemic. According to their Code of Practice and Pledge of Service, they are ethically obliged to put patients first, and as a result, they are legally barred from engaging in strike action. CONCLUSION: We conclude that there may be constitutional human rights arguments to support strike action. We also find that ethical principles alone do not provide clear direction to guide nurses in making justified and ethical decisions regarding service provision in an environment threatening to compromise their safety. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-09-22 2021-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8653359/ /pubmed/34551118 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/inr.12703 Text en © 2021 The Authors. International Nursing Review published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Council of Nurses https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Nursing and Health Policy Perspectives Mavis Mulaudzi, Fhumulani Mulaudzi, Mutondi Anokwuru, Rafiat Ajoke Davhana‐Maselesele, Mashudu Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID‐19 pandemic |
title | Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID‐19 pandemic |
title_full | Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID‐19 pandemic |
title_fullStr | Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID‐19 pandemic |
title_full_unstemmed | Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID‐19 pandemic |
title_short | Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID‐19 pandemic |
title_sort | between a rock and a hard place: ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the covid‐19 pandemic |
topic | Nursing and Health Policy Perspectives |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8653359/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34551118 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/inr.12703 |
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