Final answer:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses and other health care workers adhered to a code of conduct and ethical values, including beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice, to provide patient care while faced with challenges like resource allocation and maintaining safety protocols.
Step-by-step explanation:
The nursing code of conduct and ethical values during COVID-19 are critical aspects that guide the professional behavior and decision-making processes of health care workers. During the pandemic, nurses and other medical professionals faced unprecedented challenges. It was essential for them to adhere to ethical principles such as beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice to ensure patient care was not compromised despite the strain on healthcare systems.
Key Ethical Values in Nursing During COVID-19
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the primary ethical values in nursing focused on:
- Providing compassionate care while observing safety protocols to reduce infection spread.
- Allocating limited resources fairly when faced with overwhelming numbers of patients.
- Maintaining patients' rights and dignity in the face of restrictive measures like isolation.
Health care systems, such as those aboard the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort, were pushed to their limits, and adherence to these ethical standards was paramount in providing care and making difficult triage decisions.