hey there it's christine from nurse in the making and today we're going to talk about ethical principles this is a very common topic tested on the nclex and in your fundamentals class so let's look at the seven ethical principles you need to know the first one is autonomy and this is respecting a patient's values and beliefs a patient has the right to choice and self-determination it's the idea that a patient holds the right to make their own health care decisions and has the right to make all choices in their care you can remember this by the memory trick autonomy think all by myself i have the right to make my own decisions an example of autonomy would be a patient refusing treatment because every patient has the legal right to refuse a surgical procedure or treatment if they are deemed medically stable in other words they have autonomy over themselves and their health care choices the next one is beneficence this is always doing good for the patient and acting with compassion the nurse should always choose the good for each patient you can remember this because beneficence looks like benefit and benefit means good an example of this would be holding a patient's hand who is on hospice care and wants someone close to them we're doing good for our patient and acting with compassion the next one is fidelity this is where the nurse will remain loyal and faithful in their actions and care they are keeping their promises and providing safe well-intentioned care you can remember this by the memory trick fidelity think faithful an example of fidelity and healthcare would be telling your elderly patient you will bring them to the bathroom in 15 minutes and you act faithfully to your statement you're not just saying things to leave the room again fidelity is being loyal and faithful in your actions [Music] accountability the nurse will take responsibility for all their actions they are accountable for their errors or mistakes you can remember this by the memory trick accountability think i'm accountable for my actions an example this would be when a nurse makes a medication error they're going to take responsibility for it and not try to hide it again we're accountable for our actions the next one is justice just means fair and justice means equal care will be delivered to all patients you can remember this by the memory trick i just want fair care for all an example of justice is caring for each patient the same regardless of their background socioeconomic status gender ethnicity or history again equal care will be delivered to all the next ethical principle is non-maleficence another way to say this is do no harm the nurse should not inflict any harm on any patient this could include intentional or unintentional harm you can remember this by the memory trick none means none and mal means bad so in other words do no bad or do no harm an example of non-maleficence is when a nurse stops administering a medication that is known to be harmful another example is not administering aspirin to a patient with a known allergy to aspirin this is why you as a nurse should do multiple checks before administering to avoid a medication error that could harm your patient again this is intentional or unintentional harm the next ethical principle is veracity this is being entirely honest with the patient at all times you can remember this by the memory trick veracity think very honest an example of this is simply not lying to your patients if a patient is taking a medication with a known adverse side effect and the patient asks does this medication have side effects you as the nurse need to be very honest and tell them the known side effects okay let's do a practice question to test your knowledge which of the following is the correct understanding of nursing ethical principles pause the video and comment your answer below justice is telling the client the truth that the medication can cause a rash autonomy is requiring the patient to have an advanced directive fidelity is staying with a patient during their death as promised beneficence is not telling the client they have cancer because that was the family's wishes justice is telling the client the truth that the medication can cause a rash telling the client the truth is veracity not justice remember veracity think very honest so this one is not correct autonomy is requiring the client to have an advanced directive requiring is not autonomy this is a tricky one because well the nclex is tricky having an advanced directive is a patient's right but requiring a patient to have one is taking their autonomy away from them so this is not correct fidelity is staying with a patient during their death as promised yeah this sounds like fidelity remember fidelity think faithful this is the correct one but let's look at option four to make sure beneficence is not telling the client they have cancer because that was the family's wishes this is taking away the patient's autonomy beneficence means doing good but this statement takes away the patient's autonomy because they have the right to know their medical diagnosis for more daily nclex practice questions like this you can subscribe to my youtube channel let's do a quick review of the seven ethical principles autonomy means the right to make your own decisions remember autonomy think all by myself beneficence means doing right or doing good remember that sounds like benefit which is a good thing fidelity means remaining loyal and faithful fidelity think faithful next is accountability which means responsible for all my actions think accountability i am accountable for my actions justice means equal care remember i just want fair care for all non-maleficence means do no harm none means none and mal means bad last but not least we have veracity which means remaining honest at all times veracity think very honest that's all for the seven ethical principles you need to know for the nclex don't forget to 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