Describe a clinical situation in which a registered nurse may encounter moral distress. 

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One clinical situation in which a registered nurse may encounter moral distress is when they are caring for a patient who is receiving end-of-life care, and the patient or their family requests a treatment or intervention that the nurse believes is medically futile or morally wrong.

For example, a nurse may be caring for a terminally ill patient who is in severe pain and has a do-not-resuscitate order in place. The patient’s family may request that the patient be given high doses of pain medication, even if it could hasten the patient’s death. The nurse may believe that this is medically futile and may cause harm to the patient, but they may also feel pressure to comply with the family’s wishes, as the family is grieving and emotionally distraught.

In this situation, the nurse may experience moral distress, as they are torn between their duty to provide compassionate care to the patient and their obligation to uphold ethical principles of non-maleficence and beneficence. They may also feel conflicted about their role in supporting the patient’s autonomy and respecting their end-of-life wishes, while also balancing the concerns of the patient’s family. This can be a challenging situation for the nurse to navigate, and may require consultation with other healthcare professionals and ethical committees to resolve the moral dilemma.