Sense of duty and compassion versus hospital safety protocols
A nurse mentor in Nurse2Nurse Network told me about a nurse working in a COVID unit who has lingering feelings of guilt and self-doubt about a decision she was forced to make between her sense of duty and compassion for a dying patient and the demands of hospital safety protocols.
She was at the bedside of a patient whose death was imminent but taking longer than anticipated to transpire. The nurse had made a promise to the patient and the family that the patient would not be alone at the time of death.
However, because of the prolonged nature of that passing, she had been at the bedside far longer than allowed under the guidelines the hospital had adopted to protect nurses from extended exposure to the virus.
Her co-workers, then her supervisor, were gesturing to her stridently through the glass to come out of the room. The nurse tried to ignore them at first, but the gesturing from the supervisor clearly became a command.
Ultimately, the nurse left the room before the patient had died. She feels that she betrayed her patient’s trust at the patient’s most vulnerable moment. It has been hard to let go of the guilt and remorse even though she knows she was in an impossible situation.
“Was the nurse action ethically right or wrong?”
“If you were on her situation what would you do?”
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