As passion-driven and caring professionals, nurses draw on a wellspring of empathy to create meaningful connections with their patients. This compassion is essential because it makes what could otherwise be a stressful experience far easier to bear. This has huge implications for patient satisfaction and can determine whether patients follow through on recommended treatments or health behaviors.
While many nurses are compassionate by nature, empathy represents a skill that must be developed prior to entering the field and continually expanded upon over time. Numerous nursing theories and frameworks contribute to this ongoing effort, including a crucial concept known as beneficence—essentially, doing good by promoting patients’ best interests.
All nurses should exhibit beneficence to this extent, whether they are aware of it or not. Truly understanding this concept, however, can be difficult because it so frequently appears to contrast other ethical provisions.
To that end, below we provide a deep dive into beneficence as it relates to nursing. In addition to highlighting several examples of beneficence in nursing in action, we address: What is beneficence in nursing, and why is it important?
Defining Beneficence in Nursing
As one of the guiding ethical principles underscoring the nursing profession, beneficence plays out as nurses make decisions and take actions that boost the health and well-being of their patients. These efforts may relate to clinical tasks such as dressing wounds or administering medications but can also involve emotional support or educational guidance.
Beneficence is one of several ethical concepts highlighted by Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress in the landmark guide Principles of Biomedical Ethics. This concept is also thoroughly addressed in the Belmont Report from the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Belmont Report reveals the need to “maximize possible benefits and minimize possible harms.”
Key Components of Beneficence
Beneficence is a multifaceted concept that encompasses various ways of relating to patients, anticipating their needs, and taking action to ensure they feel cared for and respected. Among nurses, core components include:
- Promoting good – The idea of beneficence has largely positive or proactive connotations, with nurses taking on helpful tasks that enhance patients’ comfort and overall health. This goes beyond taking vitals or administering treatments; nurses promote good by offering support and encouragement as well.
- Preventing harm – Additionally, beneficence in nursing calls for preventative measures, which limit the potential for events or circumstances that could detract from patients’ health or well-being. This may involve targeted precautions, including the ongoing effort to adhere to strict safety protocols.
- Removing harm – Although nurses may not be able to prevent patients from experiencing all instances of harm, they can take swift and decisive action to limit its effects. This means that nurses are highly attentive to their patients’ evolving needs as well as quick to respond with pain relief, treatment adjustments, or emotional support in the aftermath of distressing medical scenarios or procedures.
What Is the Role of Beneficence in Nursing?
Beneficence is critical across all areas of the healthcare sector. No matter their title or scope of practice, healthcare professionals owe it to their patients to make positive and proactive contributions that improve both immediate quality of care and long-term health outcomes.
However, the extent to which professionals can display beneficence may differ depending on how closely they are able to interact with patients—or what exactly their specific nursing specialties or roles involve. For example, beneficence in mental health nursing may look different than beneficence in oncology or pediatrics. Ultimately, this is patient-directed.
Within nursing, beneficence guides the promotion of patient welfare and drives ethical decision-making. Nurses who convey beneficence are better equipped to develop healing environments on behalf of their patients while also offering the insight and support patients need to continue enjoying positive outcomes far into the future.
The Importance of Beneficence in Nursing
Patient-centered care is at the heart of nursing, but if nurses do not live up to the ideals of beneficence, their approach cannot truly be described as patient-oriented. If nurses make beneficence a priority, they are more likely to build a foundation of trust with patients who, in turn, will respond positively and engage in their own care. Comforted by their nurses, these patients may also experience reduced anxiety as they navigate medical procedures or environments.
Strong emotional and physical outcomes can be expected as a result of emphasizing beneficence, which promotes both immediate and long-term healing. This drives a deeper sense of meaning for nurses, too, who take great satisfaction in knowing they’ve made a positive difference in the lives of their patients.
Examples of Beneficence in Nursing Practice
There are numerous ways to prioritize beneficence in nursing practice, and no one strategy will be required or recommended in all situations. Much depends on what precisely specific patients need or how nurses are authorized to provide assistance. Explore some common applications that demonstrate beneficence at its best.
Providing Comfort and Pain Relief
Beneficence is often discussed in the context of pain management. This may be one of the most straightforward and impactful strategies nurses can incorporate as they strive to improve patient comfort. This is far from straightforward, however. Nurses will ideally draw on holistic measures to offer lasting relief while addressing both the physical and emotional manifestations of pain. Opportunities include:
- Administering pain relief medications to help alleviate suffering or discomfort.
- Soothing patients by adjusting their positioning, applying ice packs, or guiding them through deep breathing exercises.
- Listening to patients’ concerns and acknowledging any difficult emotions they may express.
Advocating for Patient Needs
Nurses advocate on behalf of their patients, taking action to address unmet needs or speaking up when efforts to meet these needs go beyond their nursing scope of practice. This often involves extensive collaboration, though there are various steps that nurses can take on their own to ensure that patients feel supported. Examples include:
- Providing referrals or otherwise helping patients access specialized care when needed. This begins with developing strong, collaborative relationships and calls for excellent confidence and communication skills on the nurse’s part.
- Assisting patients with cultural concerns, such as making faith-related dietary accommodations. In addition, nurses should ensure that patients can interact with healthcare professionals who are fluent in their preferred languages.
Educating Patients and Families
Beneficence is by no means limited to interactions with patients. Nurses also strive to educate and support patients’ families, who may need extra assistance as they prepare to take on the role of caregiver.
Although nurses may often appear to prioritize their patients, they also make time to discuss patient status and concerns with loved ones to disclose how family members can provide support while also helping alleviate anxiety or reduce the overarching sense of uncertainty.
Going the Extra Mile
The concept of going the extra mile is certainly familiar to hardworking nurses, who are not content to settle for providing a minimum standard of care. That ‘extra mile’ may involve different strategies in different situations but generally alludes to greater effort or attention than would otherwise be expected or required. However, this should not be confused with stepping out of the nursing scope of practice; nurses can go the extra mile as they provide personalized care and demonstrate attention to detail.
Offering a powerful example of beneficence in nursing, patient-turned-medical-student Blake Hardin explains in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, “I vividly remember when I woke up from an operation, my surgeon made a set of makeshift Frankenstein ‘bolts’ out of arts‐and‐crafts materials that he placed over my head.” This provided a powerful reminder: “Even being hospital‐bound and medically complex, I am more than my illness; I was a kid first.”
Beneficence and the Ethical Principles of Nursing
Beneficence represents just one of many ethical principles relevant to modern nurses. These principles are clearly outlined by the American Nurses Association (ANA), which also highlights the importance of autonomy, justice, and non-maleficence (as detailed below):
Balancing Beneficence and Autonomy
The ANA describes autonomy as the “right to self-determination,” which has multiple applications in nursing. For example, patients enjoy autonomy when they feel empowered to make their own decisions according to their personal values—even if those choices don’t always mesh with nurses’ preferences. Meanwhile, autonomy empowers nurses to provide care within their approved scope of practice.
The concepts of beneficence and autonomy may sometimes appear to be at odds with each other. Nurses may believe that they know which treatments or preventative measures are in patients’ best interests, but due to their need for autonomy, they may struggle to convince patients to abide by key recommendations.
While nurses may feel compelled to make decisions based on what they assume will benefit each patient, this approach is not ethically sound. Therein lies the need for informed consent, in which patients receive access to all necessary information so that they can make the right choices based on their beliefs and priorities.
Beneficence and Non-Maleficence
As an ethical principle that encourages nurses to “do no harm,” non-maleficence may seem a lot like beneficence at first glance—but these principles are actually distinct. With non-maleficence, medical professionals seek to avoid potentially harmful actions. Beneficence calls for a more proactive approach, involving targeted actions meant to not only avoid harm but also accomplish good.
In some cases, the effort to “do no harm” may seem to stand in the way of beneficence. If nurses provide high doses of certain pain medications, for instance, it is possible that patients will grow dependent on these drugs or even risk overdose. If, however, nurses exclusively consider beneficence, they might be inclined to provide higher doses of such medications simply because they appear to bring patients greater comfort.
Challenges to Upholding Beneficence
Upholding the principle of beneficence can be challenging, in part, because it is far more nuanced than its definition suggests. For this reason, it is not enough to merely understand, “What is beneficence in nursing?” Yes, this concept is important, but it should be carefully considered alongside other ethical principles in nursing, not to mention within the context of various nursing scopes of practice.
Therein lies the need for nuanced ethical training that should prepare nurses to navigate difficult situations while abiding by key moral obligations. Walking this tightrope of ethical concerns will never truly become easy, but it should feel more manageable when equipped with the right frameworks—and following extensive clinical experience and personal reflection.
Explore Ethical Nursing Principles With Nevada State University
If you are committed to upholding nursing ethics, you will benefit greatly from high-level training that exposes you to several complex ethical scenarios. With the right RN to BSN online program, you can move beyond clinical skill development and focus on ethical problem-solving and evidence-based practice. These are priorities at Nevada State University.
We are eager to support tomorrow’s most hardworking and compassionate nurses in their efforts to expand their knowledge and better serve their patients. Learn more and request further information about our online RN to BSN program today.