Deontological Perspective
According to deontology, rules are established to determine what is right or wrong based on one’s obligations and duties, the foundation of which is the unchanging or absolute principles derived from universally shared values. Deontologists believe that standards for moral behaviour exist independently of means or ends. Perhaps one of the best known rule-oriented deontological theories was formulated by Immanuel Kant. According to Kant, philosophy is the concept that morality could be explained as the ultimate commandment of reason or imperative from which all duties and obligations derive. Kant’s categorical imperative or moral law suggests that one’s actions are only acceptable if they are to become universal law. In accordance to the fundamental teaching of deontology, patient workload should be divided evenly among the nursing team. Each nurse should be seen as an end in itself, and not merely as a means. That said, workload should be distributed in accordance to patient acuity, and not simply by a generic pre-assigned number i.e. each nurse gets a minimum of five patients regardless of their acuity. Nurses that are aware of imbalances in the distribution of patient workload should act in goodwill and in accordance with universally valid moral principles by advocating for their coworkers and working together to reassign patients in order to achieve some degree of workload equality
