Ethical Issue Paper - Vitamin K Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ethical Issue Paper - Vitamin K - Essay Example The Vitamin K in breast milk is also very low and thus after the birth of babies, even though breastfeeding is taking place, Vitamin K is at a low level for several weeks and only attains its required level when the alimentary canal bacteria start generating Vitamin K for the baby. Some babies are fed with infant formula that contains Vitamin K but even though this takes place, the level of Vitamin K remains at a low level for some days (E Hey, 2003). Vitamin k is thus recommended to be administered on the new born babies to increase its levels in their body (American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Fetus and Newborn, 2003). The contention now is on how to administer Vitamin K. Which method is safe and well known to have desirable results in preventing hemorrhagic disease of the newborn? The method that has been in use was intramuscular administration or administration through injection. It however has come to be questioned on its safety on babies and its possibility that it woul d be causing cancer and leukemia in the new born babies who are given vitamin K using the intramuscular administration (American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Fetus and Newborn, 2003). This led to the introduction of oral administration in some countries. The decision however on the method to be used has somehow been determined by the consent from the parent. Where the nurse administering Vitamin K is left to decide, then ethical decision making comes in. As a nurse, consideration has to be put on both methods. Their effectiveness and on the safety. This paper, with the help of research by other writers, will show the dilemma faced in making the ethical decision of the method to use in administering Vitamin K. Summary of the Issue Concerns have however been raised on either the safeness or effectiveness of both intramuscular administration and oral administration of Vitamin K. The first that has been in use is the intramuscular administration. This method has been recorded to have good results and according to study in Australia, there was no registered case of bleeding (HDN) in the children who were given Vitamin K using intramuscular administration (Khambalia et al., A.Z., 2012).. A similar test was carried out testing the effectiveness of oral administration. Most of the infant who received Vitamin K were safe from HDN but a number of them were registered to experience bleeding probably because of HDN. From this you can depict that the efficiency of oral administration is not as effective as using intramuscular administration. This can be due to several reasons that would render oral administration non-effective. The first is that in case of vomiting in the child, to whom Vitamin K is administered to, the dose needed will not have been met and hence the child will be prone to bleeding. The other is that this method is dependent on the parent compliance to bring the child back for the second dose 3-5 days after the first dose given after child birth. T his would mean that if a parent fails to comply with this say because they forget, then the dosage will not be as expected but when it comes to intramuscular administration, the dosage is given once, immediately after birth of the child. This means that the complete dose is administered at once. These two factors may lead to lack of proper dosage if the oral administration is used and thus full protection from HDN may not be in