Beneficence
Beneficence is defined as doing good for an individual (National Institutes of Health, 1979). Most nurses and other clinicians easily ascribe to this tenet because they entered the healthcare profession, ostensibly, to do good for others and provide comfort and pain relief. In the modern hospital setting, it is very rare that pain must be allowed for diagnostic reasons; and it is even rarer that severe pain cannot be controlled in some fashion. Undertreated pain can lead to respiratory, cardiac, and endocrine complications as well as delay healing and potentiate the onset of chronic pain issues for an individual (Brennan, Carr, & Cousins, 2007). Although complete relief may not always be possible, the means for bringing pain under control quickly is usually available and must be done to be considered ‘good’ patient care.