Ethical and Legal Aspects of Nursing

Ethical and Legal Aspects of Nursing
Ethical and Legal Aspects of Nursing
Week 1 discussion
DQ1 Right Wrong Picture
Differentiate between the terms “Ethics”, “Morals”, and “Values”.
Discuss why ethical theories are important to nursing practice.
Discuss a situation from your clinical practice or training where one or more ethical principles was supportive of care or was in conflict of care.
DQ2 Explain the term “standard of care” from a legal and a nursing perspective.
Include support for your explanation by using references from your ANA Essentials of Nursing Package (Scope and Standards of Practice, Guide to Nursing’s Social Policy Statement, and the Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses).
NUR3826 Ethical and Legal Aspects of Nursing
Week 2 discussion
DQ1 Are you knowledgeable about your own state statutes and regulations regarding informed consent?
1. Discuss the law or rules of informed consent in your state or workplace organization.
2. What ethical issues should be realized by practicing nurses in regards to consent?
3. How does the process of consenting patients for genetic testing differ?
4. Many patients or family members ask nurses for further clarification regarding genetic testing and often the response is in terms of what the health care provider himself or herself would do. Discuss this phenomenon and include the concept of “paternalism” in your remarks.
DQ2 Please thoroughly review the “Effective Documentation” and Electronic Medical Record (Computerized Charting)” content from Chapter Nine of the Guido (6th ed.) textbook.
After reviewing:
1) Discuss at least two of the findings you consider most important to your practice.
2) Does your present (or past) employer use Electronic Health Records (EHR)? If so, which technology platform is utilized? In your experience, describe your biggest challenges using EHR?
3) How can privacy and confidentiality be ensured with the use of electronic health records?
4) What ethical issues might arise from the use of technology in patient care?
5) Discuss if the electronic medical record has made documentation better from a legal perspective AND from the nurses’ practice perspective.
NUR3826 Ethical and Legal Aspects of Nursing
Week 3 discussion
DQ1
Discuss issues related to corporate liability and the nurse leader’s role in prevention of legal entanglement.
What role does staffing and delegation play in corporate liability?
DQ2
There are laws that impact nursing practice including licensure, the Nurse Practice Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. As a nurse leader, legal and ethical concerns must be acknowledged and addressed to ensure care is safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered (STEEEP). Ethical decisions must adhere to both legal and ethical principles.
Consider the following scenario:
Impaired Nurse – A nurse on your unit is frequently late, occasionally looks “high”, and based on your observations, gives substandard care to patients. Upon receiving report, you realize that there is a discrepancy about medication given to one of the patients and what the patient tells you. You have suspicions based on the nurse’s behavior that the nurse might be diverting narcotics meant for patients. What do you do?
Do you have a legal obligation to address suspicions? And if so, what laws or rules would indicate a legal responsibility and what actions would you take? If the nurse is found to have a narcotic addiction, is the identifying nurse required to report this to the state board of nursing?
What is the ethical responsibility of the nurse who suspects a co-worker of substance abuse? What ethical principles apply?