How the ANA Code of Nursing Ethics would influence a final decision in each case study. With the patient with the hemorrhagic stroke, it is our responsibility to discuss with the patient’s family possible options in which they would feel comfortable taking. According to the Code of Nursing Ethics, “the nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, or community” (ANA Code of Nursing Ethics). With the patient having no advanced directives, the decision is much harder to take. Ethics committees can be useful in this situation, because they can help explain the patient’s situation and provide possible answers to those hard questions.
Nurses are accountable for their professional judgment and actions. To protect the nurse from liability. To practice nursing with understanding and confidence. (Berman, Snyder, Levette-Jones, Dwyer, Hales, Harvey, Luxford,Moxham, Park, Parker, Reid-Searle and Stanely, 2012, p 59) 2) Elijah has an intellectual disability. Prior to surgery consent must be obtained.
Underlining this concept are the nursing ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence (Taxis, 2002, p.158). It is not difficult to understand how these principles may cause a dilemma for nurses who attempt to balance the risks and benefits of restraint use. A review of literature has shown that nurses want to protect their patients from harm but also maintain the patient’s rights and dignity (Janelli, 2006). With the inherent risk of violence that is common to all psychiatric settings it is important to understand the nurses perspective and reasoning in the use of restraints. In studies addressing the views of nurses on restraint use, important findings have been brought to light.
Nursing has evolved from nuns and military personnel providing services similar to a nurse into the modern practice of not only being a support system within the different clinical settings, but also being leaders and crucial members of the healthcare system. One of the issues with nursing is that there’s always a shortage. Some of the obstacles that the nursing profession faces are the stereotypes of it being a female only profession, being the assistant to the doctor and doing all the dirty work, and being a fall back profession if you don’t make it into medical school. But according to Kirby (2009), “Revisiting the past demonstrates the continuity of the debate on the preparation of nurses and the role of the press in an emotive misrepresentation of nursing” (p. 2). Kirby (2009) also mentions that, “Nursing was not unpopular.
Each nurse demonstrated that teambuilding is important because it helps to provide better patient care by utilizing the expertise of the other disciplines and allowing collaborative efforts to resolve patient problems. Teambuilding also includes relationship building. As stated by the nurse midwife, she establishes a relationship with the labor nurses, which also enhances patient care. The particular care applied through these particular nursing practices, across the board, are direct patient-centered care with the exception of the infection control nurse. Her care is not directly with the patient, but her job effects the patient directly.
Quality of Life and Functioning The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics states several behaviors that are expected in the provision of healthcare, including allowing patients the right to autonomy and treating all patients equally and with respect. Along those same lines, nurses are expected to be aware of their own values and morals, and exhibit moral self-respect. Additionally, nurses must uphold their responsibility to act as patient advocates, be committed to the care of their patients, and must work with the interdisciplinary team to ensure that patients are receiving the most efficient and effective care possible (“Code of Ethics,” 2010). A. Personal Perceptions Caring for terminally ill patients can be a daunting task for all involved, whether it is for the patient, friends or family, or the nurse or other clinicians.
Fundamental legal aspects of each case The ANA Code of Ethics are used to help uphold fundamental legalities. When we look at the ethical responsibility and fundamental legalities that are associated with direct patient care and as it applies in the case study case study of patient Marianne, a 79 year-old female, who is brought to the emergency department with hemorrhagic stroke, a bad prognosis of recovering and she does not have an advance directive. The legal aspects of the legal responsibilities of the registered nurse who was a witness in a malpractice case of a nursing colleague that was found to be negligent in following the standards of the nursing practice. The primary obligation of the nurse is to protect the patient’s best interest, maintaining safety, dignity and ethical accountability, which is essential in the first case of Marianne, as she is neurologically unstable and unable to have a voice in her care and does not have a living will. According to the ANA Code of Ethics, the nurse is responsible to provide the family with full disclosure about Marianne’s condition and inform the family of possible outcomes of having
Although competing demands of patient, family, and physician have risen, the nurse’s first priority is always providing care that ensures patient safety and protects the best welfare of the patient. A nurse is subject to a malpractice lawsuit if incompetent care results in patient harm. When a nurse cares for patients, he or she takes on the duties and responsibilities to care for the patient in a skilled and thorough manner. Nurses are expected to provide the same quality of care
By applying the Watson caring theory in caring for patients, “it allows nurses to practice the art of caring, to provide compassion to ease patients’ and families’ suffering, and to promote their healing and dignity but it can also contribute to expand the nurse’s own actualization” (Cara, 2003, p 2). Watson believes it is crucial that nurses apply caring values to their practice because it is essentially a byproduct in discovering the meaning of the nursing profession (Theory of Human Caring, n.d.). The foundation of this paper is to expound on the caring theory Jean Watson designed “to bring meaning and focus to nursing as a distinct health profession” (Cara, 2003, p 2). Description of the Theorist In the 1940’s, Jean Watson was born in West Virginia in a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. In 1961, graduated from the Lewis Gale School of Nursing, furthering her career at the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1964, received a bachelor’s degree, in 1966 a Master’s degree in psychiatric and mental health nursing and in 1973, a Ph.D. in educational psychology and counseling.
Becoming aware of these laws would be ideal, but not knowing the key points of each law where someone may encounter an emergency should be protected if they act reasonably. Keywords: liable, protect Good Samaritan Laws May Vary In her article “How good a Samaritan should you be?” Penny S. Brooke (2003) describes legal ramifications and duties a nurse has when encountering an emergency situation outside of work. Many people refuse involvement during an emergency due to a possible lawsuit. They may be unaware that most states have Good Samaritan laws. These laws are designed to protect an individual from being held liable when volunteering their healthcare skills in an emergency.