Assignment: Case Study about Nursing Profession
Assignment: Case Study about Nursing Profession
Nursing is a profession that involves empowering people in need and helping them achieve independence. This could be physical, social or their psychological needs. The vast knowledge of the nurse practitioners enables him/her to be able to make a diagnosis and administer most ordinary and various chronic diseases, either alone or as part of a health care group. This should be incorporated with correct understanding of the fundamental nursing ethics and principles as they aid the nurses in examining major approaches in the management of a person suffering in a clinical setting. This paper will review a case study for Judy, a patient who was diagnosed from Pelvic Inflammatory disease and ended up being diagnosed with ectopic pregnancy.Case Study about Nursing Profession
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Analysis of the Scenario
The scenario involves Judy, whose provisional diagnosis was Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) who attended a ward but unfortunately found no admitting beds available in the gynecology ward. This scenario has tabled us with the needed facts that equip us with some unethical practices and nursing legal issues that are facing our today nursing practitioners. This scenario helps to show that some unintended circumstance in a clinical setting results from a lack of legal practices that result from unethical practices of the nursing practitioners. The scenario shows that one-step of legal disobedience leads to the next, and thus resulting to adverse effects to the patient. This is shown through the improper handling of Judy, the patient who was diagnosed from Provisional Diagnosis PID, which eventually led to ‘ectopic pregnancy diagnosis, following the removal of her fallopian tube.
The scenario has provided us with a background of the relationship between the nurses and the managers, which help us to assess the attitudes of the nurses concerning Judy the patient. The scenario also shows us that that the legal relationship that is required between a nurse and a doctor is lacking. This is perhaps the major cause of the extensive use of unethical principles in this health care setting because of lack of proper supervisory role, as supervision is done through the word of mouth instead of the manager being around the nurses.
Discussion
Legal Issues for Nurse Practitioners
Despite the fact that nurse practitioners have fought to be independent in their practice for a protracted time, the careless practice of nurse practitioners has resulted to hinder their total freedom (Buppert 2007, pp. 41). There are various boards, serving as legal boards that control the nurse practitioners. In United States, these boards include the commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia’s (American Nurses’ Association 2008. p. 14)Case Study about Nursing Profession
These legal boards have principles that specify the activities within the Nurses Practitioners range of practice, and administer the provision of the service provision. They usually concentrate on standards cover qualifications, environment, the process of care, shared responsibilities, customer advocacy, documentation, quality guarantee, supporting roles and research and ensure that nurse practitioners put an emphasis on health encouragement and disease prevention (American Nurses’ Association 2008, p. 17).
These boards also define the scope of practice for the nursing, and state the level of independence that a nurse should maintain while working with their managers. In addition, it also gives out the procedure for the program schedule II to V (Buppert 2007, pp.68).
Legal issues for nursing practitioner also entails disciplinary action that can be effected when the nurses have
§ failed to meet the terms with continuing competency requirements as set forth
§ committed an act of professional ineffectiveness
§ Are guilty of unprofessional conduct as stipulated by the policies and regulations of the board
§ Has cooperated in the violation of the laws or policies governing the practice of medicine, nursing or nurse practitioners (American Nurses’ Association 2008. p. 21)
In the case study provided, although a scope of practice for the nurses is clearly defined as having given the nurses some degree of responsibility, the responsibilities are marked with lack of a proper interdependence and collaboration between the nurses and the Nurse Unit Manager (MUN) as well as the Duty Medical Officer (DMO). This is shown by lack of providing Judy, the patient with Morphine, which was ordered by The Nurse Unit Manager, thus making The NUM to question Sue about the sequence of events that lead to the situation that occurred
The Ethical, Social, and Cultural Issues Relative to Nursing Practitioners
According to Kerridge, Low and McPhee (2005) ethics are the values that ought to steer doctors, nurses as well as other health care personnel in their profession and resolution making. Nurses should note that the goals of nursing must be patient centered, and therefore they must act in a moral way that reduces or does no harm to the patient. This means that whatever is done or said must not harm the patient either in the physical or psychologically. Instead, it should act to boost the health of the patient. For every intervention by the nurses or doctors, the possible benefits should be reflected alongside probable undesirable effects. Nurses can achieve this by the use of therapeutic communication, which serves to enhance the relationship between the nurses and the patients to a point of even eradicating the barriers of culture and ethnicity, and thus aiding the patient to heal in areas where empathy is required (Hein, 2008, p. 45).Case Study about Nursing Profession
Autonomy
The autonomy principle that requires the nurses to recognize the rights of the patient to self-willpower, without discrimination is an ethical issue that nurses lack in this case study. This is because Judy, the patient consistently complained to staff that she was in a lot of pain and that, she needed to ‘pee all the time,’ and the nurses refused to heed to her cry. This principle states that nurses are obligated to administer treatments only with the patient’s informed approval as the patients have the rights to be fully conversant about the care they are being provided with in order to come to their decisions. More so, sincere and clear information should be provided to patients when it is called for (Kerridge, Low & McPhee 2005, p. 49)
Beneficence
This principal requires the health care professionals to produce assistance, to do well at all time, and take action in the best welfare of the patient. It states that whatever is done or said must be for the well being of the patient ( Kerridge, Low & McPhee 2005, p. 52).The only benefit that is evident in the case study is only the saving her life. However, in terms health the Provisional Diagnosis PID led to ‘ectopic pregnancy diagnosis, while the patient was within the clinical setting. This subjected Judy to unnecessary analysis and pointless therapies by the nurses.
Assignment: Case Study about Nursing Profession
Confidentiality /Privacy
Confidentiality in a health care setting is one of the nursing ethics that should be upheld
(Kerridge, Low & McPhee 2005, pp. 239-242). However, in this case some amount of difficulties were present in keeping information related to Judy confidentially due to the fact that the model used for the treatment involved several nurses as well as other who are not directly involved with her care. There was therefore a breach of confidentiality as there lacked presence of admitting available beds in the gynecology ward making Judy to be placed in a busy general medical ward.Case Study about Nursing Profession
Veracity- informing patients
In the scenario, neither Judy’s nor his family was involved in being provided with appropriate information concerning her treatment. This is against the nursing ethical principles .The family of the patient should also be well informed and given the opportunity in decision making about treatment and care of Judy (Marrelli, 2005, p.104).
Nurses should note that in the process of handling their work, the involvement of the stakeholders plays a critical part for the well-being of the patient. A successful clinical team should have room for the involvement of relatives and the patient in the defining quality of life that the nurses should provide to the patient (Marrelli, 2005, p.116).More over, nurses should realize that some of the patients might want different methods of treatment because of the awareness of nurses’ unethical behaviors.Assignment: Case Study about Nursing Profession
Assignment: Case Study about Nursing Profession
The nurses should help to facilitate a good provision of health care to patients, which will serve to increase association with their loved ones, evade the dying process, have a feeling of a sense of control, have tolerable pain and symptom administration (Marrelli, 2005, p.129). . In the scenario, the nurses who are the stakeholders are not involved in helping to define the quality of life that Judy would like. The clinical officers never even involved any family member during the time of emergency surgery where her fallopian tube was removed. In an alternative to this, the involvement of family members should be facilitated in the provision of a quality life that Judy would prefer, as it is a critical role in the management of disease treatment. However, good collaboration and coordination between nurses and the family should be put in place.
The ethical conflict that exist is shown where the Nursing Unit Manager notes that the patients file reads that Judy is diagnosed for Provisional Diagnosis PID and tries to rule out the existence of ectopic pregnancy diagnosis. This is an ethical conflict, as confidentiality should be considered while at the same time the truth about diagnosis should be reported and recorded. How Relevant Ethical Concept Guide Management
Butts and Rich (2005) points out that leadership in clinical practice is a process that ought to shape the goals of the medical care organizations, motivates the behavior of the nurses towards the accomplishment of these goals and help define the overall culture of the medical organizations. In clinical practice, it is a process of influencing the nurses to perform to their best. Thus, managers in medical institutions should have the capacity to motivate the medical personnel to do their best when dealing with the patients and especially when dealing with ethical issues. For example, if a nurse is not sure about an ethical issue, he or she should conform to her superior in this case, who is a leader for the correct assessment. Therefore, the relevant leadership authorities in hospitals should make it their best effort to influence all team members in the medical circle to do their best.Case Study about Nursing Profession
Assignment: Case Study about Nursing Profession
How Relevant Legal Concepts Guide Management
The ethic principle of non-maleficence, states that whatever is done or said must not harm the patient in the flesh or psychologically (Kerridge, Low & McPhee 2005, p.52).Ethical concepts for nurse practitioners should act as the guiding principle in the undertaking of duties and responsibilities pertaining to the legal concepts. Therefore, the correct ethical behaviors influence the legal concepts for the clinical officers. A successful clinical team should therefore identify the relevant legal concept for the management by assessing and identifying the scope of practice for the nurses and identifying the grounds for disciplinary action against the unethical practice of nurses.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that there are medications in the clinic, which can serve to help patients, a majority of the unexpected cases of incidents have lead to other unnecessary diagnosis tests. This can be easily eradicated and in cases where it cannot be eradicated, physicians can reduce considerably the number of additional diagnosis through proper practice of the ethical principles.Case Study about Nursing Profession
