Unit 8 Ethical Issues in Nursing Practice – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Ethics
answer
discipline concerned with right and wrong conduct; what should or should not be done
question
"Ethical Code" contains what?
answer
framework for decision making o Should be action oriented and usable on a daily basis o Guides the conduct of the professional o A written list of professional values
question
ANA Ethical Code For Nurses Purpose, consequences. 4 Guidelines
answer
o Purpose: provide a standard of ethical conduct for practice o Failure to follow the code results in: loss of social respect loss of confidence in nursing loss of respect for self/colleagues o Provide services with respect for human dignity (patient)... unrestricted by social or economic status, personal attributes, or nature of health problems o Safeguard right to privacy o Safeguard clients and safety against unethical or illegal practice o Assume responsibility and accountability for individual judgments and actions
question
Measurement Criteria for Nurses Practicing Ethically. "Ethical guidelines" 6
answer
o Practice guided by Code of Ethics o Maintain patient confidentiality o Acts as a patient advocate o Deliver care in a nonjudgmental and nondiscriminatory manner o Deliver care that preserves/protects client autonomy, dignity, and rights o Seek available resources to help formulate ethical decisions
question
Bioethical Principles ?
answer
o are statements of the right and good that derive form purposes of medical activity -healing, helping, and caring in a special kind of human relationship
question
The "4" Cardinal Ethical Precepts
answer
Autonomy - personal independence Beneficence - taking positive action to help others Nonmaleficence - Avoiding harm or hurt Justice - fairness (distributive, social or legal)
question
Respect for Patient Autonomy includes/4
answer
Patients have control over their own bodies Informed consent and advance directives Treatment refusal Competency and capacity
question
Barriers for Patient Autonomy includes/4
answer
Actions that would cause self harm or harm to others Receiving treatment that is not effective Refusing undeniably effective treatments Demand that require HC provider to violate their ethics
question
Principle of Beneficence
answer
the duty of the health care provider is to benefit the patient and to take positive steps to prevent and to remove harm from patient
question
Principle of Nonmaleficence
answer
-do no harm or allow harm to happen; (medical competence) - fundamental commitment on the part of health care professionals to protect their patients form harm
question
Principle of Justice
answer
giving to each that which is his due community perspective the fair distribution of goods in society
question
Criteria for Distributive Justice
answer
• To each person an equal share • To each person according to need • To each person according to effort • To each person according to contribution • To each person according to merit • To each person according to free market exchanges SCEMN FM
question
Veracity Exception
answer
truthfulness; the requirement that healthcare providers tell the truth and do not intentionally deceive or mislead • Exception: may be violated when harm will come to the patient from telling the truth
question
"4" Topic Method to Solve Ethical Dilemmas
answer
• Medical Indications • Patient Preferences • Quality of Life • Contextual Features
question
• Medical Indications
answer
o A review of the diagnosis and treatment options
question
• Patient Preferences
answer
o All clinical encounters occur because a patient presents before the physician with a complaint. The patient's values are essential to the encounter. o An expression of these values may often be found in his or her Advance Directive.
question
• Quality of Life
answer
o The objective of all clinical encounters is to improve or address the quality of life of the patient.
question
• Contextual Features
answer
o All clinical encounters occur in a wider context beyond the physician and patient. o Some of these features may include family, religious, social and cultural ideas, the law, hospital policy, insurance companies, etc.
question
Book • The ethical decision-making process
answer
o Step 1: Collect, Analyze, and Interpret the Data o Step 2: State the Dilemma o Step 3: Consider the Choices of Action o Step 4: Analyze the Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Course of Action o Step 5: Make the Decision and Act on it
question
Purpose and Role of Institutional Ethics Committees
answer
o Physicians, nurses, and other staff members often encounter ethical conflicts they are unable to resolve on their own. In these cases, the interdisciplinary ethics committee can help the health-care provider resolve the dilemma o Community effort to resolve dilemmas o Representative from many disciplines o Complementary viewpoints, valuable for strengthening relationships
question
Abortion
answer
o POLARIZING ISSUE o Has religious, ethical, social, and legal implications o Elective abortion: voluntary termination of a pregnancy before 24 weeks gestation o Self-selected, or elective, abortions are those performed solely on the mother's own decision o Those who argue against abortion believe that life begins at the moment of conception and therefore hold that abortion is an act of killing
question
Ethical issues of Abortion
answer
o Woman's rights to privacy, self-determination, and freedom of choice are at issue (issues of public policy and constitutional law)
question
Genetics and Genetic Research
answer
o The potential for misuse of genetic procedures is great o Mandatory genetic screening would most likely be unethical; the concept of is not unrealistic.
question
Ethical issues with Genetics and Genetic Research/4
answer
• Informed consent (permission granted by a person with full knowledge of the risks and benefits of what is being done) • Confidentiality • Emotional impact of the client (may cause anxiety and depression) • Self-determination (opposed to such genetic screening must be allowed the option to refuse it to maintain their right to self-determination)
question
Organ Transplantation
answer
o Whenever a human organ is transplanted, many people are involved: • The donor • The donor's family • Medical and nursing personnel • The recipient and his or her family o All have rights and obligations o Three primary sources for organ and tissue donations • Living related donors • Living unrelated donors • Cadaver donors o Determining death in deceased donors is death by neurological criteria, formerly called brain death (death=brain death)
question
Ethical issues Organ Transplantation
answer
o Ethical questions still linger about what constitutes death o Because organs such as the heart, lungs, and liver need to come from a donor whose heart is still beating, some clinicians fear that there will be a tendency for physicians to declare that a person is dead before death actually occurs
question
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Passive and Active
answer
o The right to self-determination issue overlaps with the dilemma of euthanasia and assisted suicide o Passive euthanasia usually refers to the practice of allowing an individual to die without any extraordinary intervention o Active euthanasia usually describes the practice of hastening an individual's death through some act or procedure
question
Ethical issues Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
answer
o Supporters of the practice of assisted suicide believe that the right to self-determination remains intact, even with regard to the decision to end one's life. It is the last act of a very sick individual to control his or her own fate. Many believe that medical personnel should be allowed to assist clients in this procedure, just as they are allowed to assist clients in other medical and nursing procedures
question
HIV and AIDS
answer
o HIV and AIDS have evoked strong emotions in both the public and the medical community
question
Ethical issues HIV and AIDS/4
answer
• Right to privacy (for both client and health care provider) • Right to care (Can a nurse refuse to care for an infected patient) • Distributive justice (cost to society) millions to treat HIV/AIDS • Nurses' responsibilities (must provide care unrestricted by any considerations)
question
Rights of Children
answer
o The legal and ethical factors surrounding the decisions that healthcare providers must make about child health issues are complicated and sometimes contradictory, ranging from laws about reporting suspected abuse to obtaining permission for treatment
question
Ethical issues Rights of Children
answer
o A conflicting ethical principle in the reporting of suspected child abuse is the family's right to privacy and self-determination o Decisions about reporting suspected child abuse or neglect rest on the underlying ethical principles of beneficence and protection of the best interests of the child o The role of the nurse who cares for the very young or abused child is one of client advocate
question
Requirements of suspected Child abuse
answer
• There is a general legal requirement in most states that suspected child abuse must be reported by healthcare providers as well as by anyone who suspects that child abuse has occurred
question
Child Health Care
answer
• children are dependents • As dependents, children generally are not attributed the right to self-determination that is fundamental to adult decision making don't need being asked for their permission
