1. Explain one ethical issue from the “Little Man” film. (2 points) After the fetus was found to be abnormal, the 2 partners were at discrepancy about whether to terminate the pregnancy or not. Gwen wanted to terminate the pregnancy while Nicole insisted on continuing the pregnancy. This dispute put stress on both partners and caused the first tear of their relationship. Besides the couple, everyone in the care team is also facing this ethical dilemma. Some people might agree with Gwen while others might be on the same page with Nicole. Some people might have no side but feel troubled and distraught by the situation. It’s natural and normal for care providers who are involved in a situation like this to have an opinion based on their personal …show more content…
How would you resolve this ethical conflict? List three separate steps you could take to address this issue. These must be separate steps, e.g. educating the family about 3 topics counts as only one step—that is patient education. Be specific about what you would do, e.g., if you choose patient education as one step, explain what information you would cover and how you think it will address the issue. (2 points/step x 3=6 points for this question) Step 1: patient education. The information that is given to the patients should be accurate, thorough, and easy to understand. We need to discuss the options with Gwen and Nicole. Apparently, they have the choice of termination or continuation of the pregnancy. If they choose to continue the pregnancy, they have the option of keeping the baby or putting it up for adoption once it’s born. In order to make an informed decision of whether to keep the baby or not, the couple need to have a comprehensive understanding of the medical conditions that the baby may have if it’s born, the responsibilities that they will face to take care of the baby, and the possible impacts of those responsibilities on their relationship and family life. The doctors and nurses have the responsibilities to deliver the information, help the couple to understand the situation, and answer any questions that they have. As nurses, we need to be unbiased and non-judgmental. Support the couples’ decision anyway we can. Ideally, information should be delivered …show more content…
Nurses should foster collaborative planning to provide safe, high-quality, patient-centered health care. As nurses, we probably know the patients the best since we spend much more time with them than any other members of the care team. We are the liaison between the patient and the rest of the care team. We need to identify a potential problem or issue, and bring it to the attention of the whole care team. We should facilitate mutual trust, respect, shared decision-making, and open communication among all relevant persons in the care of the patients. With the collaborative support of the whole care team, the patients are in a much better position and are more likely to make an informed and deliberate decision. Besides, the collaboration among the care team can facilitate communication among the care providers, and provide a channel for the care providers to vent their stress caused by the ethical dilemmas that they encounter in work. The support from peers is very important for care providers to maintain their emotional and psychological
Nurses help patients with their physical needs with details, explain the complex steps of medical treatment, communicate with doctors to share patients’ health conditions and proper treatments, and give emotional support to patients in stressful situations. There are certain limitations that nurses have in decision makings because doctors obtain the most power in patients’ medical clinics. However, nurses are more friendly, helpful, and suffering for patients. Lastly, experienced nurses can make a better choice for the patients over young and un-experience
Every nurse will be faced with a decision making dilemma at some point in his or her career. Being familiar with the nursing code of ethics, what is ethically and morally expected in society and how to approach the situations can help make dilemmas less of a nightmare. “The purpose of nursing ethics is to inspire questions and examine what would be the ethically right action in health care situations demanding a choice between at least two undesirable alternatives” (Toren & Wagner, 2010, p. 394). There are many different ways one can approach a situation to reach a resolution, finding a method that works best with the situation at hand is ideal.
My initial response to the issues was only based on the hospital policies regarding the care of the patients within the hospital. However, when I was guided down the different paths and made to look through the different ethical lens, I found it tough to do so and seem to resort to my core values of autonomy and rationality. By putting the patients’ first, hospital policies, and then their loved ones in the first scenario, I determined that a compromise was necessary. Whereas in the second scenario, I feel as no agreement was needed just staff education (EthicsGame Simulation, 2016). In this particular case, Carlotta, the RN shift supervisor, needed further training to understand the hospital policy on who is or is not considered to be family (EthicsGame Simulation,
Susan has a successful career, but she wants to have a family also and balance the two. She finally becomes pregnant after trying for a long time, but tests show that the baby will be born with Down syndrome. She has been trying for so long, and now the doctor is recommending an abortion.
Nurses have a considerable amount of responsibility in any facility. They are responsible for administering medicines and treatments to there patient’s. While caring for there patients, nurses will make observations on patient’s health and then record there findings. As well as consulting with doctors and other healthcare professionals to plan proper individual patient care. They teach their patients how to manage their illnesses and explain to both the patient and the patients family how to continue treatment when returning home (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014-15). They also record p...
Gender and the portrayal of gender roles in a film is an intriguing topic. It is interesting to uncover the way women have been idealized in our films, which mirrors the sentiments of the society of that period in time. Consequently, the thesis of this essay is a feminist approach that seeks to compare and contrast the gender roles of two films. The selected films are A few Good Men and Some Like it Hot.
..., it is necessary to describe them in detail to the patient and to give a prognosis, as far as available medical knowledge will allow, regarding the outcome of pregnancy and postnatal development. To assist the patient in making a decision on the disposition of the pregnancy, prognostication should include medically documented risk figures. Ethically, pregnancy termination should not be recommended made to the patient and her family and significant others. This option should be discussed, but the ultimate decision of whether to continue the pregnancy should be left to the patient and her family and significant others. Furthermore, I think, it is better to refer her to the teratogen or genetic counselor to help her by providing the patient with as much information as possible and encourage her to make her own decision regarding whether to continue the pregnancy.
It’s very important that the units that are supportive of evidence based practices instill the idea of the patients being as important as family members or close friends in order to carry out the best practice. These would be good areas for individuals of the team to reflect during meetings. What is means to care for patients as a close friends or family members and what areas they can improve their practice; For instance, long term care nurses taking the time to ensure that all of their bedridden residents are turned every 2 hours to prevent bed sores.
An ethical dilemma is defined as a mental state when the nurse has to make a choice between the options and choices that he or she has at her disposal. The choice is a crucial task as the opting of the step will subsequently determine the health status of the concerned patient, hence it requires a great deal of wisdom along with proper medical and health training before any such step is opted as it is a matter of life and death. Strong emphasis should therefore be on the acquisition of proper knowledge and skills so that nurses do posses the autonomy to interact with patients regarding ethical issues involved in health care affairs and address them efficiently. It is normally argued that nurses are not provided sufficient authority to consult and address their patients on a more communicative or interactive level as a result of which they are often trapped in predicaments where their treatments of action and their personal beliefs create a conflict with the health interests of the patient. (Timby, 2008)
One notable example of an ethical dilemma presented within this report is the battle of belief referring to a situation where some patients tend to reject specific medical procedures attributed to the religious, cultural, or personal beliefs. Every patient has the right to decision based on his or her beliefs thereby meaning that patients may reject specific medical procedures based on what they believe (Guido, 2014). However, this conflicts with the position of the nurses who are mandated with providing their patients with the best quality of medical services as part of promoting positive health outcomes. The best remedy for this specific ethical dilemma would involve having to hold a discussion between the nurse and the patient where the nurse would accord the patient his or her clinical
As health care providers, nurses strive to instill confidence in their patients and their loved ones. A nurse is respectful to their colleagues as well as their patients. Nurses promote patients’ independence, patients can be confident in the knowledge that a nurse will do what is best for them, respecting their privacy and dignity. This means that a nurse does not share the patient information for personal reasons nor does the nurse get involved in a patients personal relationship if it is not medically relevant (NCSBN, 2011).
A very important concept that needs to be implemented world-wide is collaboration. Collaboration can be defined as “working with other individuals or groups to achieve a common goal. It differs from cooperation which involves groups working together to achieve their own individual goals’’ (Tomajan, 2012). This concept is critical in making the nursing image as clear and accurate as possible while also properly representing the profession. Worldwide, if nurses can represent themselves in a particular way, having the same ideals, morals, and knowledge, there would be little room for people to criticize the profession. Collaborating also allows for the formation of new ideas and discoveries, strengthening the knowledge of nurses and creating the opportunity for more authority. The entire profession as a whole need to help everyone understand what nurses really do for patients. Nurses are the invisible hand behind the success in every hospital or health-care facility. From a quick visit to the doctors to an emergency room visit, the ones the patients interact with and grow a relationship with are the nurses. The nurses know the ins and outs of every patient and have the direct connection with the patient along with tremendous knowledge and skills. This needs to be addressed in the media rather than challenging the nursing image. Giving
Various factors are associated with the development of ethical dilemmas, including advances in medical technology, increased life expectancy, the high cost of healthcare in an environment of limited resources, lack of time to provide care and conflicting values and cultures among patients, nurses and other healthcare professionals. All of which, including the growth of the nursing profession, have brought an increase in the nurses’ participation in human rights and life and death decision-making situations (Kim et al.,
She further identified seven concepts that are essential to current nursing practice, she stated that,” Based on the acronym FLOWERSTM, they include fundamentals of care, leadership at the bedside, ownership of outcomes, wisdom, ethics, relational competence, and skilled caring.” (Sprayberry, 2014, p.123). Nursing professionals play several key roles, which directly affects client outcomes, such as, critically thinking while being the patient-caregiver, advocate and educator along with coordinating and collaborating with the various members of the multidisciplinary health care delivery team. Nurses always prioritize excellent patient safety and care every day and collect information and recognize the practices that need improvement. For example, the process of identification and documentation of nursing-sensitive outcomes that are a direct result of nursing assessments and interventions. Nursing professionals take leadership roles concerning promoting safety and quality through collecting evidence, analyzing and interpreting the data necessary to improve practice. Armed with the edge of working closely with clients, nursing professionals can identify opportunities of cost-effectiveness without compromising on QI. Through being patient advocates, nurses ensure, that health care clients receive good quality and
There are many members of the inter-professional team, all of which are contributing to the healthcare of acute and critically ill patients. Every member of the team has had education and obtained a license of practice compatible to their level of knowledge (Prater, Fundamentals of Nursing, 2013). As a practical nurse you need to be mindful of your scope of practice in relation to registered nurses, certified nurses’ assistants and other healthcare professionals. With so many different people involved in the immediate care of a patient, there is always the possibility of a mix up. The purpose of this paper is to help differentiate between the roles of the healthcare staff, which will in turn help develop a knowledge base for prioritizing care;