Case Study: Hurley Medical Incident

A nurse attending stated “during the morning’s second surgery, he actually dozed off. The nurse took him aside and recommended that he take a break, but he refused and returned to the operation.” The nurse here was in fault in more ways than one. This nurse should never allowed the doctor return back to operate on the patient, he should have been removed from the operating room immediately. The nurse should have

In the Code of Ethics for Nurses provision 4 states “The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care.” This was not done, there was no regard for human life. The patients in the hospital were treated as a burden. A meeting was held where the doctors agreed that

The two provisions from the Nursing Code of Ethics that were violated are Provision 2 and 3. Provision 2 states “the nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community, or population” (Brown, Lachman & Swanson, 2015). Provision 2 focuses on “the nurse’s obligation to assure the primacy of the patient’s interests regardless of conflicts that arise between clinicians or patient and family”(Brown, Lachman & Swanson, 2015). Provision 2 was violated because the nurses

Coastal Medical Center had a period of growth and success under the previous CEO. When this CEO retired, the successor made many decisions that were detrimental to the organization. The medical center went from a net profit of $52.5 million in 2012, to a net loss of $16 million in 2015. With the hiring of a third CEO, CMC began to identify the many problems the organization was facing. Some of the main problems discovered by the new CEO include over staffing, duplication of functions, and excessive amount of special projects, over spending, poor materials management, and errors in billing. It seemed that every day the CEO was uncovering yet another problem.

I also find myself frustrated with those who do not follow the polies and procedures of my hospital. As I stated before, I am a rule follower and get very uncomfortable if I am asked to perform a task that does not follow policy or see others not following policy. I find that the staff are the largest offenders of this were trained at other institutions or travel nurses. Travelers get very limited orientation and may have been trained elsewhere in a way that does not follow my institution’s policies, and I see some not looking up the policies of the hospital they are currently working at prior to performing tasks. I do not agree with this practice at all. I feel that policies and procedures are in place to protect the institution, its staff, the patients, and

University Hospital is a well known hospital with a level 1 trauma treatment center for the tri-county area of a northwestern state, the hospital enjoys the fact they are known for their promising reputation among healthcare professionals and the public they serve. Jan Adams is an OR supervisor that has been working there for ten years, as a professional she makes surgeons follow protocol as required and enjoys working with trauma patients. One Friday night, which is the busiest day of the week for the trauma department; the unit was notified that a helicopter was on its way with a 42 year old man who had been in a car accident. Shortly after the patient arrived to the trauma center, the resident and other medical staff noted that he was in very bad physical conditions, needed immediate surgery or otherwise he was going to die. The issue was that the on call surgeon had to be present during the surgery and had not yet arrived, but regardless of the matter and protocol they proceeded with medically treating the patient immediately. The concern is that in doing so they violated medical procedures and put the patients safety at risk, this lead to a long list of ethical issues for example, patient well-being, impaired healthcare professional, adherence to professional codes of ethical conduct, adherence to the organization’s mission statement, ethical standards, and values statements, management’s role and responsibility, failure

I learned that as a nurse it is my duty to always consider my own well being, along with my patient’s. I must keep a high moral character both in the workplace and in my personal life. I must continue to educate myself and keep myself up to date with all the latest nursing practices and research. I must subject myself to peer review and evaluation. I must never let my personal feelings about a patient’s lifestyle affect my care for them. When met with a tough choice that places me in an ethical crisis I must keep a good head on my shoulders and always have my patient’s best interests in mind. If I feel that a situation at work is in direct conflict with my personal values or my oath to be an ethical nurse I must go through the proper channels to work through the problem.

1. Using the historical data as a guide (Exhibit 6.1), construct a pro forma (forecasted) profit and loss statement for the clinic's average month for all of 2010 assuming the status quo. With no change in volume (utilization), is the clinic projected to make a profit?

Nurses have a professional responsibility to ensure that safe boundaries are kept in the relationship between patient and Nurse. It is these boundaries that provide the nursing profession with integrity, and according to Baca (2010, pp.195) it is essential these boundaries be maintained because of the difference in power between the nurse and patient. However, boundary violations can occur, when a nurse crosses from the zone of helpfulness to over involved, the ANMC (2011 pp.3) believes that when a violation occurs a nurse is behaving unprofessional manner and misusing their power in the patient nurse relationship. This misuse of power can be categorized into 3 types; boundary crossing, boundary violation and the extreme form of sexual misconduct. Often by mistake a nurse could cross the boundary without thought, a

I was just as dismayed as you were, and thought of the same questions that you asked yourself. He was very wealthy and influential in the Nashville area because of his successful career as a local builder. The state laws concerning a 12-hour hold have been changing because of this case requiring that reason is written on the waiver for the release of the hold. It is not right for the local Attorney General to become involved in such a minor offense, but I think with the influence that Mr. Chase had the local Attorney General did become involved in the case. The said part from my point of view is that it looks like the case was still mishandled leaving the victim and her plight out in the cold with not legal recourse.

“The definition of a health professional is a person who works to protect and improve people’s health by the diagnosis and treatment of illness to bring about a complete recovery from mental, physical and social perspectives, either directly or indirectly (Kurban, 2010, pg. 760).” Nurses in the community today have acquired an increasing responsibility to intervene with medical decisions. In the past, there were clear differences between nurses and doctors. It was more common for a nurse to be supervised directly under the physician. They are not just performing Doctor’s orders anymore. The nurse role in patient care has been widely expanded. Allegations against someone can be one of the most stressful moments of their careers. Negligence

Ethical issues in nursing will always be an ongoing learning process. Nurses are taught in nursing school what should be done and how. Scenarios are given on tests with one right answer. However, there are situations that nurses may encounter that may have multiple answers and it is hard to choose one. “Ethical directives are not always clearly evident and people sometimes disagree about what is right and wrong” (Butts & Rich, 2016). When an ethical decision is made by a nurse, there must be a logical justification and not just emotions.

Ethical principals are the seed of which nursing flourishes from. Many ethical principals were involved and dishonored in this case such as, justice, autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, confidentiality and fidelity (Burkhardt et al., 2014). I believe justice was the main principal involved as the entire ethical predicament was revolved around unjust behavior and treatment of the residents. The residents were treated poorly and given unequal rights as a causation of their illnesses. Autonomy, an essential piece of human rights was also being violated in this ethical dilemma. The residents did not have any choice or independence in their care or how they were being treated. Beneficence and non-maleficence are significant dynamics of this ethical situation, as the health care providers needed to reflect on how they can have the maximum benefit while diminishing possible damage to the residents (Burkhardt et al., 2014). Our actions as nurses should always be beneficent and non maleficent, continuously being kind, compassionate and doing what is in their best interest as well a removing and preventing harm. Confidentiality is a key component of nursing and it was blatantly being violated as the health care

Today, we know that nurses have an ethical duty to intervene when an unethical practice is found, both for the safety of the patient and the integrity of the title RN. Nurses may have difficulty intervening with unethical practices of a doctor because of the negative effects it may have on the working relationship. However, after reviewing what occurred within the Tuskegee study, we’ve seen what happens when a nurse fails in this duty.

Nurses have a professional responsibility to ensure that safe boundaries are understood and maintained in a patient/nurse relationship. Nurses should be knowledgeable regarding professional boundaries and continued education assists them to achieve this. It is these boundaries that provide the nursing profession with integrity, and according to Baca (2010, pp.195) it is essential these boundaries be maintained because of the difference in power between the nurse and patient. However, boundary violations can occur, when a nurse crosses from the zone of helpfulness to over involved, the ANMC (2011 pp.3) believes that when a violation occurs a nurse is behaving in an unprofessional manner and misusing their power in the patient nurse relationship. This misuse of power can be categorized into 3 types; boundary crossing, boundary violation and the extreme form, of sexual misconduct. Often a nurse could cross the boundary without thought, a violation is a more serious matter when according to the ANMC (2011 pp. 5) the nurse puts his or her own needs in front of the