Code Of Ethics In Nursing Practice

Nursing is a career that is governed by a set of ethical principles. The duties of a nurse consist of care and support and its important that nurses are aware of their professional ethics. These principles are put into place to uphold and maintain moral values in healthcare. The American Nurses Association (ANA) code of ethics for nurses consists of nine provisions, outlined in the Code of Ethics for nurses with Interpretive Statements. These provisions are constructed to blueprint the role and responsibilities of a nurse. The chosen provisions being discussed will refer to the three main principles of patient autonomy, patient confidentiality, and patient rights.

Nurses have ethical and legal obligations to protect the privacy of people requiring and receiving care. This encompasses treating as confidential information gathered for professional purposes only (Privacy Act, 1988), therefore in regards to the case study this registered nurse has failed to uphold her professionalism and failed to comply with her Code of Conduct and has accessed his medical files in order for her to gather his personal information, then proceeded to message the partner of the patient to inform her of his diagnosis therefore, breaching her duty of care to the patient – even though she is not

employer, professional regulatory body, and the law for an unwarranted breach of confidence, it is essential that any disclosure of information is done appropriately within the requirements of the duty owed to the patient” (Griffith, 2015, p.358). The law is very strict and nobody has the right to violate the patient's confidentiality and have access to the medical information without been authorized by the patient. For this action Kevin will need written authorization in order to have access to the records. According to the Code of Ethics for Nurses is the nurse who is charged with helping to preserve the patient’s privacy by only asking the questions that are clinically relevant. “Confidentiality is

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

165). The HIPAA regulations are set as a protection of Personal Health Information (PHI) and all of its areas of concern, i.e. – name, condition, symptoms, etc… Legally, the nurse is not subjected to any clearly defined healthcare related laws, at the federal level, liable under the Privacy Acts of 1974 which protects any personal identification records or information relating to the patient’s privacy. The nurse takes photographs of the patient’s demographic information from his electronic health record which violates the regulations set forth by the Privacy Acts of 1974 (Privacy Act of 1974, n.d.). In many aspects of this scenario, a major concern lies on the nurse’s ethical, unethical, practice. The American Nurses Association (ANA) delineates in Provision Three of the Code of Ethics for Nurses “The nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient.” (ANA, 2015). The nurse is in many violations enough to end their career in this situation. The privacy of the patient is a right not a privilege. With the increase usage of social media, this invasion of privacy on the patient could potentially be leaked and could lead to jeopardizing the patient’s safety while in the hospital.

If Lisa has been fully counseled and educated about all facets of terminating her pregnancy because her fetus has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), the nurse’s role is to support Lisa’s decision. The American Nursing Association Code of Ethics (2015), Provision 1.4, The Right of Self-Determination, states that in order to fully distinguish a person’s dignity, it is necessary to respect their right of self-determination. This provision additionally states that it is the responsibility of the nurse to educate the patient accurately and verify that the information is understood. After which, the patient has the right to make their decision without “duress, undue influence or coercion” and be supported “throughout the decision making and

When a HIPAA violation has taken place it is important that the person who discovers/discloses the unauthorized information immediately report to their supervisor so that they can contain the breach. The nurse in this case did not handle the case properly. There are four steps to follow through when PHI are accidentally disclosed: 1) contain the breach 2) pre-notify 3) notify 4) investigate and remedial action (Kwiatkowski, 2013). In this case, the nurse knew that she made a mistake by disclosing the young girl’s name and asked that her daughter not share the information with anybody else, but she failed to do so and the rumor quickly spread through four high schools. Therefore, the breach was not contained and further actions needed to take place. The nurse should have called her supervisor about the situation immediately so that an immediate investigation is

In nursing school HIPAA is one of the first and foremost topics covered. It is not simply a skill that can be tested on paper and filed away into the back of your mind. HIPAA is a crucial concept and practice that all workers in the field of healthcare must strictly adhere to. Although it should seem like common sense to respect the privacy and rights of a patient, there are far too many incidences where boundaries have been crossed, and information breached. The case of Carolyn Strom should serve as a pertinent example reinforcing how rapid the response can be when posting on social media, even if you think you are being discreet or anonymous. Patients need to be looked at not as chart numbers, but as humans who have a sense of pride

The medical professionals who were supposed to be caring for this dying patient failed to concentrate on his thoughtful care, and instead took a few photos of this gentleman and posted them on Facebook. Several of the staff lost their job and others disciplined for this cruel lack of integrity. In another incident in California at Tri-City Medical Center, nurses discussed patients on Facebook. While no job losses were reported, those involved were reported. Five nurses lost their employment by simply taking digital photos on their phones of a suicidal person and even snapping images of patient x-rays. Several reports have been made of nurse’s curiosity getting them in trouble by looking up records of celebrities. A contract nurse wound up seeking new employment for looking into records on patients not assigned to them at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, seeking information on those hurt in the shooting that injured congresswoman Giffords. A nursing student examining a placenta – if in the scope of the day’s assignment and thus presumed appropriate, is one thing, but crossed a huge threshold when photographed and posted on Facebook. The consequence was large, kicked out of nursing school and a subsequent lawsuit.

Linking this information to our conclusion scenario, we can clearly identify that the attending nurse was in absolute violation of HIPAA’s Privacy Rule; posting such photos on an unprotected social media website without any permission of the attending party (patient) in such condition and within the environment of the attending medical facility was with direct

I agree with you that social media plays a big role in our lives. People use Instagram, twitter, snapchat, and Facebook to post pictures or tweets. In the hospital this prohibited. When you take a picture of the patient as Sabina gives the example of the patient with cancer you are being unethical because you aren’t respecting the patient’s privacy thus hurting the patient and nurse relationship. The patient has faith that the nurse is there to help the patient and not cause harm, but by putting them on social media their privacy is being shared with everyone in social media. According to the nursing, “6 tips to avoid problems: remember that standards of professionalism are the same online as in any other circumstance, do not share or post information or photos gained through the nurse-patient relationship, maintain professional boundaries in the use of electronic media. Online contact with patients blurs this boundary, do not make disparaging remarks about patients, employers, or co-workers, even if they are not identified, do not take photos or videos of patients on personal devices, including cell phones, and promptly report a breach of confidentiality or privacy” (www.nursingworld.org).

This article discusses a routine file maintenance that unfortunately ended in the arrest of a nurse that shared a patient's personal medical information with her husband. Mrs. A had been an employee at the regional clinic for approximately five years. Her time there was cut short when her husband got involved in a car accident. The people in the other car that was involved in the accident, sued her husband for compensation for their injuries. The following day at work, Mrs. A took it upon herself to read the plaintiff's personal information on the chart and jot down some notes to share with her husband as a form of blackmail. Mr. A used the information provided to him from his wife in an attempt to get the plaintiff to drop the lawsuit. Of

In the third scenario the student nurse took a photo of the patient with his room number visible in the background and posted it on Facebook. She did not realize that others could still access the post even if there are privacy settings and ultimately was expelled from nursing school because she had breached the patient’s confidentiality. This scenario resonated with me because there was no intent to harm the patient and because it happened to a student nurse. Not to dismiss that she did something wrong, but the student nurse was probably very caught up in the emotional aspect of caring for the patient and probably thought she was doing something good by applauding the child. She was feeling proud of the patient as well as privileged to be a part of his care. As a nurse and a human being I can understand this, however as nurses we always need to be very careful of being caught up and acting out of emotion. Just as you must take the time to think things through and the repercussions of you actions when providing actual care for a patient this must be done using social media or any action that could violate the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality. As a nurse the priority should be to protect your patient and she did not do so because she acted based on emotion and possibly did not understand or think through the full implications of her

(2002) direct nurses to maintain confidentiality. ANA code of ethics states that the standard of nursing practice and nurse’s responsibility to provide quality care requires that relevant data be shared with those members of the health care team who have a need to know. Also duties of confidentiality are not absolute and may need to be modified in order to protect patient, other innocent parties, and in circumstances of mandatory disclosure for public reasons (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2010). In this case if nurse Hathaway did not break confidentiality, then it would harm the patient without being able to get proper treatment.

One of the eight key points of Patient’s Bill of Rights is Confidentiality and (privacy) of health information so she also have violated the right of the patient. (cms.gov)