Ethical Issues In Nursing Research

In the world today, smartphones are becoming the “norm”, with basic phones becoming nearly obsolete in recent years. Pairing the overwhelming presence of social media with the rise in usage of smartphones brings to light an entirely new set of problems and challenges regarding patient privacy. According to a 2010 study conducted regarding various boards of nursing, 67% of executive officers surveyed reported receiving complaints about nurses misusing social media (Spector & Kappel,

Picture your loved one in an independent senior residence, where they can do mostly everything on their own. This sounds great until they have an emergency medical issues and the nurses that are on staff refuse to help based on their interpretation of the company policy. As a nurse, they should be trained how to handle emergencies, but in this instance the person lost their life because the nurse did not take any action. This happened to 87-year-old Lorraine Bayless, who stopped breathing and the nurse at Brookdale Senior Living Center refused to do anything or allow anyone else to do anything based on what she read in the company policy. Since state or federal departments of health license or regulate independent or assisted living centers it can

Professional organizations including CNA and the college of physicians and surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) mandate their members to adhere their ethical codes.

I do agree with you that it is imperative for nurses to know the law that governs their state of practice. Personally, this is something new for me. Having an interest in law and ethics started a couple of years ago for me while I worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with many of the 24 and 25week premise and long effects of the care treatment received while in the NICU. Indeed nursing surrounding is bursting with the ethical and legal condition and arrays of nurses indicate a lack of training in this aspect as you mentioned. Perhaps, an avenue to fix this might be encouraging continuing education, hospital in-service, and an upsurge in nursing education programs to increase nurses’ versed knowledge in the law.

Although the increasing prevalence of social media use has a lot to offer nurses in their job, it has given rise to some issues regarding the breach of patient privacy and confidentiality (Johnstone, 2016), as is seen in this case study. Presented is a scenario where a student nurse witnesses a fellow student post private patient information on Facebook. The following discussion highlights the required actions of the witnessing student nurse in response to the breach of patient confidentiality and privacy. This is achieved by discussing the immediate and subsequent actions required of the witnessing student nurse. As well as, the national law, national competency standards, code of ethics, and code of conduct statements that apply to this situation. Following this are recommendations to prevent, or limit, further breach incidences.

Technology today has an easy access to direct communication. Social media is an effective way tool for nurses today, but with this resource comes great responsibility. As a nursing student I must maintain patient confidentiality and privacy at all times, as well as serving a positive representation of my institution. Nurses and nursing student are responsible for what they display on social media, and with this privilege comes consequences if not used appropriately. Social media has consequences amongst nurses such as federal legislation, privacy, laws and legal actions.

Ethical issues have always affected the role of the professional nurse. Efforts to enact this standard may cause conflict in health care settings in which the traditional roles of the nurse are delineated within a bureaucratic structure. Nurses have more direct contact with patients than one can even imagine, which plays a huge role in protecting the patients’ rights, and creating ethical issues for the nurses caring for the various patients they are assigned to. In this paper I will discuss some of the ethical and legal issues that nurses are faced with each and every day.

In the present culture of the United States, social media has had a major impact in American society. It has a profound influence and intertwined itself in almost every aspect of the average American’s life. It ranges from providing updates of location of a person(s), events, and sharing personal moments. Even different industries are utilizing social media as a platform for communication, information, and sales mediums. One industry, the health care field has seen a rise in the utilization of social media. For instance, an emerging population of physicians are using social media apps such as Snap Chat, Facebook, and YouTube to educate, display surgical, and medical procedures while being performed. In contrast, as there are positive aspects of utilizing social media, a negative trait of social media is invading and exposing individual’s privacy. As of recent, a New York licensed nurse had to surrender her nursing license and sentenced to 3 years of probation for “moral unfitness in the practice (Bowerman, 2016).” She took photos with her phone of two unconscious male patient’s genitalia and shared them with coworkers. This has become an increasing issue and as the utilization of social media in healthcare is increasing, many ethical issues are developing. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was passed for the adoption of a national standard for electronic health care transactions and code sets, unique health identifiers,

Employees within healthcare and anyone who has been a mature patient in recent years have been duly informed of the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act (HIPPA), but even more people are more intimately familiar with the social networking site Facebook. Prior to researching the legal and ethical boundaries at it pertains to patient confidentiality in nursing school, many of us thought little of the HIPPA concept and how it applies to each of us as individuals. We can announce to the world on Facebook that I have a lump, please go get a mammogram! We can whine on for ages about our children’s medical problems. We make announcements and call for prayers for our spouses and parents who are ill. We share with our friends and family,

Nancy Spector, whom holds a PhD, RN titles from the University of Wisconsin, distinguishes that most patient privacy violations are due to nurses not taking the time to think before posting and inadvertently putting the patient’s info out for persons not admitted to see it. Spector states “The quick and efficient technology enabling use of social media reduces not only the time it takes to post, but also the time to consider whether the post is appropriate and what ramifications may come from posting inappropriate content.” Nurses should be able to use social media to help further their relationships with patients and co-workers, with the healthy understanding of how to do so wisely.

Cost of the end of life medical care is too expensive to continue at the rate it is going. The fiscal year 2016 saw 672.1 billion dollars spent on Medicare participants with just 5% using 49% of those monies ("NHE Fact Sheet," n.d., p. 1). The ANA provides a code of ethics that nurses should use to help guide them in clinical practice decision making. There are four fundamental responsibilities for nurses to adhere too they are: promote health, prevent illness, restore health and alleviate suffering. Ethical Principals for nurses are; respect & autonomy, beneficence, justice, veracity, and fidelity ("Code of Ethics for Nurses," 2012). Attempting to keep ethical responsibilities and principals in mind, while conducting a cost-benefit analysis to determine resource allocation for an aging population and end of life care causes many ethical dilemmas.

Throughout the course of their career, nurses will constantly face the reality of death and dying patients. Disparate from medical physicians, nurses are almost always on duty to treat and hand out medication. Therefore, a situation where it is not possible for their patient to completely heal can ultimately put the nurse in a high amount of stress. Such feelings can lead to discomfort with aiding hospice patients and a decrease in nurses in that area (Peters, et al., 2013). The quality of end of life health care is also jeopardized due to the nurse facing ethical issues and death anxiety (Hold, 2017, p. 13). The impact of a patient death can incite more stress in the health care worker, according to Bickham, "Nurses often experience

Nurses are faced with many ethical and legal issues, such as protecting and maintaining the patient privacy and confidentiality. “A dilemma can arise when confidential information is requested by family members or friends of the patient” (McGowan, 2012, p. 61). As nurses during our pinning ceremony we took the “the Nightingale Pledge promised to do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affair” (McGowan, 2012, p. 61). Protecting and maintaining patient confidentiality is a serious matter and you can be fined and faced with federal charges, if you are found guilty.

In the article “Nursing Students’ Use of Electronic and Social Media: Law, Ethics, and E- Professionalism,” Westrick (2016) described the importance of professionalism in nursing with the use of electronics and social media. She pointed out the consequences of improper use of the social media, including program dismissal for nursing students. In addition, Westrick brought up the American Nurses Association (ANA) code of ethics, explaining the nurse’s duty to maintain patient’s privacy, and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) white paper, guiding nurses with the use of social media. The author also explained two privacy laws, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology

Conducting quality research requires the researcher to perform within both ethical and legal guidelines. “Ethics is the study of right and wrong” (Houser, J., 2012, pg.50). Ethics provide the avenue for decision making and are guided by the researcher’s integrity. Legal guidelines provide direction to the researcher by specifying what is required by law to conduct research. As a nurse researcher, it is an ethical duty to advocate for patients when incompetent, unethical or illegal practices are observed.