Legal And Ethical Issues In Nursing Research

between two sets of human values, both of which are judged to be “good” but neither of

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.

First, it is very essential for the nurses to know the difference between law and ethics. Ethics observes the values and actions of people. On the other hand, laws are necessary rules of conduct. When laws are broken down, it is

Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice

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.

Judie has been experiencing cut backs at work in regards to the hospitals budget, and these cuts have impacted the quality of patient care. She is feeling conflicted because she feels that she is unable to adequately fulfill her duty of nonmalficence. Budgets are a necessary part of running a successful company or business, however, if these budget cuts negatively impact a nurses ability to deliver adequate patient care than that poses an ethical dilemma for the nurse manager (Judie).

As nursing health care professional, there legal and ethical issues, in which are presented with the patients on a daily basis. Sometimes it can become quite challenging because the nurse has to learn to separate their personal belief or feeling in order to respect the patient’s wishes. The challenge being faced by the nurse with their daily nursing care goes back to the term autonomy. “Autonomy is closely linked to the notion of respect for persons, and is an important principle in cultures where all individuals are considered to be unique and valuable members of society” (Burkhardt and Nathaniel, 2007, pg. 53). Each patient has the right to make a choice about things in which affects their health. This paper

Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing Practice Background As a clinical research nurse coordinator on an alcohol treatment unit, my duties are to coordinate the care of research participant in an alcohol treatment program. As part of the research protocol, the participants are administered a daily morning dose of the anti-craving medication, Nalrexone for one month One morning I was assigned as a research nurse coordinator for one of the participant and I could not locate the physician’s order Naltrexone for the participant. I immediately went to the participant’s research study binder and notice for the past week, nurses assigned to the participant, indicated by their signature that they administered Naltrexone to the participant.

Respect for person involves autonomy, but not all individuals are able to acting autonomously. This requires the ability to set goals and make choices, and this may be compromised at times in a person’s life. Defined by the Belmont Report, respect for persons requires that these vulnerable individuals be offered special protections during periods when they cannot act autonomously.

On 10/01/16 I had a 62-year-old female client that came in to the hospital from a nursing home with a diagnosis of Syncope and collapse. She is a quadriplegic with contractures and need all her ADL’s done for her. She came into the hospital with a pressure ulcer on her left hip.

According to Professional Standards for LPN, a nurse is ``professionals who are accountable for providing safe, competent and ethical care within the legal and ethical framework of nursing regulation``` (CLPNBC). Nurses have professional obligation to provide safe and ethical care, she is also responsible and accountable; so, she is responsible for errors she made. Professional obligations are based on the patient-centered care; so, nurse advocates for the patient`s rights. In this case, even the nurse worked on her own, she would have to ask for a help earlier to insure an appropriate, equal and safety care, but do not cut corners. She was at high risk to make errors during medication administration and compromised the patients’ lives.

Nursing is a profession where legal (law) and ethical situations may arise and it is imperative for a nurse to understand the importance of both components. These two distinct concepts in nursing can hinder a nurse’s license, career, and life if the nurse is found guilty of a wrongful act or neglect. The following will explore a reflective statement describing the importance of learning legal and ethical components of the nursing profession, a legal or ethical situation that may occur in nursing, the legal standard of care on the situation, and application of the research to the situation.

Marianne, the 79-year old woman who presented with a hemorrhagic stroke in a recent case study, brings up thought for ethical debate. Her outlook is poor, with or without surgery, and she has no advanced directive. Her husband and children cannot come to an agreement on whether life support should end or if all resuscitative measures should be attempted. The following paper will discuss how the American Nurse’s Association Code of Nursing Ethics would influence a final decision, how personal and societal values can influence ethical decision making, the fundamental legal aspects of each case study, and the legal

Professional relationships with patients and the developments in standard of care have made law paramount to the study and practice of nursing. Law helps keep up to date nursing practice in every stage of patient care making it important for nurses to understand the ethical and legal implications of law in their nursing profession (Griffith and Tengrah, 2011).

There are many ethical concerns that arise when a company, or individual, stand to make a monetary gain by making a medical decision. In the clinical research, there have been concerns ranging from faking the number of patients enrolled in a study to fabricating study data and insider trading. These issues are what arise when money drives an industry that is supposed to be concerned with patient safety and scientific investigation. The conflicting interests of financial gain and the need for accurate and complete medical research are the overarching issues facing the clinical research industry.