School-Based Health Care
A nurse practitioner (NP) faces an ethical and legal dilemma while treating a 6-year old student with a diagnosis of asthma. The student was brought to the School-Based Health Center for symptoms of cough, wheezing, and difficulty breathing while at recess. During the visit the student was questioned about having asthma in which he produced an expired and empty albuterol inhaler. During the school year the NP made numerous attempts to contact the student’s mother requesting her presence to discuss her child’s asthma management. This student returned to the SBHC several times throughout the school year requesting additional albuterol inhalers due to unknown family members taking the inhalers. Throughout the school
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The purpose of implementing SBHC was to implement comprehensive health services to underserved and uninsured school children while decreasing missed school days and use of emergency rooms (Huang, 2009). The mission of utilizing SBHC is to provide convenient health care to school children with the permission and involvement of their parents. Health care is performed during the school hours without the presence of parent as long as an up-to-date signed consent is located in the student’s chart. Within this paper I will discuss the ethical and legal dilemmas associated with …show more content…
The nurse must be sure that the care provided does not harm or put any patient at risk. Harm can be physical, emotional, financial, individual, and within the community. Avoidance of harm requires that the nurse thoroughly educate the patient in order for the recipient of care to make an informed decision.
Denying healthcare to a patient who has a parental consent on file at the school is considered unlawful. According to (Huang, 2009) there currently is no law that regulates the requirement of a parent to be present during appointments with the SBHC. The consent signed by the students’ parent does not specifically state that a parents must be present or actively involved in his care. Based on this the NP is legally obligated to continue to provide care to the student. Westrick (2014) states that a civil action is a dispute between individuals that was designed to award monetary compensation to individual for being harmed. A nurse can be involved in cases such as malpractice, injury lawsuits, workers compensation, and employment
The roles and responsibility of a nurse are that most nurses face moral problems similar to these faces by the physician as well as a moral problem uniquely related to their professional role thus nurse must sometimes choose between doing what they believe will promote patients well-being and the respecting the patient ’ self-determination. Lisa explained the role as a role, is a “norm-governed patterns of action that undertaken in accordance with the social expectations” (Lisa page 690). Thus, the ability to serve and work according to the
According to American Nurses Association (ANA), (2010) “the nurse promotes, advocates for and strives to protect the heath, safety and right of the patient” (p. 6). Nursing responsibilities should be acted at the highest standard and must be based on legal and ethical obligations.
First is the principal of beneficence which “requires nurses to act in ways that benefit patients” (Burkhardt, 2014, p.69). This principle tells us that one should promote good, prevent harm and remove evil or harm.
Myrtle Aydelotte once said, “Nursing encompasses an art, a humanistic orientation, a feeling for the value of the individual, and an intuitive sense of ethics, and the appropriateness of action taken.” In Pediatrics, nurses are faced with many ethical challenges that reflect back to their own personal beliefs and values, in congruent with being able to provide the best quality care both ethically and legally for children without autonomy. When providing care for these patients who do not have autonomy, the nurse’s priority is to advocate and support the child and the families’ needs on a daily basis. The purpose of this ethical paper is to project the dilemma and ethical issues that nurses often encounter involving children, including those who are unable to make decisions for themselves.
One reason why teenagers should have the right to confidential medical treatments is so they can deal with their issues as effectively and timely as possible. When minors present their medical problems to their physicians, some of them can be emergencies. These situations can appear in a circumstance such as the patient waiting so long to get a doctor’s opinion of their illness or injury that they are at risk of serious consequences if it is not treated immediately. In some cases, there is no time to receive parental consent or approval, and medical procedure must happen as soon as possible. The patient is most desperate for attention in emergency situations and they should be able to consent to procedures so that they can be performed quickly. “Emergency physicians shall
There are many legal and ethical situations that healthcare providers will be faced with when providing medical treatment to either a child or an elderly adult. While there is often much discussion regarding the elderly and do not resuscitate orders, there are often times when the decisions for health care of a child may be overlooked. Some of the legal issues that may be faced by healthcare professionals are informed consent, confidentiality, reproductive services and child abuse. Patients have the right to decide what is done to their own bodies, but for children under eighteen, their parents decide for them. A major issue faced by healthcare professionals is parental refusal for treatment. Healthcare providers will be faced with many conflicting ethical and legal situations regarding refusal of a minor’s healthcare and treatment. These issues
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
A nurse is given an opportunity to help patients, either if its by helping them through a very serious sickness or just helping a patient get to the bathroom on time, or a time when happiness is overfilling the room and a child is being born. Registered nurses provide a wide variety of patient care services (Mitchell, p.12). A Nurse must always know where to begin and where to stop, as any other career in the health field there is always something that cannot be done by everyone but only the certified person, a nurse must always remain inside her scope of practice to prevent any misunderstandings. A nurse must also follow a code of ethics , the code of ethics of the American Association of Medical Assistants states that a nurse should at all times render service with full respect and dignity of humanity, respect confidential information obtained by a patients file, uphold the honor and high principles the profession and accept its discipline, and last but not least always want to improve her services to better serve the health and well being of the community. (Mitchell, p.65).
A good nurse is aware and knowledgeable of ethics in the field of medicine and strives to provide quality care to avoid negligence. Experienced nurses always remain well informed of changing trends and laws relating to health and safety and regulations of the Board and customs through continued education. Nurses should be prepared to defend themselves. If they know how to avoid mistakes and avoid litigation, they are almost home free. “It is believed that health
Throughout history there has been many ethical dilemmas that have resulted in change, and many that have still not been resolve. These dilemmas often result in controversial issues arising, and both sides of the spectrum arguing as to which proposed idea is the morally correct one. Today, there is an enormous controversy in the ethical dilemma involving child care. This issue revolves around whether the views of the parents should be upheld when their child is in danger medically. To further assess the impact of this ethical dilemmas, a case study involving the treatment implemented on a child by a physician while opposing the views and wishes held by the parents will be analyzed in terms of the ethics of the situation, the stakeholders, values,
It is important to know that the task a nurse performs is within the scope of practice. So that a nurse can perform his/her task in a permitted way safely.
In the case of violations, the nurse is supposed to provide a professional conduct and direction with regard to the safety of the facility and patient. The nurse will be focused on reporting the matter to the higher authorities, trying to salvage the situation in case it is within his/her ability, and finally respond to patient's desires amidst consultations. he/she should do all these under an informed consent. In case none of the situations happens, the nurse is to take every responsibility fit for the patient. For instance, he/she should consult within his/her profession, administer what is best for the patient, and recover every lost opportunity to save on the life of the patient. However, this ideal situation in the form of an interview
Working well with people is an important factor in the nursing career; a nurse must always be respectful to every patient regardless of the situation. Persuasion sometimes has to be used because a patient may not want a certain medication so a nurse must help the person understand that it is what is best for him or her health and their track to recovery. A nurse must always pay close attention to their patients because if problems or concerns come up, a nurse must be the first to notice it.
The role of a nurse is viewed as stressful, so nurses need to be emotionally ready and be physically fit to participate in delivering care. Acts of kindness, trustworthiness, promoting privacy, ensuring dignity, being engrossed into the artistry of caring and engaging in anti-discriminatory practice (Baughan & Smith 2008) by respecting everyone, irrespective of age, culture, gender, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and the condition from which they are afflicted, are caring indicators of a nurse.
According to Beauchamp and Childress, the principle of autonomy asserts that a capable and competent individual is free to determine, and to act in accordance with, a self-chosen plan (Beauchamp and Childress as cited in Keating and Smith, 2010). Determining a patient's competence is critical in striking a proper balance between respecting the autonomy of patients who are capable of making informed decisions and protecting those who are not fully capable (Appelbaum, 2007). Tagging children incompetent solely on the basis of their age and not involving them in decision making regarding their health is violation of children's human right. Obtaining consent from parents, rather than children, negates one of the most important principles of medical ethics, which is patient autonomy. Nurses are obligated to promote the health of children by embracing children's right. Nurses' duties which stem out of respect for autonomy include both duties to ensure children's self determination is respected and to refrain from practices that interfere with the children's right of decision making (CARNA,