The Nurse Physician Conflict Within The Public Health Setting

As a family nurse practitioner (FNP), we have the responsibility to provide the best care we can with the patient’s best interest at heart. On a daily basis we deal with the needs and wants of our patients, this alone provides an ethical dilemma. What we think is best and what our patients want could in fact create an ethical dilemma, however, when we have an ethical dilemma, it is our responsibility to get to a decision with caring, respect, an open mind and honesty to our patients (Parker, 2007). In making a decision regarding an ethical dilemma it is our responsibility to use a framework model to guide us in making an informed decision that is best for our patients. It may not always be the most popular decision but if it is in our patient’s best interest, then you are practicing as a good and prudent, NP.

Nurses rely on personal knowledge and their professional skills to provide ethical care (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). In everyday practice, nurses must balance the needs of their patients against those of the organization, society and themselves. They strive to deliver the highest level of care for patients, but adjusting for limited organizational and personal resources often requires difficult decisions. This paper explores the following scenario suggested by Maville and Huerta: “You are a nurse providing home care to a mother, and you suspect child abuse after observing the mother’s reaction to her child” (as cited by Arizona State University, 2014). When faced with a moral dilemma, a competent nurse incorporates ethical, bioethical and legal considerations. In the proposed story, incorporating the nursing ethics of advocacy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and collaboration will guide the nurse towards an appropriate and legal course of action.

Healthcare workers in the United States work together to provide the best possible care for patients that come into their facility. Patients go through different waves of health care professionals before seeing an actual physician. Healthcare systems use a nurse practitioner, which is a registered nurse with more education and specialization, to help treat a patient in a timely manner. According to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, NPs have been providing care to patients for over 45 years. The year 2011 has seen 140,000 practicing nurse practitioners in the United States alone, with 9,000 more expected to enter the work force (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners a, 2010). With statistics demonstrating great expectations of

Every medical professional has or will face some ethical and legal issues in the Medical Field, the Nurse Practitioners (NP) are no different. Fant stated that in an ethical dilemma there are no right answers or solutions; however, in these dilemmas there are no wrong answers either. Sule feels that the ethical issues for NPs are in consent and capacity, confidentiality and autonomy, and in the non-compliance on part of patient. Offredy and Townsend both feel that a breech in clinical governance and management can cause

Harm reduction can be defined as an approach that aims to reduce the consequences of high risk behaviours such as injection drug use on the individual and on society as a whole. Harm reduction programs provide injection drug users with access to a clean injection environment, sterile injections, drug-preparation equipment and safe disposal of contaminated material at the time of injection. Staff members in harm reduction facilities provide health teaching, anonymous HIV testing, information on addiction treatment, condoms and assist in connecting clients to social and health services (Semaan et al., 2011; Ball, 2007). Although, the benefits of harm reduction are evident through reduction of accidental drug overdose and prevention of

Fry, M. (2011). Literature review of the impact of nurse practitioners in critical care services. Nursing In Critical Care, 16(2), 58-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-5153.2010.00437.x

According to the scenario given in example 2, the new nurse on the unit is facing an ethical dilemma by being asked to violate the code of ethics. This scenario regarding the preceptor telling the nurse to violate policy and chart that blood draws were done correctly is violating provision 3. Specifically, if the nurse interjects and decides to not draw the blood cultures too close together and from the same site, it upholds provision 3.5 Protection of patient health and safety by acting on questionable practice. The American Nurses Association code of ethics (2015) states, “Nurses must be alert to and must take appropriate action in all instances of incompetent, unethical, illegal, or impaired practice or actions

Define the cold chain and identify the most important aspects of cold chain management in the work place, including the management and reporting of a cold chain breach. Analyse the rationale for the national guidelines for vaccine storage.

A public health encompasses knowledge of the needs of a population. The focus can be narrowed through actions protecting the health of the population and implementing policies and structure to ensure the safety of the public (Potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall, 2014). The following paper will examine use shadow shift experience with a public health inspector, their role within the healthcare team, the body of their knowledge, similarities and differences to nurses, interprofessional collaboration, and how nurses can work with the health care inspectors to improve patient safety. Throughout this paper the terms public health inspector and environmental health officier will be used interchangeably as the government of Canada has changed the title of this profession position.

This essay discusses public expectations of nurses, nurse-patient relationships and how to set their guidelines through professional behavior and professional boundaries, what they mean to nurses, and the connection between professional behaviour and professional boundaries.

Ethical dilemmas will always be a part of our nursing practice due to such a diverse patient culture. In some cultural groups, religion dictates the care that is given and by whom (Pacquiao, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to discuss an ethical dilemma that I have encountered in my nursing practice and how the dilemma was perceived. Culturally congruent care will also be defined. Describe an Ethical Dilemma Working in obstetrics and gynecology, the patient population is all female.

The role of ethics in organizational behavior is the underlying factor to the success and longevity of any organization. A set of rules and guidelines focusing on promoting safety, trust, and responsible practice within the workplace must be established internally. Organizations develop code of ethics that center upon the promotion of good. Ethics are vital in developing trusting relationships between employees and administration within.

Before beginning this course, I would not have described myself as politically active. In fact, I would call myself even frustrated with politics. In viewing and reading some of the ridiculous displays of political figures and candidates on multiple sides of the political fence, I have even developed an attitude of political avoidance. My response to this frustration would be to turn off the media broadcasts, close out of social media, or walk away from conversations when the topic either didn’t make sense or didn 't support my personal, professional, or moral convictions. Politics, policies, and political figures seemed to be more of a stumbling block than a stepping stone and a barrier separating communities and individuals from well being. The main reason for this avoidance is the pattern I have seen in American politics even at the local level of ignoring the issues and problems and mud slinging to achieve political gain. However, upon considering examples of how nurses can and have impacted public policy, I am beginning to see areas where I am and have been an impact without even realizing it because I was ignorant about politics and public policy as it applies to the nursing profession. According to Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, and O’Grady (2016), “It is simply not possible to succeed in any decision-making arena by ignoring the political realm”(p.16). Perhaps those areas of impact could have driven successful change if avoidance hadn’t taken place.

Codes of ethics contain a coherent set of normative principles underlying a nurse’s purpose and associated values (Vanlaere and Gastmans, 2007). Two perspectives of ethics are the ethics of justice and the ethics of care (Botes, 2000). The ethics of justice constitutes an ethical perspective in terms of which ethical decisions are made on the basis of universal principles and rules, and in an impartial and verifiable manner with a view to ensuring the fair and equitable treatment of all people (Botes, 2000). The ethics of care, on the other hand, constitutes an ethical approach in terms of which involvement, harmonious relations and the needs of others play an important part in ethical decision making in each ethical situation (Botes, 2000).

The ethical dilemma is a situation by which it’s difficult to determine whether a situation is can be handled without disappointing both sides. Therefore, an ethical dilemma exists when the right thing to do is clear or when members of the healthcare team cannot agree on the right thing to do. Ethical dilemmas require negotiation of different points of view (potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall 2011pg 78).