Week Two Response To Stephanie Despres: Case Study

Working in the field as health care professionals, we are faced with ethical dilemmas almost always. Although each individual posses different values, there are specific codes of conduct to abide by, despite personal beliefs. Without the use of a structural code, individuals in the health care field would make decisions based on their own personal beliefs in accordance to their culture and religion. In the case of Marion and the pacemaker, we witness the desires of the patient at hand, Marion, and her family, be interrogated by the floor nurses. Although the intent behind the actions of the floor nurses can be described as morally just, thinking they are helping preserve the life of Marion, based on medical ethics, their behavior is of some degree to be questioned. This paper will focus on the boundaries we witness crossed by floor nurses and how they go against the medical ethics approved, and what effects they have on patients and their care givers.

What should healthcare professionals do if their ethical values differ from those of their employer? Discuss several options.

Madeline should go to the hospital ethics committee and ask for advice on how to address the ethical problem.

Nursing is not an easy job and those who chose it as their profession are truly special people. Nurses are confronted with ethical decisions that need to be made on a daily basis. Often they know the right thing to do but because of circumstances like institutional structure and conflicts with others, obstacles are created and distress ensues (Jenner, 2001). It is during times like these that nurses must rely on the training that they have received as well as the code of ethics that has been set down for their profession in order to do the right thing.

At that time, I was just a student nurse and had yet to realize the consequences of this unethical practice. However, as a manager equipped with the knowledge of the ethical and legal dilemmas of a slow code, my actions today would be different. Involving the ethics committee in these cases would be encouraged. According to Pozgar (2007), “An ethics committee in the health care setting is a multidisciplinary committee that serves as a hospital resource to patients, families, and staff, offering an objective counsel when facing difficult health care issues and decisions.” As a

or their family’s moral code if it disagrees with the nurses own code of ethics. This is

In any field of work there is a code of conduct. If you choose to stray away from the rules it can lead to disciplinary action; denial, suspension, or even revocation of a license. A thing we are seeing a lot of any more is sexual misconduct in the work place. Nurse-patient relationship is founded on mutual trust. Sexual misconduct in the practice of nursing means violation of the nurse-patient relationship through which the nurse uses said relationship to induce or attempt to induce the patient to engage, or to engage or attempt to engage the patient, in sexual activity outside the scope of the practice or the scope of generally accepted examination or treatment of the patient. Sexual misconduct in the practice of nursing is prohibited. The following acts constitute grounds for denial of a license or disciplinary action, as specified in s. 456.072(2):
Making or filing false reports or records; false, misleading, or deceptive advertising; unprofessional conduct; Engaging or attempting to engage in the possession sale or distribution of controlled substances set forth in chapter 893; Being irresponsible and unable to practice without reasonable skill and safety to patients due to illness or use of alcohol, drugs, narcotics, or chemicals, or any other type of material as a result of any mental or physical condition. Failing to report to the department anyone who the

Professionals in every field are always confronted with some kind of ethical issues. It has however been noted that these ethical issues become high in magnitude and extent when public officials are involved. Due to the involvement of human life, an industry like healthcare holds ethics in highest regard. Even though these healthcare practitioners are highly trained to deal with issues of these kinds, their decisions can sometimes have a lasting impact on their professional and personal lives (Edwards 2009).

Throughout my 13-year career in the Human Services field, spending the majority of that time working with adolescent girls in residential treatment facilities, I am very much aware of the risks that exist with regard to sexual relationships between professionals and clients. In that time, it came to my attention that at least three employees at programs where I was employed had sexual relationships with clients. In addition to the ethical issues that arose from these situations, all of the clients were under 18 years of age so the actions of these employees had legal ramifications. Many of our clients had been victims of sexual abuse prior to admission into our program. I always viewed our programs as safe places where clients would be treated with respect and could develop strong therapeutic relationships with both their counselors and program staff members. Unfortunately, the actions of a few had a detrimental effect on our programs and also the lives of our clients. Having dealt with these issues and focusing on ethical decision-making throughout my education and professional career, the ethical dilemma of

Initial Responses to the incident I was surprised that there was no record of the incident and that event had not been handed over to the multidisciplinary team members who had come on shift. I thought that the nurse had not considered the incident to be a serious incident. Furthermore sexual activity, including sexual assault and harassment, does occur in psychiatric facilities and is an issue of concern (Videbeck, 2008). In this situation I felt uncomfortable when I heard the allegations however my thoughts were that it is an important issue which should not be ignored.

Nurses have a professional responsibility to ensure that safe boundaries are kept in the relationship between patient and Nurse. It is these boundaries that provide the nursing profession with integrity, and according to Baca (2010, pp.195) it is essential these boundaries be maintained because of the difference in power between the nurse and patient. However, boundary violations can occur, when a nurse crosses from the zone of helpfulness to over involved, the ANMC (2011 pp.3) believes that when a violation occurs a nurse is behaving unprofessional manner and misusing their power in the patient nurse relationship. This misuse of power can be categorized into 3 types; boundary crossing, boundary violation and the extreme form of sexual misconduct. Often by mistake a nurse could cross the boundary without thought, a

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.

Conduct statement 8 says a nurse build and preserves health care consumers trust in nursing. Nurses always work to protect the honour of helpless and feeble people due to their illness and lack of knowledge. Nurses must take preventive measures to protect children, weak and mentally ill people from sexual and physical harm. A nurse should always stay in their professional boundaries while dealing with ill persons and their families. Indulging into sexual relationship with the vulnerable persons in their care is inappropriate for nurses whether it’s consensual or not.

Nurses have a professional responsibility to ensure that safe boundaries are understood and maintained in a patient/nurse relationship. Nurses should be knowledgeable regarding professional boundaries and continued education assists them to achieve this. It is these boundaries that provide the nursing profession with integrity, and according to Baca (2010, pp.195) it is essential these boundaries be maintained because of the difference in power between the nurse and patient. However, boundary violations can occur, when a nurse crosses from the zone of helpfulness to over involved, the ANMC (2011 pp.3) believes that when a violation occurs a nurse is behaving in an unprofessional manner and misusing their power in the patient nurse relationship. This misuse of power can be categorized into 3 types; boundary crossing, boundary violation and the extreme form, of sexual misconduct. Often a nurse could cross the boundary without thought, a violation is a more serious matter when according to the ANMC (2011 pp. 5) the nurse puts his or her own needs in front of the

The creditability of our profession is undermined when we face the temptation to ignore our ethical responsibilities. The author of “Ethics & Critical Thinking” asserts the most common ethical fallacies rely on poor judgments, enormous stress, and conflict. Patient violations are committed everyday when our thoughts maintain “it’s not unethical even if our acts have caused harm as long as the person we harmed had it coming, provoked us, deserved it, was really asking for it, or practically forced us to do it—or, failing that, has not behaved perfectly, is in some way unlikable, or is acting unreasonably.” Integrity and values guide our behaviors and ethical commitment