An Ethical Dilemma (graded)

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Nurses face many ethical issues on a daily basis. Consider the following scenario: Your unit has team nursing. As luck would have it, you and your best friend, Jill, are paired as a team this shift... . Jill is a new nurse so you feel this is a great opportunity to take her under your wing a bit and show her the ropes. It is a busy shift and you administered Mr. Smith his insulin dose based on the sliding scale before lunch. You chart your medication administration and continuing caring for your patients. An hour later, Jill comes to you terrified because she forgot to chart the insulin she gave Mr. Smith and realized that you also gave the medication. She rushed to take his blood sugar and it was 115. Mr. Smith felt fine and was eating a candy bar his family had snuck in for him. No harm done, in fact he probably needed the extra insulin to compensate for the candy bar he wasn’t supposed to have, Jill explained. Jill begs you not to report this since she is still on probation. She says that she has learned her lesson and since nothing bad happened, why does anyone need to know? What would you do in this situation? Apply ethical principles to explain the rationale for your decision making process. Respond This section lists options that can be used to view responses. Collapse All Print View Show Options Responses Responses are listed below in the following order: response, author and the date and time the response is posted. Sort by Read/Unread Sort by Response Sorted Ascending, click to sort descending Sort by Author Sort by Date/Time* (an instructor response) Collapse Mark as Unread Introductory Post Instructor Card Email this Author 4/22/2015 11:19:49 AM We have all been faced with ethical dilemmas in our practices and in our lives. Please use the ethical principles discussed in the course materials to describe how you would handle the situation in the case above, and discuss why it is important to be aware of and use ethical principles in our practices. Respond Collapse Mark as Unread RE: Introductory Post Shellie Cartwright Email this Author 6/1/2015 2:32:15 AM Dr. Card and classmates, Ethical issues related to healthcare have been discussed and debated for years, and will continue to be for years to come. In my professional career as a nurse I have been directly and indirectly involved in several ethical issues concerning patients, patient family members, physicians, co￾workers, and organizational leaders and staff members. As a new nurse I can say I was very uncomfortable bringing these issues forward fearing lack of knowledge, anger towards me as the "whistle blower", or retaliation. As I have grown in my nursing career, my thought process, perception, and ways of addressing these issues has changed. I have become more comfortable as a nurse with an increased knowledge base, ability to deal with negative interactions, and mindset that fear of retaliation can never be a determinant to doing what is right. According to the ANA, an ethical practice of a registered nurse includes "contributes to resolving ethical issues involving healthcare consumers, colleagues, community groups, systems, and other stakeholders" (2010, pg. 47). When considering the scenario above with the nurse friend Jill, ones ethical practices as a co-nurse should not change. In making that statement I also realize this can be much easier said than done. But if approached correctly, Jill, herself, may come to the right and just conclusion that reporting the incident is the prudent thing to do. This weeks lesson speaks to ethical principles in nursing. One principle "autonomy is the right to make your own decisions and choices" (Lesson Week 5, CCN). As a nurse in this situation you would have the opportunity to make your own decision. But, ethically as a nurse you have the obligation to make the appropriate decision to report the incident for safety reasons and potential quality improvement measures. I would explain to Jill that I understand her concern of reporting the incident. If I had a story that could correlate to Jill's, I would use it to make her feel less alone. I would then explain that we all make mistakes, and each mistake is an educational opportunity. In this particular case no harm came to the patient, but what if it happens again, and not necessarily by Jill, but perhaps another nurse, and the outcome for the patient is less favorable. Perhaps this is a flawed system in need of quality improvement. Reporting of errors, mistakes or near misses, is a way to track trending in a current system or process, which may require further investigation. I would also offer to go with her to notify the supervisor, leader or manager of the occurrence. I would as well remind Jill that she is new and on probation for reasons of learning and increasing her knowledge and skill set. Finally, I would agree with Jill that she will never do that again, because this particular incident will remain with her forever. This would be my personal/professional approach to this situation, due to experiences with various failed approaches previously. If I only knew then what I know now! Shellie References American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed). Silver Spring, MD: Author. Lesson Week 5, CCN [Show More]

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