NUR222 Health Law and Ethics | Free Samples
In this task you are asked to respond to the three scenarios presented below. Within your response to each case you must consider;
1. The legal requirements for student nurses and/or student midwives, registered nurses and/or registered midwives as appropriate for the case study.
2. The implications for the health facility and/or education provider as required for each of the cases.
3. Your reflection on your personal life experiences (you do not have to have experienced any of these specific incidents). Think about situations you have encountered in the past, your ethical stance and how this will inform your actions in each case study and your discussion on how easy or difficult it will be to meet the requirements for each of the cases.
If you are undertaking the Bachelor of Midwifery program answer these using appropriate midwifery references
Case 1
You are on placement and are walking your patient/woman back to their bed. On the way you pass another student nurse/midwife who is talking with another patient/woman. You can hear some heated exchange between them and look over to hear the patient/woman shout an expletive at the student who then slaps the patient/woman and walks off. You and your patient/woman (who also heard and saw the incident) are quite shaken by what you have seen and once your patient/woman is back in their bed you go to find your fellow student. The student is crying and quite upset but asks you not to say anything. You are concerned about what you witnessed and you are also concerned how this might affect the other student.
Case 2
You are sharing a flat with another newly registered nurse/midwife and have noticed some changes in behaviour over the past month following a relationship break up. Your flatmate works on the same ward and has been regularly drinking heavily since the break up and was charged (over the “high limit”) with drink driving 2 days ago. You had to pick them up from the police station in the early hours. You discussed with them about reporting this to your NUM/MUM but your flatmate does not want to report stating ‘It’s none of their business, I didn’t hurt anyone.’ You are both leaving for an early shift and your flatmate is catching a lift with you into work. They had been out late last night and smell strongly of alcohol and still appear affected by alcohol and when you discuss this with them they ask you not to say anything.
Case 3
You are an RN/RM and are responsible for facilitating students on clinical placement in a rural facility for several education providers. You have been working with a student on an early shift and have been admitting a patient/woman who needs to go to theatre. You take off their necklace and watch and put this in the top drawer, telling the patient/woman that once they are admitted and prepared for theatre you will put their valuables in a marked envelope in the locked drawer. Once the patient/woman is admitted you ask the student to finish tidying up. You go off to get an envelope to put the valuables in and label with their name and when you get back to the bed the watch is in the drawer, but the necklace is missing. You ask the student where the necklace is and they own up to taking this and hand this back to you.
Answer:
Introduction/Overview
Laws and ethics are important for ensuring proper delivery of the nursing services to the patients. The patients are dependent on the honest approach of the nurses and their consideration of the ethical standards of the services provided by them (Chadwick and Gallagher, 2016). A nurse has to develop effective communication with the patients so that they are able to take quick and proper decisions regarding the health of the patients. However circumstances emerge where confusions, poor interactions and misunderstandings can lead to unwanted consequences which can hamper the wellbeing of the nurses or nursing students as well as the patients (Griffith and Tengnah, 2017). In this task three case studies are to be studied. With reference to the studies the key issues will be identified and the respective laws will be discussed.
Case study one
Description
While walking with my patient towards her bed I noticed disturbances between one of my fellow students and her patient. At the end of the heated conversation the student slapped the patient as she had used an expletive against her. During my placement I had come face to face with such an incident for the second time. The first incident took place when a patient did not want to take the medicine and the responsible nurse used force to make the patient take the medicine. When I encountered my fellow student she was in tears and asked me not to speak a word about that incident. I am not only concerned about the way this student had behaved but I am also concerned about the consequences of this happening.
Feeling
Such behaviour from a nurse shook me quite well. In the first case I had not taken any initiative of preventing that nurse from delivering such kind of conduct towards her patient. However in this case I was quite confused about how to deal with the situation. The conduct of my fellow student had violated the standards set by the nursing legislations. Also she was scared of getting her placement cancelled due to her harsh behaviour towards the patient.
Evaluation
Both in the previous case and the present scenario the conduct of the responsible care giver towards the service user had violated legal aspects and fall in the legal category of assault and battery. It is against nursing standards and practice to touch the patients without their consent (Daly et al, 2017). In the case that I had encountered previously the nurse had applied force without the consent of the patient. Therefore this violation falls under intentional tort. In this case torts law are applicable as they address towards the responsibilities of the nurse and the legal rights of the patients. From the second case it could be noticed that my fellow student conducted in a harsh manner as she lost her temper when the patient used the expletive. Therefore it was not intentional but arises out of anger. With regard to the previous scenario that I had experienced I should have communicated with senior registered nurses because focusing on the career of nursing I have to consider the laws related with nursing (Scotti, 2017). But in the second scenario the circumstances were different. But it is important to provide my fellow student with assistance so that similar consequences do not take place in future (Griffith and Tengnah, 2017).
Analysis
It is the responsibility of a nurse to maintain the dignity and wellbeing of the patients. Patience is an aspect that has to be given importance in the profession of nursing. There can be instances where unaccepted behaviour is received from the patients like they can refuse to take medicines or they can become violent or use expletives. In such situations also it is expected from us to deliver our services with great patience. With respect to the case of my fellow student she had been unable to maintain her patience with the patient. Therefore she is responsible for violating the standards of practices nursing by touching the patient without her consent. With respect to this case the patient can accuse her of violating tort laws under the fields of assault and battery (Scott, 2017). This fellow student had caused a breach in her duties by representing malpractice.
Conclusion
Such behaviour is not accepted from my fellow nursing student. It is important for her to learn the ways of controlling her anger and maintaining her patience level while deliver her services towards the patients. It would have been proper for me to talk with senior registered nurse under whom we have been placed. Hiding of the happenings of the incident can result in major consequences for the future of the student in the health and social care sector (Y?ld?z, 2017).
Action plan
If I ever come across such kind of behaviour which I had experienced in the two cases then I would discuss about the circumstances with my senior registered nurse so that effective measures are taken as early as possible. If the circumstances are neglected as I had done in the above two cases then it would either hamper the future of a nursing student involved or it will hamper the image of the organization. Interaction with the senior registered nurse will assist in finding ways to handle the consequences (Ellis, 2016).
Conclusion
From the above discussions it can be concluded that no matter in what ways the patients treat nurses or nursing students, they have to abide by the laws related with nursing practices for deciding upon a better way of handling such unwanted behaviour from the patients. Behaving violently or assaulting the patients out of anger is not the proper way of delivering nursing services.
Case study two
Description
Over the past few months I have been sharing flat with a newly registered nurse who has recently taken up heavy drinking activities after the breakup of her relationship. She had been charged with drink driving two times and had refused to hear any of my sayings and suggestion. They had neglected my suggestion of reporting such recklessness to our NUM and increased their alcohol consumption to such high level that in the workplace they appeared unstable. I tried discussing the consequences with them but they asked me not to speak anything about it to anyone as they are not hurting anyone else (Griffith and Tengnah, 2017).
Feelings
I have felt strong aversion towards this behaviour of my flatmate. As she is a nurse herself this kind of negligent conduct on her part is not acceptable at all from the perspective of nursing standards. I feel that it is improper to show up at your workplace in an intoxicated state as it is a breach in your duties and responsibilities.
Evaluation
My flatmate has undergone a mishap but she is giving more priorities to her current psychological condition rather than her responsibilities and duties. She is unable to focus on her conduct which can result in the termination of her career. She is not at all bothered about the consequences that her heavy consumption can lead to. That was why when she was charged of drink driving twice she did not give much importance to the fact and in fact considered it to be less valuable to be communicated to our NUM. This kind of conduct is related with negligence towards your roles (Scotti, 2017). Such circumstance of negligence on the part of a nurse had been experienced by me while continuing with my placement. At that time the negligence on part of the nurse had been informed to the organization and she had been asked to discontinue with her services (Ellis, 2017). As I had evaluated that my flatmate is conducting in such a manner due to psychological breakdown, it has become necessary for me report to our NUM for preventing any unaccepted consequences.
Analysis
From the situation it has been analyzed that my flatmate is becoming unobservant of her present situation and behaviour. She has increased her alcohol consumption so much that she is finding it difficult to maintain her composure at her workplace. She often smelled of alcohol and appeared to be affected by alcohol. At this rate she can get her career hampered by resulting in negligence. Negligence falls under unintentional tort laws. This takes place when the nurses fail to carry out their duties and responsibilities. The nurses are unable to follow the set procedures, policies, the care standards and the foreseeing ability (Wilson et al, 2018). With the continuation of such behaviour my flatmate can get charged with negligence and liabilities. These come under torts that address the responsibilities of the nurses and the legal rights of the patients within a nurse-patient relationship. It has been analyzed by me from this situation that it has become necessary to report the happenings to our NUM in order to avoid any legal consequences. My flatmate is in need of proper counselling so that she can get out of her psychological breakdown and take her responsibilities seriously.
Conclusion
It is important for my flatmate to think about her present drinking habit and conduct if she has to continue her career as a nurse in the health and social care sector. It will be proper for me to report to NUM so that she can be helped with her situation and the organization will not have to suffer from any reputational damage for a reckless behaviour on part of a nurse (Griffith and Tengnah, 2017).
Action plan
In future if such negligent behaviour is noticed by me from any of my co-worker then I will be discussing with our in-charge for undertaking of proper measures. It is my responsibility to follow the standards of nursing practice and also prevent any kind of violation of the standards if ever identified by me.
Conclusion
In case study it can be observed that the newly registered nurse is not at all giving importance to her duties and responsibilities. Rather she is focusing more on the breaking of her relationship. in order to overcome the pain she is increasing the consumption of alcohol which will ultimately impact her services. As a result the negative impact will create a breach in her duties which will lead to legal charges on the ground of liability and negligence. Thus effective counselling or training is required in this case for the betterment of the individual as well as the organization.
Case study three
Description
I am the RN and am responsible for looking after the performances and progress of the students who are on clinical placement in our organization. I usually work along with the students and while working with a student in the early I experienced the incidence of belonging mishandling. I put the student in charge of tidying up the place and went to ensure that the belongings of the patient were properly secured. But when I returned I could not find one of the belonging and asked the student about it. Ultimately after intense interrogation the student handed over the belonging to me. This type of incident is not first for me. In fact I had faced many instances where I had caught students misplacing or keeping the belongings of patients.
Feeling
It often becomes very complicated to make the students admit their faults. There are chances of addressing the wrong student for the act. Therefore I have to maintain caution and have to undertake detailed investigation before charging the students with mishandling and keeping of the belongings. I felt very dejected when any student commits such a deed as they are going to become future care givers who will be responsible for looking after the various aspects of a patient.
Evaluation
This act of the student falls under the category of malpractice which comes under the implication tort with respect to civil laws. The students who are kept on placement are at their initial stage of learning. So they are learning the conduct, duties and responsibilities of a nurse in order to ensure proper delivery of the nursing services. In this case the student working with me has got attracted by the jewellery and thereby kept it. The student was at the learning stage and in not fully acquainted with the practices, procedures, standards and consequences of nursing (Shrestha and Jose, 2014). This kind of malpractice is unintentional as the students are not typical criminal minded. The bad experiences with such instances are to make the students admit their offense or fault. They often generate the fear of getting their placement cancelled. The good experiences are that when I interact with them in a proper way most of them try to understand the circumstances and take step for improving their situation.
Analysis
The student over here had no bad intention in taking up the belonging. If there was a bad intention then the student would not have handed that belonging and admitted the fault. Often charging these students is not necessarily the right process of ensuring maintenance of nursing standards. Proper counselling, interaction and training help the students in improving themselves by learning from their faults and errors (Sherwood and Barnsteiner, 2017). The student in the case scenario had handed over the belonging after interrogation. So a chance can be provided to the student for correcting her fault. If such behaviour is repeated then drastic step has to be taken as such offence will violate the rights of the patients leading to legal consequences. The offence can be based on the grounds of civil law and criminal law thereby causing damage to the patients.
Conclusion
With respect to the scenario it would have been proper for me to look after the belongings of the patient more carefully or monitor the doings of the student for avoiding any kind of legal charges from the patients. Supervising the work of the students is one of my crucial responsibilities. Presiding over the work of the students in more detailed manner and maintaining effective interaction will be more useful in understanding the students (Dimond, 2015). This will help more in avoiding complicated situations and confusions (Y?ld?z, 2017).
Action plan
These kind of instances are common as the all the student that are taken on placement have different mentalities. So it will be better if I discuss this matter with the higher authorities for the arrangement of counselling sessions for those who will be caught in the act. Also I will be intensifying my supervisory duties so that such unaccepted deeds do not get avoided by me. With proper measures it will become possible to attain solution and to prevent legal charges and consequences (Y?ld?z, 2017).
Conclusion
The unwanted deed conducted by the nursing student in the scenario falls under civil law on the grounds of malpractice. She had committed it out of recklessness and did not have prior intention. Thus it will better to provide the student with proper counselling and supervision in the form a second chance. However if the deeds get repeated then it is necessary to take legal steps for ensuring proper maintenance of the nursing standards and duties.
References
Chadwick, R. and Gallagher, A., 2016. Ethics and nursing practice. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Daly, J., Speedy, S. and Jackson, D., 2017. Contexts of nursing: An introduction. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Dimond, B., 2015. Legal Aspects of Nursing. Pearson Higher Ed.
Ellis, P., 2016. Evidence-based practice in nursing. Learning Matters.
Ellis, P., 2017. Understanding ethics for nursing students. Learning Matters.
Griffith, R. and Tengnah, C., 2017. Law and professional issues in nursing. Learning Matters.
Scott, P.A. ed., 2017. Key Concepts and Issues in Nursing Ethics. Springer.
Scotti, J.C., 2017. Care and restraint, when the law questions nursing practice. Soins. Psychiatrie, 38(310), pp.32-39.
Sherwood, G. and Barnsteiner, J. eds., 2017. Quality and safety in nursing: A competency approach to improving outcomes. John Wiley & Sons.
Shrestha, S. and Jose, P., 2014. Knowledge and practice of nursing ethics and laws. Journal of Universal College of Medical Sciences, 2(3), pp.30-3.
Y?ld?z, E., 2017. Ethics in nursing: A systematic review of the framework of evidence perspective. Nursing ethics, p.0969733017734412.
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