There are several lessons to be learned from the shocking arrest of a Utah nurse

My sister is a police chief and she or he does a beautiful job connecting and constructing trust in her community. But such events can shake our confidence. There have been many incidents in our country related to the abuse of power and authority. These incidents can result in hostility and division between different groups.

“There have been many incidents of abuse of power in our country. These incidents may lead to hostility and division between different groups.”

If you have not heard about what happened, here’s a fast breakdown: A Salt Lake City police detective requested that a University of Utah nurse perform lab tests on a patient. According to press reports, the patient was involved in a automotive accident, but was not its cause. The one that allegedly caused the accident died on the spot. The patient was unable to consent to laboratory testing, was not under arrest, and didn’t have a warrant. If this detective or officer made this request to you, what would you do?

Know your hospital’s policy

There’s a reason hospitals have policies like this, and that is an ideal example. While it’s possible you’ll not have the opportunity to memorize every policy, you may at all times pull out the policy and review it if you happen to need clarity on the small print and protocol. If you follow hospital policy and something happens, you will probably be protected by the hospital within the event of a lawsuit – “protected” within the sense that the hospital will defend your actions. If you select to disobey hospital policy – say, for instance, that you simply drew the labs on the request of a detective, and not using a court order or patient consent, and on a patient who was not under arrest – you open yourself as much as many potential legal consequences. These may include a civil lawsuit (no battery approval), operating outside the scope of practice, and HIPAA violations. The issue on this case is whether or not to attract the labs required by the detective to “save for later” or the drawing labs required by the supplier as a part of the pre-draw order. Of course, this patient’s tests were performed for other reasons, although he couldn’t consent to them. The rationale here is the belief that an inexpensive person wouldn’t wish to withhold obligatory medical care because she or he is simply too incapacitated to consent. However, there are rules for ordering labs which might be designed to guard a person’s rights when she or he cannot consent and when the labs transcend the emergency treatment and acute care the person needs.

“If you choose to disobey hospital policy – ​​say, for example, that you drew the labs at the request of a detective, without a court order or patient consent, and on a patient who was not under arrest – you open yourself up to many potential legal consequences.”

ethical codex

The American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics provides ethical guidelines for nurses in most of these situations. Regulation 1.4, Right to self-determination, talks about respect for autonomy. In this case, respect for autonomy was in danger. This provision states that the patient’s decisions should be autonomous, which requires the patient to have adequate and accurate information, and his decision should be voluntary. In clinical practice, that is achieved through an informed consent process. The emphasis on respect for autonomy, voluntariness, and informed consent was largely a response to Nazi medical atrocities during World War II (ANA, 2015). At the time, nurses were complicit in these atrocities. If voluntariness can’t be achieved, a substitute person often is the decision maker. The surrogate’s role is to make decisions which might be within the patient’s best interest. The second applicable provision is Provision 2.1, Primacy of Patient Interests. At this point, the Code of Ethics notes that since the nurse is primarily committed to the patient, that is of utmost importance and might result in conflict (ANA, 2015). The nurse bravely defended the patient when he could now not speak for himself. Standing in any situation could be a very uncomfortable, if not terrifying, feeling. Based on the video, I’m undecided who was around to assist de-escalate the situation or if anyone could have helped effectively. In addition to nurses knowing the policies, scope of practice, and Code of Ethics, programs like TeamSTEPPS will be effective in providing a safer, higher-quality patient care environment. The goal of any organization ought to be to have a team of people that will support you.

“The nurse bravely defended the patient when he couldn’t speak for himself.”

TeamSTEPPS

Unfortunately, many situations that violate ethical and legal boundaries can occur day by day in our healthcare organizations. The TeamSTEPPS program is a teamwork system designed for healthcare professionals to enhance patient safety and create highly effective teams. It was developed based on greater than 20 years of research conducted by the Department of Defense as a part of the Patient Safety Program in cooperation with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Training and materials for this program can be found on the AHRQ website. At this point, unless other details got here to light, the detective was flawed and the nurse was right. There is a reason why there are hospital policies and protocols which might be at all times compliant and updated with applicable laws and regulations. I’m grateful that the nurse defended the rights of the unconscious patient. Her actions reveal why nurses remain probably the most trusted career.

“I am grateful that the nurse stood up for the rights of her unconscious patient. “Her actions demonstrate why nurses remain the most trusted profession.”

Courses related to “ethics”

This course provides an summary of bioethics because it applies to health care and nursing within the United States. It begins with an outline of the historical events and forces that led to the event of the bioethics movement and explains the concepts, theories, and principles that underpin it. It shows how ethics function in nursing, in addition to in a hospital-wide, interdisciplinary ethics committee. The course also explains the weather of ethical decision-making because it pertains to patient care and ethics committees. The course concludes with a have a look at the moral challenges related to physician-assisted suicide, organ transplantation, and genetic testing. Nurses have a responsibility to remain abreast of current issues regarding the regulation of nursing practice, not only of their states but additionally across the country, especially when their nursing practice crosses state borders. Because practicing as a nurse is a right granted by the state to guard those in need of nursing care, nurses have an obligation to patients to practice in a protected, competent and responsible manner. This requires nursing licensees to practice in accordance with the statutes and regulations of their states. This course provides information regarding nursing practices and their impact on nursing practice.