Instructions: In this assessment, you are required to consider the case study below and identify and describe the legal and ethical considerations present.
Case Study: You work in the role of a registered nurse in a medical respiratory ward. You have been working on this ward for 6 months and the staff are all very friendly and supportive of each other. This is viewed as an important part of the culture of this ward.
You come to a day shift on a weekend, and you are working with Amanda (she identifies her pronouns as she/her) who is the registered nurse in charge. Amanda is a very respected and acknowledged leader in the nursing team.
At clinical handover you are standing next to Amanda and believe you can smell alcohol on her breath. You are not sure though, and consequently dismiss this at the time. When you arrive to work the following weekend, Amanda is in the staff room having a coffee before the shift. While speaking with each other she shares with you that she has been out all night, has had no sleep and is worried she is still intoxicated from the night before. You notice she is inattentive, emotionally labile and is speaking loudly.
After clinical handover, a person in your care, John (he identifies his pronouns as he/him), requires repositioning, and you call Amanda into the room for help. Amanda is unsteady on her feet and says “don’t worry about the lifter, it takes too much time. We’ll just move him using the sheet.” At this point you let John know you will be back in five (5) minutes to reposition him, and you ask Amanda to meet you outside the room. When you meet with Amanda outside the room, you suggest she take a break, and you ask another registered nurse to help you with repositioning John.
What are the ethical and legal considerations of this situation?
Use the following headings and suggested word counts in order:
Introduction (100 words) Provide a logical overview of the main points of the essay.
Ethical Considerations (400 words) Identify and describe the two (2) ethical considerations in the case study.
Legal and Professional Considerations (400 words) Identify and describe one (1) legal and one (1) professional consideration in the case study.
Conclusion (100 words) Present a summary of the main points of the essay.
The ethical considerations need to be from the ICN Code of Ethics for example:
1.9 Nurses facilitate a culture of safety in health care environments, recognising and addressing threats to people and safe care in health practices, services and settings.
2.2 Nurses maintain fitness to practice so as not to compromise their ability to provide quality, safe care.
2.11 Nurses are active participants in the promotion of patient safety. They promote ethical conduct when errors or near misses occur, speak up when patient safety is threatened, advocate for transparency, and work with others to reduce the potential of errors.
The professional considerations need to be from the Code of Conduct for example the Conduct outlines:
7 principles of code of conduct are
Legal compliance
Person-centered practice
Cultural practice and respectful relationships
Professional behavior
Teaching, supervising and assessing
Research in health
Health and wellbeing
Amanda is not displaying professional behaviour
The legal considerations need to be about mandatory notifications
