NURSING

Develop a solution to a specific ethical dilemma faced by a health care professional by applying ethical principles. Describe the issues and a possible solution in a 3-5 page paper.

Introduction

Whether you are a nurse, a public health professional, a health care administrator, or in another role in the health care field, you must base your decisions on a set of ethical principles and values. Your decisions must be fair, equitable, and defensible. Each discipline has established a professional code of ethics to guide ethical behavior. In this assessment, you will practice working through an ethical dilemma as described in a case study. Your practice will help you develop a method for formulating ethical decisions.

Instructions

Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. At a minimum, be sure to address each point. In addition, you are encouraged to review the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.

For this assessment, develop a solution to a specific ethical dilemma faced by a health care professional. In your assessment:

1. Access the  Ethical Case Studies  media piece to review the case studies you will be using for this assessment.

· Select the case most closely related to your area of interest and use it to complete the assessment.

· Note: The case study may not supply all of the information you need. In such cases, you should consider a variety of possibilities and infer potential conclusions. However, please be sure to identify any assumptions or speculations you make.

· Include the selected case study in your reference list, using proper APA style and format. Refer to the  Evidence and APA  section of the Writing Center for guidance.

Summarize the facts in a case study and use the three components of an ethical decision-making model to analyze an ethical problem or issue and the factors that contributed to it.

· Identify which case study you selected and briefly summarize the facts surrounding it. Identify the problem or issue that presents an ethical dilemma or challenge and describe that dilemma or challenge.

· Identify who is involved or affected by the ethical problem or issue.

· Access the  Ethical Decision-Making Model  media piece and use the three components of the ethical decision-making model (moral awareness, moral judgment, and ethical behavior) to analyze the ethical issues.

· Apply the three components outlined in the Ethical Decision-Making Model media.

· Analyze the factors that contributed to the ethical problem or issue identified in the case study.

· Describe the factors that contributed to the problem or issue and explain how they contributed.

Apply academic peer-reviewed journal articles relevant to an ethical problem or issue as evidence to support an analysis of the case.

· In addition to the readings provided, use the Capella library to locate at least one academic peer-reviewed journal article relevant to the problem or issue that you can use to support your analysis of the situation. The  NHS-FPX4000: Developing a Health Care Perspective Library Guide  will help you locate appropriate references.

· Cite and apply key principles from the journal article as evidence to support your critical thinking and analysis of the ethical problem or issue.

· Review the  Think Critically About Source Quality  resource.

· Assess the credibility of the information source.

· Assess the relevance of the information source.

Discuss the effectiveness of the communication approaches present in a case study.

· Describe how the health care professional in the case study communicated with others.

· Assess instances where the professional communicated effectively or ineffectively.

· Explain which communication approaches should be used and which ones should be avoided.

· Describe the consequences of using effective and non-effective communication approaches.

Discuss the effectiveness of the approach used by a professional to deal with problems or issues involving ethical practice in a case study.

· Describe the actions taken in response to the ethical dilemma or issue presented in the case study.

· Summarize how well the professional managed professional responsibilities and priorities to resolve the problem or issue in the case.

· Discuss the key lessons this case provides for health care professionals.

Apply ethical principles to a possible solution to an ethical problem or issue described in a case study.

· Describe the proposed solution.

· Discuss how the approach makes this professional more effective or less effective in building relationships across disciplines within his or her organization.

· Discuss how likely it is the proposed solution will foster professional collaboration.

Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

· Apply the principles of effective composition.

· Determine the proper application of the rules of grammar and mechanics.

Write using APA style for in-text citations, quotes, and references.

· Determine the proper application of APA formatting requirements and scholarly writing standards.

· Integrate information from outside sources into academic writing by appropriately quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, following APA style.

Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:

· Assessment 3 Example [PDF] .

Additional Requirements

Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:

· Length: 3–5 typed, double-spaced pages, not including the title page and reference page.

· Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

· APA tutorial: Use the  APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX]  for guidance.

· Written communication: Use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

· References: Integrate information from outside sources to include at least two references (the case study and an academic peer-reviewed journal article) and three in-text citations within the paper.

· APA format: Follow current APA guidelines for in-text citation of outside sources in the body of your paper and also on the reference page.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

· Competency 1: Apply information literacy and library research skills to obtain scholarly information in the field of health care.

· Apply academic peer-reviewed journal articles relevant to an ethical problem or issue as evidence to support an analysis of the case.

Competency 3: Apply ethical principles and academic standards to the study of health care.

· Summarize the facts in a case study and use the three components of an ethical decision-making model to analyze an ethical problem or issue and the factors that contributed to it.

· Discuss the effectiveness of the approach used by a professional to deal with problems or issues involving ethical practice in a case study.

· Apply ethical principles to a possible solution to an ethical problem or issue described in a case study.

Competency 4: Write for a specific audience, in appropriate tone and style, in accordance with Capella's writing standards.

· Discuss the effectiveness of the communication approaches present in a case study.

· Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

· Write following APA style for in-text citations, quotes, and references.

 

Socratic Problem-Solving Approach

The Socratic Method is a teaching style in which teachers ask students questions designed to stimulate more complete thinking and deeper insight. It also relates to the steps of performing scientific research. When the Socratic approach is applied, students are prompted to look more closely at your ideas, question your assumptions and accepted premises, and view your choices through a rigorous lens.

Apply the Socratic approach

Applying the Socratic approach to problem solving helps you identify gaps and improve your thinking when writing papers or completing projects. The questions may be used to spark new insights when responding to discussion topics and posts.

· Identify the elements of the problem, issue, or question

· Analyze, define, and frame the problem, issue, or question

· Consider solutions, responses, or answers

· Choose a solution, response, or answer

· Implement your choice

· Evaluate the results

Socratic problem-solving references

Paul, R., & Elder., L. (2006) The miniature guide to critical thinking concepts & tools (4th ed.). Dillon Beach, CA: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Wertheim, E. G. (n.d.). A model for case analysis and problem solving. College of Business Administration, Northeastern University. Retrieved August 7, 2007, from http://web.cba.neu.edu/ewertheim/introd/cases.htm (Material no longer available at this link.)

*Source:  Dictionary.com

  

RELATED RESOURCES

Apply critical thinking

Learn more about applying the Socratic approach when creating discussion posts.

Socratic problem-solving approach

Identify gaps and improve your thinking when writing a course paper or completing a project.

Practice Activity

Use the Socratic approach when responding to a discussion question.

Introduction

Selecting a topic for your written assessments can be challenging, but it’s important to make a thoughtful choice.

Choose a topic area of interest to you from the topic suggestions in this media piece. You will use this topic to complete Assessments 2 and 3. Be sure to select a topic that will be manageable for a written assessment.

To explore the chosen topic, you should use the Socratic Problem-Solving Approach, focusing on the sections specifically called out in the assessment guidelines.

Topic 1:

Limited Access to Healthcare

Short Description:

Consumers face barriers to healthcare access for assorted reasons. For example: due to geographic location, provider availability, transportation issues and mobility.

Potential Intervention Approaches:

· – Healthcare information online

· – Telemedicine

· – In–home healthcare services

Keywords for Articles:

online health information seeking, health care access, health information systems, consumer health information, chronic disease, health information search, health seeking behavior, rural nursing

References:

Bhandari, N. (2014). Seeking health information online: does limited healthcare access matter? Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA (1067-5027), 21 (6), p. 1113. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.library.capella.edu/pmc/articles/PMC4215038/

Lee, K., Hoti, K., Hughes, J. D., & Emmerton, L. (2014). Dr Google and the Consumer: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Navigational Needs and Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors of Consumers with Chronic Health Conditions. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 16(12), e262. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.2196/jmir.3706

Ware, P., Bartlett, S. J., Paré, G., Symeonidis, I., Tannenbaum, C., Bartlett, G., … Ahmed, S. (2017). Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 6(1), e3. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.2196/ijmr.4447

Pratt, D. (2015). Telehealth and telemedicine. Albany Law Journal of Science & Technology. (1059-4280), 25 (3), p. 495. http://www.lexisnexis.com.library.capella.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&csi=148364&sr=TITLE(%22Telehealth+telemedicine+in+2015%22)+and+date+is+2015

Topic 3:

Medication Errors

Short Description:

A medication error is a preventable adverse effect of a patient taking the wrong medication or dosage, whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient. Medication errors can be a source of serious patient harm, including death.

Potential Intervention Approaches:

· – Medical staff education

· – Packaging improvements

· – Patient medication safety training

Keywords for Articles:

medication administration, medication errors, medication safety

References:

Cohen, M. (2016). Medication errors (miscellaneous). Nursing. 46(2):72, February 2016. DOI: 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000476239.09094.06

Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2017). Improve Core Processes for Administering Medications. http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Changes/ImproveCoreProcessesforAdministeringMedications.aspx

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2012). Table 6: Categories of Medication Error Classification. http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patient-safety-resources/resources/match/matchtab6.html

Schmidt, K., Taylor, A., & Pearson, A. (2017). Reduction of medication errors: A unique approach. Journal of Nursing Care Quality. 32(2), April/June 2017, 150–156.