Class 6 Unit 1 Discussion

10/19/17, 9(38 AMSample Content Topic

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Unit 1 Overview and Outcomes Nursing Leaders as Ethical - Legal Change Agents in the Health Care System

Please take a moment to watch this Course Overview presentation, or read the presentation transcript.

In this unit, you will explain how you view your role as an advanced practice nursing leader and change agent from an ethical and legal perspective. You will be placed in a group for your Unit 7 and 9 group Projects by your instructor or you will be allowed to choose a group. There are two malpractice case scenarios that are described in the Assignment directions. Your instructor will assign your group either the Pinnelas case or the Carpenter case. The group works starts in Unit 1 with accessing the group area to share contact information. By the end of Week 2, your group will have developed a contract that will delineate the group work for the Unit 7 legal paper and the Unit 9 health policy WebQuest. This is an ongoing Project that culminates in Week 7 with a paper and in Week 9 with the WebQuest.

In the group, you will work on a WebQuest that is due in Week 9. The Webquest is on a health care policy issue. The Webquest is a little different than any you may have done to date. Its purpose is to stimulate critical thinking and creativity. You will draw on many resources to include in the Webquest to support your position. You will share the Webquest in Week 8 with your colleagues in the Discussion Board. The Assignment calls for critical thinking and a certain amount of creativity.

In the Seminar, you will learn how to read a legal citation and find laws that support legal issues. It is important to be aware of legal and ethical issues in health care. These issues can impact the care you give and your own license to practice. If you or your institution is sued, it can jeopardize financial wellbeing. As a nursing leader and ethical-legal patient advocate, it is important to find your moral beliefs so you can act as an unbiased, change agent who can analyze legal, ethical, and health care policy issues. Knowing your own beliefs and how you think about ethical principles and laws effecting decision making will require the use of emotional intelligence and leadership skills when acting as a change agent. The ability to differentiate and understand the differences among laws, ethics, and moral beliefs is an important competency of an advanced practice nurse.

Laws are societal rules that are enforced by legal authority such as the court system. Laws reflect the values of the society and therefore can be subject to change (Westrick, 2014). Laws, such as common laws or court rulings, can develop and evolve over time. Statutory laws are enacted by the legislatures of the states and federal government. Laws govern civil disputes and criminal actions. The American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses (2015) delineates that the nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient and the nurse advocates for the health, welfare, and safety of clients. A professional relationship must be maintained that strives to achieve the patient’s goals. Rich (2013) defined ethics as “a branch of philosophy used to study ideal human behavior and ideal ways of being (p.4).” Principles of ethics are based on autonomy, freedom, beneficence, nonmalfeasance, veracity, confidentiality, fidelity, and justice. These ethical principles guide the nurse in being a patient advocate when tough decisions have to be made. Morals may be different for different cultures and religious groups. The nurse’s morals may conflict with that of the patients. An example of this is the nurse who does not support abortion due to religious beliefs and is put in a situation where the patient wants an abortion. The ANA code of ethics says that the patient’s interests come first. This

Class 6 Unit 1

10/19/17, 9(38 AMSample Content Topic

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may place the nurse in a situation of moral distress. Knowing your own belief system, guiding ethics, and existing laws helps to make better patient-centered decisions.

References

American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. Silver Springs, MD: Author.

Rich, K. L. (2013). Introduction to ethics. In Butts, J. B. & Rich, K. L. Nursing ethics: Across the curriculum and into practice. (pp.3–29). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Westrick, S. J. (2015). Essentials of nursing law and ethics (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

After completing this unit, you should be able to:

Explain how you view your role as an advanced practice nursing leader. Assess the principles of ethical decision making. Differentiate between legal, ethical, and moral issues.