Ethics and the DNP-Prepared Nurse

At both the Bachelor and Master levels, nursing programs require courses in ethics. Thus, you have likely considered point-of-care ethical dilemmas previously; however, you can never think too much about this important topic. So much of what nurses and other healthcare professionals do daily is based in a foundation of ethics. Providing patient care and ensuring patient safety while enhancing quality and diminishing costs are all ethical practices in which you already likely engage.

A patient-focused approach, which promotes the delivery of safe, quality, and cost-effective healthcare designed to provide positive patient outcomes, represents a fundamental alignment to ethical principles for the delivery of healthcare. In your journey to become a DNP-prepared nurse, you will continue to uphold ethical principles in your nursing practice and will likely serve as an advocate for these principles in all you do. 

Resources

Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity. Click the weekly resources link to access the resources. 

WEEKLY RESOURCES

To prepare:

· Review the Learning Resources for this week, paying special attention to the various ethical issues in nursing practice that are addressed.

· Reflect on any ethical challenges in nursing you have personally experienced.

· Select  one current ethical challenge in nursing that you have personally experienced—either professionally or as a student—on which to focus for this Blog.

· Think about your experiences related to the ethical challenge you selected.

· What happened?

· How was the ethical challenge addressed by you and the other stakeholders involved?

· Do you agree with the approach(es) that were taken?

· Would you have done anything differently? If so, what?

By Day 3 of Week 10

Address the following in your Blog entry:

· Identify the ethical challenge in nursing you selected.

· Explain why you selected this ethical challenge and why you think it is important.

· Describe the specific situation you experienced. Be specific and provide examples. Explain:

· What happened?

· How was it addressed by you and the other stakeholders involved?

· Do you agree with the approach(es) that were taken?

· Would you have done anything differently? If so, what?