PHIL 201 Exam 1
After the physician has discussed euthanasia with a terminal client and family, the nurse assesses their understanding of the topic. Which statement by the family indicates that learning has occurred?
"It is all right to stop dialysis."
Which ethical principle is related to the duty to do good?
Beneficence
A nurse is caring for a client who is a hospital employee. The client is diagnosed with genital herpes and is being treated for a urinary tract infection (UTI). A coworker asks the nurse about how the client is doing. What is the nurse's best response?
"Would you like me to let the client know you said hello?" Offering to tell the client that the coworker said hello is the only appropriate response. The disclosure of the herpes and UTI are a breach in confidentiality. Nurses should never encourage employees to read medical records that are not their assigned clients.
A client rings the call bell to request pain medication. On performing the pain assessment, the nurse informs the client that the nurse will return with the pain medication. After a few moments, the nurse returns with the pain medication. The nurse's returning with the pain medication is an example of which principle of bioethics?
Fidelity
A nurse reports to the charge nurse that a client medication due at 9 am was omitted. Which principle is the nurse demonstrating?
Integrity
Which action most clearly demonstrates a nurse's commitment to social justice?
Lobbying for an expansion of healthcare resources and benefits to those in poverty
Which example may illustrate a breach of confidentiality and security of client information?
The nurse provides information over the phone to the client's family member who lives in a neighboring state.
A client with end-stage pulmonary hypertension tells the physician they don't want any heroic measures should their heart stop, and doesn't want to be placed on a ventilator. The physician enters a do-not-resuscitate order into the hospital's computer system. Which ethical principle is the nurse upholding by supporting the client's decision?
autonomy
Ethical distress is:
knowing the correct action but being unable to perform it due to constraints. Knowing the correct action but being unable to perform it due to constraints is the definition of moral or ethical distress. Being aware of knowing what is right and wrong is the first step of having an ethical conscience. Supporting a client during a hospitalization is an ethical principle of doing what is right (beneficence) and the focus of client-centered care. An ethical dilemma is a situation in which a person has difficulty deciding which of two or more conflicting ethical principles to follow.
A nurse who works on a palliative care unit has participated in several clinical scenarios that have required the application of ethics. Ethics is best defined as
the principles that determine whether an act is right or wrong
