NHS-FPX 4000 Assessment 1 Applying Ethical Principles

Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, commented that nursing is a reputable and ethical profession. Therefore, operating within the set ethical framework limits nurses from facing legal cases that have been on the rise in healthcare setting. Healthcare professionals often face ethical issues in their line of duty, requiring them to use moral decisions and values to solve these ethical problems (Rainer et al., 2018). Failure to apply ethical principles in solving ethical issues might result in adverse consequences for the healthcare worker. The consequences include license revocation, loss of public trust, and legal cases. These ethical principles have been significant in the past and are also accepted in the care field. Healthcare professionals use these principles when faced with complex decisions involving patients. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to address the ethical issue facing Dr. Kerr on the stand of Jenna and Chris Smith concerning immunizing their 5-day-old daughter.

Overview of the Case Study

The case presented is about Jenna and Chris Smith, who are the biological parents, Ana. Ana is a 5-day-old baby who was born in the community hospital without presenting any complications at birth. The family was happy to receive the newborn, and they had a good time bonding with Ana. In their mind, they would do anything possible to make their baby safe because she was the only reason they could smile as family. For this reason, they believed that approaching the safety of Ana through the natural method would reduce the risk of infection in their baby. Therefore, the parents were against vaccinating Ana, citing the increased risk of autism arising from these vaccines. The natural choice selected the Smiths included breastfeeding the baby for the first six months and making their own food out of pureed organic foods for the baby.

The Smiths are intellects who had carried out research on vaccines. Their findings prove that these vaccines increase risk of autism, and they do not see the value that the vaccines would have on their baby; instead, the vaccines would cause potential harm. Ana’s parents have used the increase in autism rates as proof of the unanticipated risks of these vaccines. Their pediatrician, Dr. Angela Kerr, listened to their argument and the reason why they would not want their child to be vaccinated. In her experience and professionalism in healthcare, Dr. Kerr starts by agreeing about the controversies of these vaccines in recent years. However, she further explains that the vaccines have saved millions of children and reduced the mortality rate over the past century. The doctor iterated that the decreased rate of infection caused by the deadly Haemophilus influenza type B, is an outcome of the frequent immunization against the bacterium. Again, the increased cases of measles are also linked to unvaccinated individuals.

Dr. Kerr further clears the controversy linking autism and immunization by explaining that the safety profiles of all vaccines are regularly monitored. The federal government has a system called Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) that is responsible for constant updates of the vaccine data. This system also conducts a nationwide safety surveillance program sponsored by the FDA and the CDC through a special link available to the public. This system allows transparency for vaccine safety and encourages the public and healthcare providers to report adverse reactions to vaccines. No vaccines have proven to be causing autism spectrum disorder or any other developmental disorder. Again, in many studies, vaccines containing thimerasol were thought to cause autism, but it was later confirmed that it does not increase the risk of autism.

Dr. Kerr also reminds the Smiths of the risks of exposure they would be bringing to the unvaccinated children. Some children in the general population have weak immunity arising from genetic conditions or cancer treatments. It is not advisable to vaccinate these children because of their condition. Other children are too young to receive certain vaccines. However, these children are protected because all other children and adults have been vaccinated, reducing exposure to the vaccine preventable-illness (VPIs). An increase in the number of parents refusing immunization for their healthy children would increase the rate of VPIs, putting vulnerable children at risk of infection. Despite this elaborate explanation, Jenna and Chris only confirmed that they understood the doctor’s explanation but still restated that they did not want Ana to be vaccinated at that time. Dr. Kerr is short of additional explanations that might convince this couple to vaccinate their child. She is out of options and wonders how she would handle the case.

Write a 4-6-page analysis of a current problem or issue in health care, including a proposed solution and possible ethical implications.

Introduction

In your health care career, you will be confronted with many problems that demand a solution. By using research skills, you can learn what others are doing and saying about similar problems. Then you can analyze the problem and the people and systems it affects. You can examine potential solutions and their ramifications. This assessment allows you to practice this approach with a real-world problem.

Demonstration of Proficiency

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

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

Use scholarly information to describe and explain a health care problem or issue and identify possible causes for it.

Competency 2: Apply scholarly information through critical thinking to solve problems in the field of health care.

Analyze a health care problem or issue by describing the context, explaining why it is important and identifying populations affected by it.

Discuss potential solutions for a health care problem or issue and describe what would be required to implement a solution.

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

Analyze the ethical implications if a potential solution to a health care problem or issue was implemented.

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

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

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

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.

Describe the health care problem or issue you selected for use in Assessment 2 (from the Assessment Topic Areas | Transcript media piece) and provide details about it.

Explore your chosen topic. For this, you should use the first four steps of the Socratic Problem-Solving Approach to aid your critical thinking. This approach was introduced in Assessment 2.

Identify possible causes for the problem or issue.

Use scholarly information to describe and explain the health care problem or issue and identify possible causes for it.

Identify at least three scholarly or academic peer-reviewed journal articles about the topic.

You may find the How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles? library guide helpful in locating appropriate references.

You may use articles you found while working on Assessment 2 or you may search the Capella library for other articles.

You may find the applicable Undergraduate Library Research Guide helpful in your search.

Review the Think Critically About Source Quality to help you complete the following:

Assess the credibility of the information sources.

Assess the relevance of the information sources.

Analyze the health care problem or issue.

Describe the setting or context for the problems or issues.

Describe why the problem or issue is important to you.

Identify groups of people affected by the problem or issue.

Provide examples that support your analysis of the problem or issue.

Discuss potential solutions for the health care problem or issue.

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Describe what would be required to implement a solution.

Describe potential consequences of ignoring the problem or issue class=”ice-no-decoration” data-ice-class=”848587″>.

Provide the pros and cons for one of the solutions you are proposing.

Analyze the ethical implications if the potential solution (the one for which you provide pros and cons) were to be implemented.

Provide examples from the literature to support the points you are making.

Discuss the pros and cons of implementing the proposed solution from an ethical principle point of view.

Describe what would be required to implement the proposed solution.

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:

Ethical quandaries are common in health care. Because of the young mama’s age and the fact that she had just given birth to her fifth child, the ethical quandary in your post sounds horribly sad. In my area, the most common ethical quandaries in the adult ICU are related to elderly patients who are subjected to painful lifesaving procedures (intubation, CPR, continuous dialysis, etc.) because their families do not know what their wishes are and do not want to be the ones to make the fateful decision. It creates an ethical quandary for the nurse, who is responsible for carrying out all of the physician’s orders and subjecting the elderly patient to treatments they may not have wanted. Because of those sad situations, I’ve discovered that I ask the difficult questions like “would you like us to do compressions on you if your heart stops?” “Would you like a breathing tube if you can’t breathe properly on your own?” If they respond that they do not want any artificial, life-saving measures, I notify the physician and have them second that important conversation before any action is taken. The state of Arizona has a packet called “Life Care Planning Packet” that contains information on all of the important documents that the patient and their family must complete (Attorney General AZ, n.d.).

Nursing research advances knowledge about health and the promotion of health throughout the lifespan, as well as the care of people with health problems and disabilities, and nursing actions to improve individuals’ ability to respond effectively to actual or potential health problems (Institute of Medicine, 1983). In hospital settings, fall risk is and will always be a concern. “30-50% of falls result in some physical injury, and fractures occur in 1-3% of cases,” according to the National Library of Medicine. There is no such thing as a harmless fall, with psychological consequences leading to loss of confidence, delays in functional recovery, and prolonged hospitalization. However, falls are not true accidents, and there is evidence that a multidisciplinary clinical team approach can reduce their occurrence (Morris, 2017). My facility currently uses the “WAR” strategy, which stands for “within arm’s reach.” If a patient meets the fall risk criteria, we educate them that we must always be within arm’s reach of them when they are out of bed. Patients frequently express their dissatisfaction. However, we always explain that it is for their safety and benefit. If they have any intravenous lines, oxygen tubing, or connections that connect them to their bed. For example, they must contact continuous pulse oximetry before falling. Staff must supervise or stand by to ensure that they arrive at their destination safely. When patients get out of bed, they should wear double-sided skid-proof socks. Bed alarms are required. Patients can, of course, refuse to have better alarms installed, but this is documented. Since the WAR initiative was implemented last year, our fall rates have decreased. We had 16 falls on day and night shifts combined last year. We’re halfway through 2022 and have only had 5 so far. So far, so good!