This assignment should be completed in ONE document, and your answers should be separated by Journal Reflection # headings (1-5).
Journal Reflection #1 & 2
Provision 1: “The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.”
The world is made up of numerous types of people, cultures, societies, worldviews, religions, opinions, and values. This is part of what makes humanity unique, special, complex, and prone to conflict. The very thing that brings beauty to mankind can make it difficult for people to coincide in peace with one another. Consider for a moment the differences of each person below.
Person A– Born in London, she is 88 years old. She has lived in six different countries, has had two marriages and four children, and has been the CEO of a large financial trading company.
Person B– Born in LA, California, she is 23 years old. She has two children, and currently works night shift at a local casino.
Person C– Born in Oklahoma, he is 43 years old. He is married with two children and works as a local pastor in a large denomination church.
Person D– Born in New England, he is 33 years old. He is not married and has no children. He resides at a federal detention center, having been sentenced to a 25-year prison term for a crime he says he did not commit.
Person A has a medical diagnosis of dementia, Person B has ovarian cancer, Person C has HIV, Person D has self-inflicted abdominal wound.
Are you surprised to learn of each person’s diagnosis? How may some people treat each person differently because of their diagnosis?
Define the terms dignity and respect in your own words. Give three examples of how a nurse can show dignity and respect to a patient regardless of social, economic status, or medical diagnosis. Why is it difficult to treat people with dignity and respect?
Journal Reflection #3 & 4
Provision 2: “The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group or community.”
In a changing medical world that is continually advancing and demanding more from all involved, priorities can get mixed up and patients can be forgotten. Consider the following two scenarios.
Scenario 1: A 10-year-old child has suffered a motor vehicle accident. Due to multiple traumas associated with the injury, the patient is now ventilator-dependent, G-tube dependent, and shows little activity on the EEG beyond consistent seizures. (This means the patient cannot breathe on his own, cannot eat on his own, and brain testing shows little activity, but confirms frequent seizure activity). The mother of the child is ready to withdrawal care for palliation purposes. The father is committed to providing every medical intervention possible to sustain the child’s life.
Whom is the nurse responsible for in this scenario, the patient, the parents, or both? Who is “right” in this scenario, the mother or the father? You must pick a side and build an argument to support your answer; credit will not be given if you do not pick a side, and there is no middle ground. Can the nurse be truly objective in this situation? How could the emotions of the nurse affect patient care?
Scenario 2: A 17-year-old patient has Duchenne muscular dystrophy complicated with multi-organ failure. The patient is neurologically alert but again has entered multi-organ failure. From a medical perspective, there is no way to save the patient’s life. The 17-year-old patient will die soon. The parents have decided to not tell the patient about the decline in his condition. Instead, they have asked the medical staff to stay upbeat and optimistic, encouraging the patient to work toward getting better.
Is the nurse ethically obligated to tell the patient about the decline in his condition, or is the nurse ethically obligated to honor the parents’ wishes? Again, pick a side, build an argument, and articulate your perspective.
Journal Reflection #5
Provision 3: “The nurse promotes, advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient.”
Being the voice of the patient is a key concept of nurse advocacy. This topic will be discussed more thoroughly later in the course. Respond to the following question.
Create a Bill of Rights for the patient. Include six “rights” that should be given to every patient and explain why you picked each one. There are many bills of rights for patients that already exist; your work will be checked for plagiarism, so just do not do it. This is easy; you pick the six most important rights and build a case as to why they are important.
If the student desires to consult a reference for additional information, the following texts are recommended as
providing complete treatment of the course subject matter.
Butts, J., Rich, K. (2013). Nursing ethics: across the curriculum and into practice. Jones
& Bartlett Learning.
Chesnay, M., Anderson, B. (2012). Caring for the vulnerable: perspectives in nursing theory, practice
and research. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Solomon, R., Martin, C., Vaught, W. (2008). Morality and the Good Life: An Introduction to Ethics
through Classical Sources. McGraw-Hill.
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