Posted: April 28th, 2015

Ethical and Legal Case Analysis in Nursing

Issue From Clinical Practice:
The 85-year-old patient X with a heart condition has been admitted in the trauma unit for the total hip replacement surgery due to un-witnessed fall in the nursing home. Patient X was being looked after by Nurse A before she went into the surgery. After the successful total hip replacement surgery patient X was transferred back into the trauma unit. Nurse A was about to finish her shift and was in the process of handing over to Nurse B. In the middle of handing over process a health care professional (assuming that he came from the Operation Theater) interrupted the conversation between Nurse A and Nurse B. He informed the nurse A that the cardio medication was not given to patient X before surgery and left. The nurse A informed Nurse B the medication was not given to the patient because it was not charted in the drug chart. Nurse B advised Nurse A that she should not be concerned about this incident because the responsibility of creating the drug chart lays with doctor and nurses are only suppose to follow the drug chart. As a result of this the condition of the patient X deteriorated and patient X was transferred to Cardio Thoracic ward.

(The nurse B should have advised the Nurse A that she should have consulted with the doctor about her medications not charted. Nurse should be responsible and accountable for all the care she is providing to the patient.)

Assessment Task 2: Ethical and Legal Case Analysis
Word count does not include case study, reference list, coversheet or appendices).
Details of task
In this paper, you need to demonstrate your ability to determine a particular course of action and support your decision with evidence from an ethical and legal perspective. You need to analyse an issue identified from your clinical practice that has ethical and legal implications. The purpose of the essay is to present a coherent argument for a particular course of action, providing evidence from the nursing and allied health ethical/legal literature to support the reasons for this action. This essay provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate in-depth understanding; and sound and logical argument to support your thoughtful position on the issue.

Grading criteria
Assessment criteria used to grade this paper are:
 The issue is clearly defined (5 marks)
 Position on the issue is declared decisively (5 marks)
 The argument for the particular position is developed logically (5 marks)
 Position taken on the issue is supported with a wide range of references from the
Nursing/medical/allied health ethical and legal literature (10 marks)
 Reflection on the development of your position demonstrates critical analysis (10 marks)
 Scholarly presentation including appropriate referencing (5 marks).