● Provision 3 ○ ● Provision 4 ○ The nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient (ANA, 2015). The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice, makes decisions, and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care (ANA, 2015). The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety, persevere wholeness of character and integrity, maintain competence and continue personal and professional growth (ANA, 2015). The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains, and improves the ethical environment of the work setting and conditions and Bioethical principles Bioethics is a branch of ethics that studies the implications of biological and biomedical advances and can be considered a set of guiding principles for the nursing profession that go beyond right and wrong. Bioethical principles fall into five categories (Boyd, 2018; Halter, 2018). These principles are meant to be guidelines to help all clinicians in decision making. ● Beneficence : Clinicians have a duty to assist the patient to achieve a higher level of well-being. This concept encompasses kindness and generosity toward the patient in providing care. An example of this is changing healthcare policy or making sure a patient brought to the emergency department in severe pain gets medication as soon as possible. ● Fidelity : Healthcare providers have a duty to be honest and trustworthy. This concept includes loyalty, advocacy, and a commitment to the patient. An example of this is staying abreast of best practices in nursing or advocating for the patient to receive high-quality services. Another example is being faithful in your promises to check on a patient within a specific timeframe. ● Autonomy : The healthcare provider acknowledges the patient’s right to make their own decision, even if the nurse disagrees with the decision. An example of this is a patient with cancer who refuses treatments that may prolong their life. ● Provision 5 ○ ● Provision 6 ○
employment are conducive to safe, quality care (ANA, 2015). The nurse, in all roles and settings, advances the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy (ANA, 2015). The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities (ANA, 2015). The profession of nursing, collectively through its professional organizations, must articulate nursing values, maintain the integrity of the profession and integrate principles of social justice into nursing and health policy (ANA, 2015).
● Provision 7 ○
● Provision 8 ○
● Provision 9 ○
The ANA Code may be viewed at no charge on the ANA website (https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-only).
● Justice : Healthcare providers must recognize that all persons are entitled to equal treatment and quality of care. For example, it can be particularly difficult to provide emotional support and counseling equally to both the family harmed by an intoxicated driver and to the driver. Healthcare providers should strive to be nonjudgmental and fair to all patients, regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, diagnosis, or any other differentiating characteristic. ● Veracity : The healthcare provider should always be truthful with the patient. This allows the patient to make informed decisions about their treatment. For example, talking to the patient about the side effects of medications is showing respect to the patient by being truthful. Self-Assessment Quiz Question #2 Patients admitted to inpatient psychiatric units are scheduled for group therapy two times daily. Attendance is strongly encouraged, but not mandatory. Which ethical principle is demonstrated by this unit policy? a. Autonomy. b. Justice. c. Beneficence. d. Veracity.
IMPORTANT LEGISLATION IN MENTAL HEALTH
under the Constitution of the United States (https://www. law.cornell.edu/wex/griswold_v_connecticut_(1965)). 1966 – In Rouse v. Cameron , the courts found that a patient committed to an institution must be actively receiving treatment and not merely warehoused (https://casetext. com/case/rouse-v-cameron) 1968 – In Meier v. Ross General Hospital , a physician was found liable for the death of a hospitalized patient who committed suicide while under his care. The patient had a previous suicide attempt before the hospital stay. The physician was liable for failing in his duty to warn of the threat of suicide in this patient (https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ ca-supreme-court/1822578.html) 1972 – In Wyatt v. Stickney , the entire mental healthcare system of Alabama was sued for an inadequate treatment program. The court ruled that each institution within the mental healthcare system must (1) stop using patients for hospital labor needs, (2) ensure a humane environment, (3) maintain minimum staffing levels, (4) establish human rights committees, and (5) provide the least restrictive environment possible for the patients (https:// mentalillnesspolicy.org/legal/wyatt-stickney-right-treatment. html).
Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution adopted on July 9, 1868, states: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall … deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws (U.S. Constitution). The issue of liberty has been tested repeatedly in the courts in cases in settings where U.S. citizens have been held against their will, including in psychiatric institutions. Keltner and Steele (2018) provide an overview of landmark legal decisions related to patients with psychiatric disorders. Historically, these nine rulings have had a major impact on the legal rights of patients with psychiatric disorders. A summary of each of these legal decisions is as follows: 1843 – The M’Naghten rule first identified a legal defense of not guilty by reason of insanity by stating that persons who do not understand the nature of their actions cannot be held legally responsible for those actions (https://www. law.cornell.edu/wex/m%27naughten_rule). 1965 – In Griswold v. Connecticut , The Supreme Court first recognized that a person has the right of marital privacy
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Book Code: ANCCUS3023
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