NURS 6512: Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning

# Week 11: The Ethics Behind Health Assessment

Consider the following scenarios:

• Adhya is a 17-year-old Indian-American female with a history of leukemia. The parents discussed a bone marrow transplant with the oncologist. The treatment could result in Adhya ‘s infertility.  The treatment has not been discussed with her nor has the risk. She has not been given the option to look for methods to preserve fertility. What would you do as her Nurse practitioner in the Oncology practice?
• A 10-year-old is admitted to the hospital after a high fall at the State Fair. He has multiple internal injuries requiring surgery and possible blood transfusions. The parents who are Jehova Witnesses are refusing the transfusion and prefer to continue resuscitation with fluid. The parents offer you to sign a waiver of liability to the hospital in case of the child’s death.  You are the Emergency Department Nurse Practitioner coordinating the surgery. What’s your response?

Throughout this course, you have explored a wide range of health assessments and abnormal examination findings. Although you have predominantly focused on the procedural aspects of health assessment, this week, you will focus on ethical considerations that should be taken into account when advising patients or their families.

This week, you will consider how evidence-based practice guidelines and ethical considerations factor into health assessments. You will also evaluate health assessment concepts related to medical religious beliefs and infertility complications in oncology patients.

Assignment 1: Lab Assignment: Ethical Concerns

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Maskot

As an advanced practice nurse, you will run into situations where a patient’s wishes about his or her health conflict with evidence, your own experience, or a family’s wishes. This may create an ethical dilemma. What do you do when these situations occur?

In this Lab Assignment, you will explore evidence-based practice guidelines and ethical considerations for specific scenarios.

To Prepare

Review the scenarios provided by your instructor for this week’s Assignment. Please see the “Course Announcements” section of the classroom for your scenarios.

Based on the scenarios provided:

• Select one scenario, and reflect on the material presented throughout this course.
• What necessary information would need to be obtained about the patient through health assessments and diagnostic tests?
• Consider how you would respond as an advanced practice nurse. Review evidence-based practice guidelines and ethical considerations applicable to the scenarios you selected.

The Lab Assignment

1. Write a detailed one-page narrative (not a formal paper) explaining the health assessment information required for a diagnosis of your selected patient (include the scenario number).
2. Explain how you would respond to the scenario as an advanced practice nurse using evidence-based practice guidelines and applying ethical considerations.
3. Justify your response using at least three different references from current evidence-based literature.