Exam 22: Ethics and Values

Determinations regarding quality of life are

The nurse is caring for a patient supported with a ventilator who has been unresponsive since arrival via ambulance 8 days ago.The patient has not been identified,and no family members have been found.The nurse is concerned about the plan of care regarding maintenance or withdrawal of life support measures.The nurse determines that this is an ethical dilemma not resolved by scientific data.Place the steps the nurse will use to resolve this ethical dilemma in the correct order. A) The nurse identifies possible solutions or actions to resolve the dilemma. B) The nurse reviews the medical record, including entries by all health care disciplines, to gather information relevant to this patient's situation. C) Health care providers use negotiation to redefine the patient's plan of care. D) The nurse evaluates the plan and revises it with input from other health care providers as necessary. E) The nurse arranges a meeting with health care team members to clarify opinions, values, and facts. F) The nurse states the problem.

The nurse values autonomy above all other principles.Which patient assignment will the nurse find most difficult to accept?

When people work together to solve ethical dilemmas,individuals must examine their own values.This step is crucial to ensure that

Which patient is most likely to have difficulty with the ethical concept of autonomy?

The nurse is caring for a severely ill patient with AIDS who now requires ventilator support.Which intervention is considered futile?

During a severe respiratory epidemic,the local health care organizations decide to give health care providers priority access to ventilators over other members of the community who also need that resource.Which philosophy would give the strongest support for this decision?

The patient tells the nurse that she is afraid to speak up regarding her desire to end care for fear of upsetting her husband and children.Which principle in the nursing code of ethics ensures that the nurse will promote the patient's cause?

Which philosophy of health care ethics would be particularly useful when making ethical decisions about vulnerable populations?

Four patients in labor all request epidural analgesia to manage their pain at the same time.Which ethical principle is compromised when only one nurse anesthetist is on call?

The nurse has become aware of missing narcotics in the patient care area.Which ethical principle obligates the nurse to report the missing medications?

The patient's son requests to view the documentation in his mother's medical record.What is the nurse's best response to this request?

Which issue has increased the attention paid to quality of life concerns in recent history?

Ethical dilemmas are common occurrences when caring for patients.The nurse understands that dilemmas are a result of

A young woman who is pregnant with a fetus exposed to multiple teratogens consents to have her fetus undergo serial PUBS (percutaneous umbilical blood sampling)to examine how exposure affects the fetus over time.Although these tests will not improve the fetus' outcomes and will expose it to some risks,the information gathered may help infants in the future.Which ethical principle is at greatest risk?

The nurse questions a physician's order to administer a placebo to the patient.The nurse's action is based on which ethical principle?

The nurse finds it difficult to care for a patient whose advance directive states that no extraordinary resuscitation measures should be taken.Which step may help the nurse to find resolution in this assignment?

A nurse argues that we need to reform our health care system because we have a large number of people who are uninsured and end up needing expensive emergent care when low-cost measures could have prevented their illnesses.What ethical framework is she using to make this case?