Responding to Darlene comment more than 75 words Case Presentation-No Home to Go

Responding to Darlene comment more than 75 words
Case Presentation-No Home to Go To
Ms. Brown, a 34-year-old Caucasian woman, comes into the emergency room to secure treatment for a head injury, plus minor bruises and abrasions that she reportedly received during an assault that happened about 20 hours ago. Ms. Brown is accompanied by her boyfriend, Roy. She indicates they were sleeping in a protected entrance to an elevator in the city parking garage when two young men began beating and kicking them. The two men took Ms. Brown’s purse, a sack of food she and Roy had accumulated, and Roy’s wallet, which contained $5.00. Ms. Brown indicates she has been homeless for over a year. She occasionally stays in city shelters but spends most of her time roaming the city and walking to secure meals at the various programs that feed the poor. She is tall and thin, with a variety of skin lesions. She came to the hospital due to dizziness that prevented her from walking to the church where she could eat. She and Roy occasionally work odd jobs but use the bulk of their income to support Roy’s drug habit. She is trying to get Roy to quit using. The physician has the nurse clean Ms. Brown’s scalp and apply a dressing to the traumatic lesion. A contusion is expected, and the physician suggests that Ms. Brown rest for a few days and go to the neurological clinic if the dizziness worsens. The nurse points out that Ms. Brown has no place to rest and cannot get to the clinic without access to public transportation. The physician realizes this but indicates it is beyond her control.
Choose and discuss one “Case Presentation” from your reading assignment in Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2014). Identify an ethical theory and principles important to the case.
This case presentation places the nurse in a situation where although she wants to do more to help this patient, she is left to feel that her hands are tied. This scenario is one that many nurses may encounter one day if they have not done so already. Reading this case presentation, I found it was relatable to the ethical theory of moral particularism. Moral particularism focuses on the uniqueness of each situation as it relates to the individual. While it uses ethical principles as guidance in moral situations, it still looks at the situation’s uniqueness. As Tanenbaum (2014) discussed, “In health care, particularism asserts the primacy of the individual case. Moral particularists…reject deduction from universal moral principles and instead seek warrants for action from the multiple sources unique to a given patient” (p. 1). In this case, the nurse was not judging this woman’s life or circumstances. What was most important to the nurse was helping her get healthy. The nurse felt the obligation to find help for this woman so that she could obtain the rest necessary to recover from her injury. The nurse felt it was her duty to try and do as much as she could for the patient. Here the nurse is demonstrating the ethical principle of beneficence. According to Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2014), “The principle of beneficence means to do good. It requires nurses to act in ways that benefit patients” (p. 69).
Discuss the nurse’s ethically-bound role for providing client care in this situation. Support your response with the ANA Code of Ethics, Standards of Nursing Practice, and relevant legal or regulatory factors.
As previously mentioned, the nurse’s focus was to help this patient. She demonstrated concern for the patient’s recovery after discharge because she knew her living situation was not a stable one. The nurse felt it was her duty to help this patient be successful with her recovery process. The nurse acted with the ethical principle of beneficence. She felt it her duty to address the patient’s social situation which in turn could affect her physical wellbeing. She did not only focus on the physical needs of the patient but also the social and psychological needs. As Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2014) explain, “Beneficence is the duty to actively do good for patients. This requires us to act in ways that benefit others with attention to the psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of disease or injury as well as the physical problems” (p. 440). The nurse sought help from the physician by sharing her concerns, but her concerns were not validated. As healthcare providers, we must help patients find resources that may help their social, economic, emotional, or psychological needs. All of these can have a serious effect on their medical needs. We must do this without judgment and bias even if we may not agree with the situation the patient is in and/or their lifestyle. According to Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2014), “…the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses (Appendix A) notes that, ‘The nurse establishes relationships and delivers nursing services with respect for patient needs and values, and without prejudice.’ This statement presumes that the nurse has a duty to respect and care for the patient in terms of the patient’s own needs and values” (p. 46). The ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses provision 1.2 also states, “When patient choices are risky or self-destructive, nurses have the obligation to address the behavior and to offer opportunities and resources to modify the behavior or to eradicate the risk” (p. 1).
Compare and contrast your initial response with your response after analyzing the scenario. How could situations such as this impact health care policy?
After analyzing this scenario, I feel that I stand with the nurse and her concerns about the patient’s outcome as she took the patient’s socioeconomic and emotional circumstances into consideration. Although she did not receive support from the physician, she demonstrated concern. The scenario does not tell us what happened next, but I could speak about what I would have done next. In a case like this, I would partner up with social work and have them help provide resources to the patient regarding housing, health care accessibility, transportation, meals, and many of the things that could be of use to the patient. Whether the patient decides to make use of the resources, will be up to her but I would have done all that I possibly could with what was at my disposal to support this patient’s needs.
When thinking about how this scenario could impact healthcare policy, I think about how important it is for public officials to be made aware of the need for healthcare access for the homeless. The homeless have no protection as they face the daily struggles of poverty. Many people in this country are in poverty and become homeless even though at one point in their lives they had what we all consider a “normal life” with a job and a home. This population struggles daily and they are the most likely to get ill due to their living conditions and lack of nutrition. They are also at higher risk of physical injuries because of their situation. Public officials need to know that this population is just as worthy to receive healthcare as any other American. The only way public officials will know about these issues is if nurses such as myself make it known to them by getting involved. As Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2014) explain, “Fulfilling the role of advocate, nurses are challenged to become politically active: to know and become involved with important issues, to learn the political process, to form relationships with public officials, and to become astute in methods of influencing health policy” (p. 405-406).
References
American Nurses Association. (2015, January). Code of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretive Statements (View Only for Members and Non-Members). https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-only
(Links to an external site.)
Burkhardt, M.A., & Nathaniel, A.K. (2014). Ethics & issues in contemporary nursing. Cengage Learning.
Tanenbaum, S. J. (2014). Particularism in health care: challenging the authority of the aggregate. Journal of evaluation in clinical practice, 20(6), 934–941. https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.12249