Ethics and the DNP-Prepared Nurse

Ethics and the DNP-Prepared Nurse

Ethical Challenge: Informed Consent and Language Barriers

An ethical challenge I personally encountered in nursing practice involved obtaining informed consent from a non-English-speaking patient. I selected this challenge because it highlights the intersection between ethics, communication, and patient autonomy—core responsibilities for all nurses, especially at the DNP level (Haddad & Geiger, 2023). Informed consent is an important safety measure that is legal and ethical to enrich the quality of care and its neutrality in order to meet patient needs.

During a hospital shift, a Spanish-speaking patient was scheduled for a minor surgical procedure. The physician explained the procedure in English and asked the patient to sign the consent form. The patient nodded and signed, but I noticed their body language suggested confusion. When I asked follow-up questions, it became evident the patient did not truly understand what was discussed. I stopped the consent process and asked for a certified medical interpreter. While this extended the process, the patient was able to receive information in their preferred linguistic mode and also had the opportunity to ask questions for further clarification before consenting.

The key stakeholders included the physician, the patient, the interpreter, and myself. While the physician was initially concerned about the delay, they ultimately agreed with the decision after observing the communication gap. I believe the final approach upheld ethical principles, particularly autonomy, beneficence, and justice (Varkey, 2020). This safeguards the patient’s self-autonomy in making decisions regarding his or her treatment regime.

Looking back, I support the actions taken but would advocate more assertively from the beginning. In a future leadership role, I would propose implementing a proactive flagging system in electronic health records to identify patients needing interpreter services upon admission. Moreover, I would continue to encourage staff training on cultural sensitivity and ethical practices as a way of discouraging unwillingness to provide language interpretation services. All these activities can create a lasting impression on patient safety and the level of trust that patients have in the health facility.

References

Haddad, L. M., & Geiger, R. A. (2023, August 14). Nursing ethical considerations. StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526054/

Varkey, B. (2020). Principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. Medical Principles and Practice, 30(1), 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000509119

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Ethics and the DNP-Prepared Nurse

Blog 1: Ethics and the DNP-Prepared Nurse
At both the bachelor and master levels, nursing programs require courses in ethics. Thus, you have likely considered point-of-care ethical dilemmas previously; however, you can never think too much about this important topic. So much of what nurses and other healthcare professionals do daily is based on a foundation of ethics. Providing patient care and ensuring patient safety while enhancing quality and diminishing costs are all ethical practices in which you already likely engage.

Ethics and the DNP-Prepared Nurse

A patient-focused approach, which promotes the delivery of safe, quality, and cost-effective healthcare designed to provide positive patient outcomes, represents a fundamental alignment to ethical principles for the delivery of healthcare. In your journey to become a DNP-prepared nurse, you will continue to uphold ethical principles in your nursing practice and will likely serve as an advocate for these principles in all you do.

To prepare:
Review the Learning Resources for this week, paying special attention to the various ethical issues in nursing practice that are addressed.
Reflect on any ethical challenges in nursing you have personally experienced.
Select one current ethical challenge in nursing that you have personally experienced—either professionally or as a student—on which to focus for this Blog entry.
Think about your experiences related to the ethical challenge you selected.
What happened?
How did you and the other stakeholders involved address the ethical challenge?
Do you agree with the approach(es) that were taken?
Would you have done anything differently? If so, what?

Address the following in your Blog entry:

Identify the ethical challenge in nursing you selected.
Explain why you selected this ethical challenge and why you think it is important.
Describe the specific situation you experienced. Be specific and provide examples. Explain the following:
What happened?
How did you and the other stakeholders involved address it?
Do you agree with the approach(es) that were taken?
Would you have done anything differently? If so, what?