Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts Discussion

Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts Discussion

Ethical, patient, and human rights violations are common in psychiatry (Pariseau-Legault et al., 2019). This case involves a woman who misused her panic attack medications for sleeping purposes. Three of the four core principles of the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts have been violated in the case. Firstly, the attending nurse violated the guidelines on being of benefit to others in a number of ways. For instance, the nurse did not assist the woman in familiarizing herself with the environment she had been placed in. Additionally, although the woman told her she did not get enough sleep, she did not mind it and pulled her out of bed after uttering some insults. Besides failing to benefit the patient, the nurse further failed to protect the welfare and rights of the patient. Do you need urgent assignment help ? Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com. We offer assignment help with high professionalism.

The second principle that was violated is that of treating others with compassion, dignity, and respect. The nurse insulted the woman and pulled her out of bed. As such, the nurse failed to abide by the guidelines on respecting others’ privacy and being active in promoting the self-determination of the patient to the best of their abilities taking note that she can be termed as a member of the vulnerable population due to age and health condition. Thirdly, the guidelines on behaving with integrity were violated as the nurse failed to observe the regulatory requirements for dealing with the type of patient and did not create a professional environment during their encounter with the patient.

Nonetheless, the woman’s treatment can align with the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts by ensuring that the nurses and other professionals continuously improve their competencies to meet the Board-Certified Behavior Analyst® (BCBA®) or Board-Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst® (BCaBA®) requirements. Being knowledgeable of ethics and practice considerations can help psychiatrists manage and resolve ethical dilemmas within psychiatric care (Roberts & Dunn, 2019).

References

Pariseau-Legault, P., Vallée-Ouimet, S., Goulet, M. H., & Jacob, J. D. (2019). Nurses’ perspectives on human rights when coercion is used in psychiatry: A systematic review protocol of qualitative evidence. Systematic Reviews, 8(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/S13643-019-1224-0/TABLES/1

Roberts, L. W., & Dunn, L. B. (2019). Ethical considerations in psychiatry. American Psychiatric Publishing textbook of psychiatry. 7th ed. Washington (DC): American Psychiatric Publishing.

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In your Unit 1 reading, you learned about a dark time in the early history of science. The abuses that came to light in 1972 at the Sunland Training Center brought about a collective “awakening” to realize that this new applied science needed a strong code of ethics and systems of oversight to protect clients, the field, and the professionals. What came out of this experience was a focused system of oversight and the ethical codes that would serve as the foundation of the Code that governs science and practice in the field today, the Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s (BACB’s) Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.

Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts Discussion

Scenario

A woman in her 70s was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the local hospital to get her dosage of a strong medication under control. She misinterpreted her doctor’s instructions to take four pills per day (and up to six, if necessary). She took the majority of the medication at night to help her sleep. As a result, she was groggy and had slurred speech the next day, and doctors were concerned about injuries due to falling.

Her medication was for panic attacks that she often had in her sleep, so being placed in this challenging environment was frightening. The morning after her first night in the facility, a nurse came in and ordered her out of bed. The woman replied that it took her most of the night to fall asleep and said she still felt very tired. The nurse uttered some insults at her and pulled her out of bed.

Discussion

Several core ethical guidelines are outlined on pages 1-4 of the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts. Discuss the core guidelines that were violated in this case and present another approach to this woman’s treatment to align with these core guidelines.