According to Kwan and Straus
Added on 2022-09-11
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Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note
Nursing
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note
1NURSING
All nurses are confronted with various ethical challenges in their practice and the Code of
ethics and professional standards give them the guidance to display ethical conduct and reducing
any moral distress in practice (Zahedi et al., 2013). However, despite development of ethical
principles and professional standards, ethical and legal violation of care occurs. This essay will
look at similar incidence of violation of ethical and legal responsibilities in care. The aim of this
essay is to identify legal and ethical issue in the case study of Donaldson and discuss how the
action of the nurse violates the duty of care, ethical principles and professional standards of
practice. The essay will first identify all the ethical and legal/professional concerns and then
discuss about the possible implications of the action. This will be followed by a discussion on
possible actions that could have been taken and the support the action with relevant ethical
theories.
The video of Mrs Donaldson showed that she was mother of two children. She was in
good health. However, she started feeling dizzy and she witnessed a fall at home. She was
hospitalized two days ago for bladder infection and fell from her bed during hospital stay. Her
daughter was informed that her mother fell during the hospital.. When she fell, one staff noticed
it and put her back to bed. However, inappropriate professional action was demonstrated by the
staff as he did not informed anyone about the fall nor did he conducted any assessment to find if
fall resulted in any injury or harm for Mr Donaldson. According to Kwan and Straus (2014),
assessing the level of consciousness, vital sign assessment, monitoring of the skin for abrasion
and bruising and central nervous is extremely important after a fall. This helps to take immediate
action in response to fall injury. However, no such initial step was taken for Mr. Donaldson.
The situation was a case of extreme negligence and poor implementation of approach to maintain
patient safety. The consequence of this negligence was that she had to be finally admitted to the
All nurses are confronted with various ethical challenges in their practice and the Code of
ethics and professional standards give them the guidance to display ethical conduct and reducing
any moral distress in practice (Zahedi et al., 2013). However, despite development of ethical
principles and professional standards, ethical and legal violation of care occurs. This essay will
look at similar incidence of violation of ethical and legal responsibilities in care. The aim of this
essay is to identify legal and ethical issue in the case study of Donaldson and discuss how the
action of the nurse violates the duty of care, ethical principles and professional standards of
practice. The essay will first identify all the ethical and legal/professional concerns and then
discuss about the possible implications of the action. This will be followed by a discussion on
possible actions that could have been taken and the support the action with relevant ethical
theories.
The video of Mrs Donaldson showed that she was mother of two children. She was in
good health. However, she started feeling dizzy and she witnessed a fall at home. She was
hospitalized two days ago for bladder infection and fell from her bed during hospital stay. Her
daughter was informed that her mother fell during the hospital.. When she fell, one staff noticed
it and put her back to bed. However, inappropriate professional action was demonstrated by the
staff as he did not informed anyone about the fall nor did he conducted any assessment to find if
fall resulted in any injury or harm for Mr Donaldson. According to Kwan and Straus (2014),
assessing the level of consciousness, vital sign assessment, monitoring of the skin for abrasion
and bruising and central nervous is extremely important after a fall. This helps to take immediate
action in response to fall injury. However, no such initial step was taken for Mr. Donaldson.
The situation was a case of extreme negligence and poor implementation of approach to maintain
patient safety. The consequence of this negligence was that she had to be finally admitted to the
2NURSING
intensive care unit. During inspection of the patient post her fall, the nurses were instructed to
conduct half hourly assessment of Mr. Donaldson. However, only two observations were
recorded in two hours. In the ICU, she never regained consciousness and died. The inquest into
the death revealed that poor nursing staffing resulting in fall as well as poor patient monitoring.
The above case study and its consequences will be explored based on ethical and professional
principles.
Firstly, the incidence of fall and no attention of staff’s immediately after her fall is a case
of professional negligence in care as well as violation of the ethical principle of beneficence. The
ethical principle of beneficence states that all nurses have the duty to take all nursing actions to
promote good of patient and ensure that negligible harm is caused to patient (Haddad & Geiger,
2019). However, this principle was violated as Mr. Donaldson did not received any immediate
medical attention post her fall. Hence, ethical concerns were seen. She was attended by staff after
two hours. The registered nurse had the responsibility to provide ongoing assessment and support
to her after fall. However, they failed to realize the significance of the fall event resulting in
delayed care and death. By such negligence, they failed to adhere to professional standards of
nursing practice too. The registered nurse standards of practice state that all nurses have the
responsibility to provide safe and responsive quality care to patient (Nursing and Midwifery
Board of Australia, 2017). This could have been done by immediately attending to Ms
Donaldson post her fall. Even if she had not fallen, they must have used comprehensive
assessment to identify her risk of fall and provided fall prevention interventions like bed railings
to eliminate any risk of fall. This is part of evidence based intervention as Phelan et al. (2015)
states that all clinical guideline recommends screening all adults for fall risk. Hence, this shows
that the nursing staffs had to take action much before the fall. An event of fall was not necessary
intensive care unit. During inspection of the patient post her fall, the nurses were instructed to
conduct half hourly assessment of Mr. Donaldson. However, only two observations were
recorded in two hours. In the ICU, she never regained consciousness and died. The inquest into
the death revealed that poor nursing staffing resulting in fall as well as poor patient monitoring.
The above case study and its consequences will be explored based on ethical and professional
principles.
Firstly, the incidence of fall and no attention of staff’s immediately after her fall is a case
of professional negligence in care as well as violation of the ethical principle of beneficence. The
ethical principle of beneficence states that all nurses have the duty to take all nursing actions to
promote good of patient and ensure that negligible harm is caused to patient (Haddad & Geiger,
2019). However, this principle was violated as Mr. Donaldson did not received any immediate
medical attention post her fall. Hence, ethical concerns were seen. She was attended by staff after
two hours. The registered nurse had the responsibility to provide ongoing assessment and support
to her after fall. However, they failed to realize the significance of the fall event resulting in
delayed care and death. By such negligence, they failed to adhere to professional standards of
nursing practice too. The registered nurse standards of practice state that all nurses have the
responsibility to provide safe and responsive quality care to patient (Nursing and Midwifery
Board of Australia, 2017). This could have been done by immediately attending to Ms
Donaldson post her fall. Even if she had not fallen, they must have used comprehensive
assessment to identify her risk of fall and provided fall prevention interventions like bed railings
to eliminate any risk of fall. This is part of evidence based intervention as Phelan et al. (2015)
states that all clinical guideline recommends screening all adults for fall risk. Hence, this shows
that the nursing staffs had to take action much before the fall. An event of fall was not necessary
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