Ethics and Law

Running head: ETHICS AND LAW
ETHICS AND LAW
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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ETHICS AND LAW
Identification of the issue
The issue that is presented here which is portrayed through the given situation deals
with the medication errors. The registered nurse, Ryu Sakamoto has been working in a
hospital in Brisbane and was given the duty in the general ward. In the same hospital the
patient Kev Forbes was admitted after he had experienced a fall at his home. The patient
suffered from a small head wound after the fall. As the patient had a past history of
mechanical heart valve surgery therefore had been prescribed a blood-thinning medication
after his surgery which he needs to take daily. While the ward was quite crowded on a day
and most of the nurses were called in for the other patients, and the RN responsible for the
patient was fatigued after a long shift. In spite of this, RN Sakamoto had to rush to get the
medication rounds and he did not want to wait till another nurse becomes free therefore he
himself administered medication to the patient, Kev. In doing so all of this so hastily, he
forgot to cross-check the medications by another RN. He failed to double check the dosage
and by an accident administered the patient with a much higher dose in comparison to the one
that had been prescribed to Kev originally.
This was the major issue here, after the medication had been administered to the
patient, he soon started feeling nauseated and started vomiting. While the treatment team
started investigating the situation of the patient, it was discovered that a medication error has
occurred. There was also an issue regarding delivering news to the patient’s wife. The patient
did not want to reveal to his wife his present health condition whereas the RN thought it
would be right to inform her about it.
Evaluation of the issue
ICN code of ethics:
The elements of the code are as follows:

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ETHICS AND LAW
1. Nurses and people
2. Nurses and practices
3. Nurses and the profession
4. Nurses and the co-workers (Epstein& Turner, 2015).
The elements of the code should be applied by the nurses during their practise. In
terms of the given situation here, the nurses should have followed the following aspects
of the code which being:
“The nurse’s primary professional responsibility is to people requiring nursing care”
– Considering this, it can be stated that the RN responsible for the patient here Kev, failed
to show a professional responsibility. While the patient did not wanted his health
condition to be disclosed to his wife, the RN also had a dilemma which should not have
been present.
”The nurse maintains a standard of personal health such that the ability to provide
care is not compromised.”- The RN by making a medication error failed to maintain the
integrity of the patient care.
“The nurse is active in developing and sustaining a core of professional values.”- The
RN although was fatigued after a long day, should not had compromised the well-being
of her patient. This portrays that she could not sustain her professional values.
“The nurse sustains a collaborative and respectful relationship with co-workers in
nursing and other fields”- As evident from the given case, the RN did not share a
collaborative relationship with the other nurses since there was a clear misunderstanding
while attending the patient which ultimately caused the medication error (Zahedi et al.,
2013).
Ethical principles