Professional standards and nursing Ethics

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
1
Introduction
While working in clinical settings, nurses are often confronted with situation that gives rise to an
Ethical dilemma where the nurse has to decide by reflecting upon the ethical standards and
practice within the legal framework of their profession (Ulrich et al. 2010). The nurse must align
with the professional and Ethical standards of the nursing practice and provide quality care to the
patients by following the principles of Ethics; Beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy and
justice (Pope, Hough and Chase 2016). The nurses must work within the Ethical and Legal
framework of nursing practice and provide a safe environment for the patients. However, the
reality lies within the sphere of breaching the nursing standards and neglecting the core
responsibilities of the nurses by ignoring the core competencies and the need to meet the ethical
and legal criteria for their professional practice. Professional standards and nursing Ethics are
reflections of the nurse’s attitude, value, belief, perception and judgement. Ethical dilemmas are
often solved by those nurses easily who believes in morality and apply the principles of Ethics
(Ulrich et al. 2010). Nursing practice encourages the implementation of Ethical standards of
nursing to help the nurses decide on what decisions to make when they face an Ethical dilemma.
It is the responsibility of the nurses to consider the patient’s autonomy by respecting their
decision and treat them with dignity. Besides, considering autonomy, the nurses should also
practice within the principle of Beneficence (Huddleston 2014). There might be situations where
autonomy is in conflict with the principle of beneficence. It is required for the nurses to be
cautious and decide by reflecting on their experience, believes and values and makes a decision
that will benefit the patient and lead to an improved health outcome (Huddleston 2014). For the
patients with mental illness, the probability of facing an ethical dilemma by the nurse rises since
there is a constant conflict between what the patient wants and what nurses think that will be

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
2
beneficial for the patient’s health. In that situation, the nurses must seek help from the nurse
supervisors or senior medical professionals and stick to the principle of Ethics and make a
decision reflecting upon their experiences, values and beliefs that will be beneficiary for both the
patient as well as the nurse. The paper gives a perfect illustration of a scenario by using
Driscoll’s Reflective Framework for reflecting on the scenario and the importance of Ethico-
legal standards within the nursing practice.
Driscoll’s reflective framework
What? : Being an undergraduate student nurse, I, for my Professional Experience Placement, in
the afternoon shift, was asked to take care of Shelley. She is a 27 year old who has acquired
brain injury, due to traumatic accident of falling off of the horse. She has been admitted to the
hospital, 3 days ago with a suspected case of left lower lobe pneumonia. From what I have heard
from the other nurses, Shelley is generally very cooperative, biding and pleasant. She usually
lives with her mother, but in her absence, she was admitted to respite care. Since her mother’s
departure, she has been suffering from anxiety. Earlier today, she was found roaming in the
streets, many blocks away from the hospital, by concerned residents and was returned by the
police. Thus, now she is being monitored by professional. She is often given a sedative and her
bed rails are raised high, despite her complains and requests, in order to prevent her from running
away.