Ethical Considerations in Midwifery Practice

This assignment requires a nurse/midwife to consider two legal, ethical, or professional issues that may arise when working with a client. Using current literature, the nurse/midwife will discuss and apply the principles of beneficence (doing good) and fidelity (remaining faithful to one's commitment). The assignment emphasizes the importance of adhering to ethics in developing nurse-patient relationships during treatment.

Promoting Mental Health &
Wellbeing 1
401013
Student name:
Student number:
Question Answers – Ensure each answer contains
relevant literature and relates back to the case
study.
1a) Using the case study provided,
identify an urgent risk area. Ensure your
answer details why you have identified
this risk area including specific
information about the client and current
literature. (2 marks)
Based on the case study of Chung, the urgent
risk that has been identified by community nurse
that he is has been increasingly feeling anxious
and breathlessness since weeks due to which
Chung was sad and restrictive.
In accordance with this, it can be said that he I s
suffering from Tachycardia, a condition in
which a person feels heart palpitations, light-
headedness, and chest-discomfort. Another
disease he might develop is Cardiac issue
because its symptoms are also similar to
Tachycardia.
Further, I have observed that Chung had asked
his colleague & a doctor to assess him for
cardiac issues several weeks ago because
service user was experiencing chest pains,
breathlessness and palpitations.
As per Butcher, Bulechek & Wagner (2018) the
main root cause of cardiac arrest is abnormal
heart beats.

1b) Identify one nursing / midwifery
intervention you would undertake
directly with your client to address the
risk area noted in question 1a and
include a rationale for the intervention.
(2 marks for the intervention and 2
marks for the rationale)
Ensure the intervention includes how,
who and when you would actually
carry out the intervention. Your
rationale should state why you would
carry out the particular intervention.
Ensure literature is included.
1a and 1b – 200 words in total
Based on my observation, he might be suffering
from Cardiac issue or Tachycardia.
To address this, intervention will be: monitoring
indicators of heart failure where focus of nurse
will be on monitoring apical pulse, assess heart
rate and rhythm.
Rationale for this intervention is that proper
supervising & measuring pulse will lead to
compensate for decreased ventricular ability.
According to Van Hecke, Heinen & Van Gaal
(2017) deriving suitable intervention helps in
achieving best outcome because close
supervising of patient suffering from symptoms
of cardiovascular diseases helps in preventing
risk of cardiac shock.

2a) Using the case study provided,
identify a mental health concern. Ensure
your answer details why you have
identified this concern including
specific information about the client and
current literature. (2 marks)
Chung was suffering from intense mental stress
as he had been experiencing fleeting thoughts
that he might experience heart attack and
suicides from last few weeks. In accordance
with evaluation it can be said that this could be
due to his sleepless nights and early morning
wakening. He also felt that he is worthless and a
failure at work within his medical role because
he is letting his daughter & wife down.
According to Fernando, Vaillancourt & Stiell
(2018) people with family history of mental
illness are more likely to have suicidal thoughts
and there are chances that the individual might
attempt suicide.

2b) Identify one nursing / midwifery
intervention you would undertake
directly with your client to address the
mental health concern noted in question
2a and include a rationale for the
intervention. (2 marks for the
intervention and 2 marks for the
rationale)
Ensure the interventions includes how,
who and when you would actually
carry out the intervention. Your
rationale should state why you would
carry out the particular intervention.
Ensure literature is included when you
discuss the rationale.
2a and 2b – 200 words in total
According to status of Chung's mental illness it
has been derived that he has been experiencing
stress, sleep disorder, fleeting thoughts of
suicide for which he requires proper care and
social inclusion to overcome his mental illness.
Intervention: For this, I would undertake
certain strategies including cognitive therapy
that can reduce anxiety and thoughts of suicide.
As it has been determined that this therapy is
widely used for anxiety disorders and applying
this therapy is effective in diagnosing
behavioural and anxiousness. Moreover, my
focus will be on distracting him from stressful
thoughts and will aim at involving Chung in
social activities.
Rationale for this intervention is that it will help
Chung to avoid his suicidal thoughts.
According to Spitzer, Endicott & Franchi (2018)
suggested that cognitive therapy is effective
intervention for the person experiencing mental
disorders like, panic, anxiety, depression, etc.

3) Using current literature, identify and
discuss (2) two legal, ethical or
professional issues a nurse / midwife
may need to consider when working
with the client in the case study (4
marks).
Qu 3 – 100 words in total
It has been determined that, nurses are
responsible for obeying certain ethical issues in
daily practices. The Code of Professional
Conduct for Nurses in Australia has designed
Code of Ethics, which represents nursing
responsibilities. As a midwifery I adhere to
ethical and legal issues. Therefore, while
working with Chung I will consider
Beneficence (doing good) to make him
comfortable with treatment as he is already

suffering from stress & anxiety. Another ethical
consideration is of being Fidelity which means
remaining faithful to own commitment, as it is
my responsibility to be loyal towards my
patient.
According to Cherry and Jacob (2016) adhering
to ethics is the most effective measure to
develop nurse and patient relationship during
treatment. (Ethical and Legal Issues, 2018).

REFERENCES
Butcher, H. K., Bulechek, G. M. & Wagner, C. (2018). Nursing Interventions classification
(NIC)-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Cherry, B. and Jacob, S. R., 2016. Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management.
Elsevier Health Sciences.
Fernando, S. M., Vaillancourt, C. & Stiell, I. G. (2018). Analysis of bystander CPR quality
during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest using data derived from automated external
defibrillators. Resuscitation. 128. 138-143.
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J., & Franchi, J. A. M. (2018, September). Medical and mental
disorder: Proposed definition and criteria. In Annales Médico-psychologiques, revue
psychiatrique (Vol. 176, No. 7, pp. 656-665). Elsevier Masson.
Van Hecke, A., Heinen, M. & Van Gaal, B. G. (2017). Systematic literature review on
effectiveness of self‐management support interventions in patients with chronic
conditions and low socio‐economic status. Journal of advanced nursing. 73(4). 775-
793.
Online
Ethical and Legal Issues. (2018). [Online]. Available through: <https://www.ncchc.org/cnp-
ethical-legal>