Ethical Dilemma Case Study: RN's Challenges in Long-Term Care

This case study examines the ethical dilemmas faced by a Registered Nurse (RN) working in a long-term care facility. The RN, after a brief orientation, is placed in charge of a unit with a high patient turnover rate. She struggles to keep up with her responsibilities, particularly in medication follow-up and patient monitoring, raising concerns about patient safety. The case explores the ethical implications of inadequate training, heavy workload, and the RN's feelings of inadequacy. The analysis includes the ethical responsibilities of the RN, the best course of action for the RN to take, and addresses the need for better support and supervision to ensure patient safety and professional competence. The RN's actions and the context of the situation highlight the importance of ethical decision-making in nursing practice, emphasizing the need to address the challenges faced by healthcare professionals in demanding environments.

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19 Mar 2019
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Part 1
Answer 1
RN is facing an ethical dilemma regarding the satisfactory completion of the job
responsibilities. It is important to do follow-up checking of the patient about the effect of
medication, possible side effects and contraindication or adverse events. Failing to
accomplish these concerns, patient safety can be affected. From the case scenario, it can be
learned that RN received less orientation, whereas the responsibility of being in charge of the
unit is a bigger accomplishment, which can lead to deterioration of clinical outcome
standards (Sturm & Dellert, 2016).
Answer 2
The best action for RN is to work under the supervision of LPN for more than a week. This
requires careful observation of the work practices, documentation procedure, follow-ups of
the patient and also obtaining feedback of care service. This will help RN to analyse the
changes required to accomplish the responsibility satisfactorily.
Part 2
Answer 1
The ethical responsibility of the RN is to make an immediate call to the families and resolve
their concern. Following this, she also needs to get the detail of the handover from the nurses
such that there should be no error in the care service provided to the residents.
Answer 2
This RN is a professional nurse, as she is aware of the responsibilities as well as the work
burden in the given situational context. There are incidences in which she is forgetting the
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task, which is attributed to heavy work burden (Han, K., Trinkoff & Gurses, 2015). However,
she must discuss the issue with Director or supervisors, such that additional taskforce can be
arranged to handle the responsibilities.
References:
Han, K., Trinkoff, A. M., & Gurses, A. P. (2015). Work‐related factors, job satisfaction and
intent to leave the current job among United States nurses. Journal of clinical
nursing, 24(21-22), 3224-3232.
Sturm, B. A., & Dellert, J. C. (2016). Exploring nurses' personal dignity, global self-esteem
and work satisfaction. Nursing ethics, 23(4), 384-400.
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