Nursing Ethics Report: Case Study of Shelly and Ethical Considerations

This report presents a case study of Shelly, a 27-year-old female patient with left lower lobe pneumonia and acquired brain injury (ABI), focusing on nursing ethics and ethical-legal complexities. The report discusses the importance of ethical awareness and the codes of ethics for nurses in providing quality patient care. It examines the case scenario, addressing the patient's anxiety and the need for close supervision. The study utilizes Driscoll's model of reflection to analyze the nursing student's experiences, including communication, problem-solving skills, and the challenges faced while managing Shelly's care. The report also addresses the importance of ethical practices, awareness, and the complexities involved in the patient's treatment, including the administration of sedative medication and the ethical dilemmas faced by the nursing student. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of adhering to ethical codes and the development of essential skills for effective nursing practice.

REFLECTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Case Scenario of Shelly..........................................................................................................1
2. Reflection by using Driscoll's model......................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Nursing is a field which works in health care sector. Their focus is on the care of
individuals, families, and communities. Nurses helps in developing plan of care, working
collaboratively with different physicians, therapists, the patient and their family and focuses on
treating illness to improve their quality of life. Present report will talk about a case scenario
related to Shelly who is admitted in hospital for special treatment. Concepts of ethical practice
and ethico-legal complexities related to the given cease scenario is discussed in it. This report
will also focus on topic like ethical awareness which plays an important role in nursing. This
study will also mention theory related to Driscoll's model of reflection in order to explain own
experience on the scenario.
MAIN BODY
1. Case Scenario of Shelly
In the given case scenario, Shelly is 27 year old female who is suffering from left lower
lobe pneumonia and she has also acquired brain injury (ABI), which she sustained 18 months
ago after a fall from her horse (Locher, 2017). Shelly is most of the time does her daily work
independently but she has to be given a close supervision due to her mental attitude to roll into
other patient’s rooms or escape from the hospital premises altogether. Shelly is little anxious
about her mother as she is not with her because she has gone with her brother interstate for some
work. Recently Shelly was found roaming around the streets and was returned to hospital by
local police when a concerned resident informed them about this situation (Brett and et.al.,
2014).
As a nursing student I have to understand all the responsibilities of being a nurse which
includes code of ethics that is very important for me to follow while monitoring Shelly in the
hospital. The main purpose of these codes is to identify the key ethical standards and values
which has to be followed by every nurse and these are incorporated in other nursing
professionals as well as a guidelines and standards of conduct. These helps in providing an
acknowledgement which can be used by them to analyse their own performance (Glasby, 2017).
Different code of ethics for nurses is described below:
Code of Ethics for Nurses
There are various codes of ethics which I have to follow properly in order to work
effectively in the hospital. This will help me in performing my roles and responsibilities
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carefully towards Shelly. Several codes which are mandatory to follow includes, all the nurses
should posses quality nursing care for towards their patients. They should respect and show
kindness for self and others. They should maintain a culture of safety in nursing and health care.
Being a nursing student it is my duty to have strong decision-making capability and value ethical
management of information in hospital (Gradinger and et.al., 2015). It is very important to
respect socially, economically and ecologically sustainable environment promoting health and
well-being.
As I have assigned to monitor Shelly which has to be nursed in bed at all times, with her
bed rails raised and door closed. An order has also given to me to give her regular dose of
sedative medication so that she can be under controlled. As Shelly is very anxious, she refuges to
take the medication (Locher, 2017). It is very important for me to understand Shelly's nature and
make her feel comfortable so that she can take medicines easily. For this I have to follow some
ethical practices and awareness which can help me in performing my work effectively.
Ethical practices: Nursing ethics are the values and ethical principles governing nursing
practice, conduct, and relationships. It is intended to provide definite standards of practice and
conduct that are essential to the ethical discharge of the nurse's responsibility. For the given case
scenario, I have to monitor Shelly and her activities which will be very useful for me to
understand her better. Making effective communication with her can be very helpful in making a
healthy and good relationship (Gradinger and et.al., 2015). As Shelly is feeling very anxious
because of the absence of her mother. This sometimes disturbs her and she takes wrong
decisions.
Ethical awareness: As per the given case scenario, it is very important for me to have
some awareness while handling this case. I have to take care about all my actions and actions
which should be done in making her comfortable with me, so that she can share her issues and
problems with me. Much attention has been paid to the role of the nurse in recognizing and
addressing ethical dilemmas (Chen and Forbes, 2014). This ethical awareness is also compulsory
in ensuring patient good by recognizing the unique interests and wishes of them, in line with an
ethic of care as this will help me in understanding Shelly better. Awareness of the inherently
ethical nature of practice is a component of nurse ethical sensitivity, which has to be identified as
an important component of ethical decision-making in this field.
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Ethico-legal complexities: These are the ethical and legal complexities which can take
place in hospitals. It is very crucial to follow all the legal rules and responsibilities properly in
order to work smoothly (Richmond, McCurrie and Nelson, 2015). In nursing field it is very
important to have proper knowledge related to work. To deal with Shelly's case I have
understood all the ethical and legal complexities which was required.
2. Reflection by using Driscoll's model
My whole work experience reflection while working in the hospital in taking care of
Shelly is described by using Driscoll's model of reflection cycle which includes elements like,
what (explaining what has happened), so what (what were you feeling, what was good/bad about
the whole experience) and now what (if it happens again what we would do differently). The
application of Driscoll’s reflective cycle has helped me to link theory to mu nursing practice
(Driscoll’s (2000) Model of Reflection, 2017). During my overall work duration I have noticed
so many new things that are I have faced for the first time. While handling Shelly, it was very
difficult for me to deal with the situation as she was unable to understand anything. I have to
work on my communication skills through which I was able to communicate with her and made
her feel comfortable with me. This practice has helped me a lot in understanding her problems
and issues which she has.
Communication is a process which is used to exchange thoughts, opinions, feelings,
information, etc with each other. Implementing this procedure with Shelly was very useful for
me. This helped me build a strong relationship with her (Naber and Wyatt, 2014). I took both
verbal and non verbal type of communication to deal with Shelly. From the above experience I
have also witnessed that my problem solving and analytical skills have been improved a lot.
Dealing with Shelly to understand her problem was a tough task initially but gradually it became
easy as I understood how to resolve issues in nursing. Getting knowledge related to nursing
practices has helped me a lot in performing my duties. As it was told to me that she was given
regular dose of sedative medication so that I can manage her as she become anxious in no time as
she refused to take medicines as well (Chen and Forbes, 2014). Analytical skills has played an
important in my overall personality development as a nurse. It helped me in giving the best
output in my duty.
My overall experience with this situation was not that bad as Shelly is very sweet and
simple women who does her work independently. It was her anxiousness which sometimes
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became difficult for me to tackle effectively. The main reason behind Shelly's arrogant nature
was that she was missing her so much and was feeling lonely as well. Making her feel
comfortable has helped her and me as well to understand each other (Driscoll’s (2000) Model of
Reflection, 2017). Bad experience was that Shelly was sometime behaves very badly which made
me annoyed. She refuses to do nothing. She was not taking proper medicines as well. But
somehow I managed to agree her in taking treatment. During my whole experience with Shelly I
can say that I have learned so many things which has helped be in improving my overall
personality which can be useful in building a good career choice for me.
CONCLUSION
From the above it can be concluded that it is very important for a nursing student to
follow all the codes which is compulsory for nurses to apply in their service. In this report I
understood several codes of ethics which helped me in taking care of Shelly and making her
comfortable. This report has also discussed about the ethical awareness by using Driscoll's
reflection model. Through this study I have also improved my understanding about nursing
ethics and standards which is very useful for me. I have improved my communication skill and
now I am able to deal with such kind of situations well.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Brett, J. and et.al., 2014. Mapping the impact of patient and public involvement on health and
social care research: a systematic review. Health Expectations. 17(5). pp.637-650.
Chen, I. and Forbes, C., 2014. Reflective writing and its impact on empathy in medical
education: systematic review. Journal of educational evaluation for health professions. 11.
Glasby, J., 2017. Understanding health and social care. Policy Press.
Gradinger, F. and et.al., 2015. Values associated with public involvement in health and social
care research: a narrative review. Health Expectations. 18(5). pp.661-675.
Locher, M. A., 2017. Reflective Writing in Medical Practice: A Linguistic Perspective.
Multilingual Matters.
Naber, J. and Wyatt, T. H., 2014. The effect of reflective writing interventions on the critical
thinking skills and dispositions of baccalaureate nursing students. Nurse Education Today.
34(1). pp.67-72.
Richmond, K. J., McCurrie, M. K. and Nelson, L., 2015. Reconsidering Reflective Writing
across the College Curriculum: Promoting Individual Growth, Knowledge Transfer and
Social Connections.
Online
Driscoll’s (2000) Model of Reflection. 2017. [Online]. Available
through<http://www.cengage.com/resource_uploads/downloads/0748797661_302418.
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