Nursing 4 Assignment: Informed Consent, Ethics, and Patient Rights

This nursing assignment addresses key aspects of patient care, informed consent, and ethical principles. It begins by defining informed consent and its importance in various nursing interventions, such as evidence-based practices, psychological treatments, and surgical procedures. The assignment highlights the benefits of informed consent, emphasizing patient participation in decision-making, especially in critical situations. It explores the ethical principle of beneficence, discussing conflicts between this principle and patient autonomy, and suggests methods for resolving these ethical dilemmas. Furthermore, the assignment considers perioperative preparation, addressing scenarios where consent forms are missing and the role of nurses in obtaining them, including involving family members. It also examines parental consent for children, referencing legal avenues like the Shared Parenting Act in Canada. The assignment concludes with scenarios on handling restless patients and the role of nurses in student examinations, emphasizing the importance of patience, therapeutic relationships, and ensuring patient consent during training.

Running head: NURSING
NURSING
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Answer 1) Informed consent is defend as the permission that is granted to the healthcare
professionals or the nurses before treating the patient and safeguarding that the patient is
aware of the procedure and has a complete knowledge of the entire procedure. The consent
form is signed by the patients as the witness of the declaration made by them. The nursing
intervention that require informed consent form the patients or the client’s includes before
implementing the evidence-based practice method, psychological treatment of a mentally ill
patient and before conducting any peri-operative surgical procedure (Butcher et al., 2018).
Answer 2) The most significant benefit of obtaining an informed consent from the patient that
the patient is aware of the procedure and has the opportunity to actively participate in their
decision-making process during the complete treatment. In circumstances where the patient is
extremely ill and has the minimum chances of survival, it is the sole responsibility of the
healthcare providers and the nurses to take an explicit informed consent from the patient or
any of their family member’s in the form of signature (Halkoaho et al., 2016).
Answer 3) Beneficence is considered as one of the four ethical principles that must be
adapted and practiced by the nurse according to American medical practice. There are various
examples that highlight the conflict between the principle of beneficence and the person’ s
right to choose such as providing vaccinations to the patients without educating him
regarding the effects or purpose of vaccination or the patient refusing to take treatment for
cancer. In such condition the nurses cannot adhere to the patient’s right and also follow the
guidelines for providing effective care. Therefore, in such dilemma the nurses should find
identify the ethically appropriate method for solving the issue and communicate with the
patient and take all the effort in explaining and educating the patient regarding the issues that
might take place during such condition (Pozgar 2019).

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Answer 4) The patients receive a perioperative preparation before the surgery that will help
them to prepare themselves for the surgery and decrease the possible risk of complication
associated with effective and safe patient outcomes. In this scenario, the nurse identify that
the patient did not sign his consent form after the peri-operative sedation was given to him
and it is also evident that signing the consent form is very essential before any surgical
procedure. Hence, in is condition being a nurse I will ask the family members to sign the
consent form and closely observe the clauses present in the form and also explain them the
importance of the form with the complication that might takes place.
Answer 5) Yes, the parents should be permitted to give or refuse the consent for their young
children in any circumstances as the young children are mentally matured to take such big
decision of their life as compared to the parents. It is also mandatory that the parents consider
the children situation and explain them regarding the surgery or treatment that is happening.
Yes, there are few legal avenue such as Bill S-202: Shared Parenting Act, which is present
within the Canadian legislation where the child’s best interest is also considered and included
(Calder & Hackett, 2017).
Answer 6) As the patient is old and restless, it is very crucial for the nurse to handle the
patient with patience and calmness. As the patient was initially trying to climb the bed rails it
is evident that the patient is hyperactive and vey restless and being a nurse I have to restrain
the patient. Since the patient had changed her mind and wants to sit on the chair I will allow
the patient to dos so and even help her to because the patient is confused herself and
developing a therapeutic relationship with the patient will help me to handle the patient more
easily and peacefully.
Answer 7) I will ask the patient to observe the examination and keep all the record and
proceedings with him that he has to present to me after he has finished his examination. By

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doing so I can also be updated with the case and understand if the student has examined the
patient properly or not. No, I cannot assume that the patient will know that the student will
observe her as the part of their training and therefore I will also be present during the
examination procedure to exclude any risk of beneficiate that might develop for not taking
consent form the patient (Spradley, 2016).

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References
Butcher, H. K., Bulechek, G. M., Dochterman, J. M. M., & Wagner, C. M. (2018). Nursing
Interventions classification (NIC)-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Calder, M. C., & Hackett, S. (2017). Assessment in child care. The Wiley Handbook of What
Works in Child Maltreatment, 278.
Halkoaho, A., Pietilä, A. M., Ebbesen, M., Karki, S., & Kangasniemi, M. (2016). Cultural
aspects related to informed consent in health research: A systematic review. Nursing
Ethics, 23(6), 698-712.
Pozgar, G. D. (2019). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals. Jones & Bartlett
Learning.
Spradley, J. P. (2016). Participant observation. Waveland Press.