Healthcare Ethics Quiz

Principles of Documentation

• Accuracy: Ensure honest and truthful representation of care provided, recording information correctly, and avoiding false or misleading information.
• Equality: Promote fairness, impartiality, and equal treatment for all individuals without discrimination or bias.
• Equity: Address unique needs and circumstances of individuals to achieve equal outcomes, recognizing that equal treatment doesn't always lead to equitable outcomes.

Ethical Principles

• Veracity: Truthfulness and honesty in communication, such as providing accurate information about treatment benefits and risks to patients.
• Fidelity: Being faithful, loyal, and keeping promises, like maintaining confidentiality and not disclosing patient information without consent.
• Autonomy: Respecting patients' rights to make their own decisions and choices regarding their care.
• Utilitarianism: Maximizing overall happiness or utility for the greatest number of people, assessing, diagnosing, and managing mental health needs across the lifespan.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

• Confidentiality: Protect patient privacy and confidentiality, ensuring that patient information is handled with utmost care and protected from unauthorized access or disclosure.
• Defamation: Avoid making false statements that harm the reputation of another person, such as spreading false information about a healthcare professional.
• Invasion of Privacy: Refrain from intruding upon or violating an individual's personal information, private space, or personal affairs without consent.
• False Imprisonment: Avoid unlawfully and intentionally confining or restraining a person without their consent or legal justification.

Documentation Guidelines

• Completeness: Ensure documentation is comprehensive, capturing all relevant information about the patient's care.
• Timeliness: Record documentation as close to the time of care delivery as possible to avoid inaccuracies or gaps in the patient's health record.
• Legibility: Ensure documentation entries are clear, legible, and readable to ensure accurate interpretation by other healthcare professionals.

Accountability and Risk Management

• Accountability: Nurses are responsible for the content they document, ensuring it aligns with professional standards and legal requirements, and signing, dating, and authenticating entries.
• Risk Management Program: A systematic approach to identify, evaluate, and manage potential risks or hazards within an organization, promoting safe practices.
• Quality Assurance Program: A systematic process to ensure the delivery of high-quality services or products, involving continuous monitoring, evaluation, and improvement of processes to maintain or enhance quality standards.
• Documentation Retention: Adhere to legal and regulatory requirements for retention periods for healthcare records, maintaining the integrity and accessibility of patient information.