Nursing Communication and Ethics Quiz

Ethics in Communication and Nurse-Patient Relationships

• Ethics in healthcare involves determining what's good for individuals and society.
• The American Nurses Association (ANA) code provides a framework for professional nursing, including accountability, responsibility, advocacy, and confidentiality.
• Key ethical principles in healthcare include autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and fidelity.
• Values clarification is essential for resolving ethical dilemmas and considering differing opinions and values.
• Ethical dilemmas frequently involve conflicting values and may require careful consideration of all parties' views.
• Resolving ethical dilemmas is similar to the nursing process, which involves multiple steps to formulate effective solutions.

Basic Terms in Health Ethics

• Autonomy: Patients are involved in all aspects of their care, including surgical procedures (risks & benefits). Informed consent documents this respect.
• Beneficence: Taking positive actions to help others. Fundamental to nursing and medicine.
• Non-maleficence: Doing no harm, the equal commitment to doing good in healthcare. Health professionals balance risks and benefits while minimizing harm.
• Justice: Access to healthcare resources. Discussions related to health insurance, locations, services, and organ transplants often center on issues of justice.
• Fidelity: Keeping promises. Nurses follow through on their actions and interventions as part of fidelity to patients.

Professional Nursing Code of Ethics

• A code of ethics outlines guiding principles for all professionals in a given field, providing guidance during ethical dilemmas.
• Codes guide professional groups when addressing questions about correct practices and behaviors.
• The ANA developed the first code of ethics for nursing professionals decades ago.
• Codes are reviewed and revised regularly to reflect changing practices.

Nursing Point of View

• Nurses typically interact with patients over extended periods, potentially revealing details about their family lives, coping styles, preferences, fears, and insecurities.
• Informing the instructor if the patient needs more pain medication is an example of an advocacy role.
• Being responsible for administering the correct medication at the right time and dose, also in the proper manner is also a part of the responsibility of a nurse.

Processing Ethical Dilemmas

• Ethical dilemmas cause distress and controversy for both patients and caregivers.
• A sound approach to resolving ethical dilemmas involves considering different perspectives and facts, not just opinions and feelings.
• Resolving ethical dilemmas is analogous to the nursing process, a structured approach.
• Steps are involved: ask questions, gather information, clarify values, define the problem, identify solutions, reach agreement, then actively evaluate outcomes.

Issues in Health Care Ethics:

• Quality of Life: Measures quantify the worth and benefits of healthcare treatments. Discussions related to futile care, assisted suicide, DNR orders, and cancer therapy frequently involve quality-of-life considerations.
• Genetic Screening: Tests aid in identifying potential future health conditions. Ethical dilemmas may arise if tests results reveal potential conditions before the legal abortion period.
• Care at the End of Life: Utilizing interventions and treatments deemed ineffective (futile) due to limited potential for benefit to the patient can present ethical questions.
• Access to Care: Nurses consistently encounter ethical issues related to healthcare availability and access

Communication and Nursing Practice

• Communication is a core part of patient-centered care, for acquiring useful patient data, and for supporting patient health goals.
• Effective communication in healthcare settings is crucial to ensuring patient safety.
• Communication breakdowns in healthcare settings can cause serious errors and threaten professional credibility.

Developing Communication Skills

• Perception is influenced by sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell, and also by individual culture and education.
• Effective communication techniques are easy to learn but can be difficult to apply in certain situations; one needs to determine the appropriate techniques for each unique nursing context.
• Certain diagnoses, such as cancer or end-of-life issues, demand special communication strategies.

Levels of Communication

• Interpersonal: One-on-one interaction
• Small group: Goal-directed interactions among a limited number of people
• Public: Interaction with a broad audience

Basic Elements of the Communication Process

• Referent: The motivational impetus for communication.
• Sender & Receiver: The sender encodes/transmits a message and the receiver decodes/interprets it.
• Channel: The means through which the message is conveyed (visible, auditory, tactile, etc.)
• Communication is a continuing, dynamic, and many-faceted process.
• Feedback: The receiver's response that indicates understanding of the sender's message.
• Environment: The physical and emotional context of the communication that affects interactions and outcome.

Forms of Communication

• Verbal Communication: Includes vocabulary (specific medical terminology/jargon), pacing/tempo, clarity & brevity, timing & relevance.
• Nonverbal Communication: Includes personal appearance, facial expressions, eye contact, personal space.
• Nurse-Health Care Team Relationships: Communicating with colleagues requires careful use of common terminology, tools like SBAR, and an acknowledgment and rejection of lateral violence.

Elements of Professional Nursing Communication

• Courtesy & Kindness: Demonstrating these (e.g. greetings, purpose statements) fosters effective communication, respect between parties, and reduces friction.
• Use of Names: Introduce yourself professionally. Employing patients' names respects their dignity. Avoid demeaning labels.