6 - Application of Ethics in the Community Flashcards
According to Leininger and Watson, the moral ideal of nursing is:
a. ) caring.
b. ) advocacy.
c. ) responsibility.
d. ) accountability.
a.) caring.
This conceptualization occurred as a response to the technological advances in health care science and the desire of nurses to differentiate nursing practice from medical practice. Advocacy, responsibility, and accountability are not part of the moral idea of nursing proposed by Leininger and Watson.
Which ethical principle requires “doing no harm?”
a. ) Respect for autonomy
b. ) Non-maleficence
c. ) Beneficence
d. ) Distributive justice
b.) Non-maleficence
Non-maleficence refers to doing no harm. Respect for autonomy requires that individuals be permitted to choose those actions and goals that fulfill their life plans unless those choices result in harm to another. Beneficence requires that we do good. Distributive justice requires that there be a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens in society based on the needs and contributions of its members.
Which statement regarding Florence Nightingale’s ideas about ethics is correct?
a. ) Nursing is a call to service, and the moral character of persons entering nursing is important.
b. ) Ethical principles are based on the values of the individual nurse.
c. ) Society will dictate the ethical principles to which nurses must adhere.
d. ) Ethics are very important in times of war, such as in the Crimean War, when she set up public health centers.
a.) Nursing is a call to service, and the moral character of persons entering nursing is important.
Florence Nightingale saw nursing as a call to service and viewed the moral character of persons entering nursing as important. Florence Nightingale did not set up public health centers. Florence Nightingale did not believe that nurses must adhere to society’s view of ethical principles. Ethical beliefs are based on the values of the individual nurse, not ethical principles.
Which of the following are ethical tenets that underlie the core function of assessment? (Select all that apply.)
a. ) Competency: the persons assigned to develop community knowledge are prepared to collect data on groups and populations
b. ) Moral character: the persons selected to develop, assess, and disseminate community knowledge possess integrity
c. ) Service to others over self: a necessary condition of what is “good” or “right” policy
d. ) “Do no harm”: disseminating appropriate information about groups and populations is morally necessary and sufficient
e. ) Providers of public health services should be competent and available
a.) Competency: the persons assigned to develop community knowledge are prepared to collect data on groups and populations
b.) Moral character: the persons selected to develop, assess, and disseminate community knowledge possess integrity
d.) “Do no harm”: disseminating appropriate information about groups and populations is morally necessary and sufficient
Service to others over self is an ethical tenet of policy development. Providers of public health services should be competent and available is an ethical tenet of assurance. Competency, moral character, and “do no harm” are the ethical tenets of assessment.
Which statement about feminist ethics is correct?
a. ) Feminists include only women in their worldview.
b. ) Persons who ascribe to feminist ethics are passive and wish to pursue their ideals through the legislative process.
c. ) Feminists believe that men should not be nurses.
d. ) Women’s thinking and moral experiences are important and should be taken into account.
d.) Women’s thinking and moral experiences are important and should be taken into account.
Feminist theory ascribes to the idea that women’s thinking and moral experiences are important and should be considered. A feminist perspective leads us to think critically about connections among gender, disadvantage, and health as well as the distribution of power in public health processes. Feminists are women and men who hold a worldview advocating economic, social, and political equality for women that is equivalent to that of men.
Public health administrators in a community provide a health department to serve an indigent population of immigrants providing translators on certain days of the week. Which of the following best describes what is being done?
a. ) Policy development
b. ) Quality
c. ) Assurance
d. ) Libertarian philosophy
c.) Assurance
Assurance refers to the role of public health in making sure that essential community- oriented health services are available, which may include providing essential personal health services for those who would otherwise not receive them. Policy development refers to the need to provide leadership in developing policies that support the health of the population, including the use of the scientific knowledge base in making decisions about policy. Quality refers to providing the best care possible. Libertarian philosophy refers to the view that the right to private property is the most important right.
The community leaders in a lesser-developed country decide not to tell the citizens of a small village about a chemical spill at a major industrial facility that could produce harmful effects. Which of the following principles is being violated?
a. ) Morality
b. ) Advocacy
c. ) Caring
d. ) Virtue
b.) Advocacy
Advocacy requires that the community be properly informed, and this was violated in the above scenario. Morality is shared and generational societal norms about what constitutes right or wrong conduct. Caring represents the essence of nursing. Virtue demonstrates behavior showing high moral standards.
The growing multiculturalism of American society can contribute to ethnicity conflicts when:
a. ) providing care to different cultural groups.
b. ) individual values align with the cultural norms.
c. ) ethnic groups overburden the health care system.
d. ) the greater community’s values are jeopardized by specific ethnic values.
d.) the greater community’s values are jeopardized by specific ethnic values.
Callahan offered perspectives on judging diversity and suggests a thoughtful tolerance and some degree of moral persuasion (not coercion) for ethnic groups to alter values so that they are more in keeping with what is normative in American culture. Providing care to different cultural groups should not produce an ethnicity conflict. Individual alignment with cultural norms would make it less likely that an ethnicity conflict would occur. Ethnic groups using the health care system will not cause it to be overburdened or result in an ethnicity conflict.
A nurse is providing care using the idea of “servicing citizens, not customers.” Which of the following ideas is being applied by the nurse?
a. ) Ethical tenets of policy development
b. ) Basic concepts of the feminist theory
c. ) Underlying premise of virtue ethics
d. ) Components of distributive justice
a.) Ethical tenets of policy development
There are three tenets of both policy and ethics. The approach is based on the voice of the community as the foundation on which policy is developed. The basic concept of feminist theory allows us to think critically about connections among gender, disadvantage, and health as well as the distribution of power in public health processes. The goal of virtue ethics is to enable persons to flourish as human beings. Distributive justice requires that there be a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens in society based on the needs and contributions of its members.
A nurse is demonstrating advocacy in his nursing practice. Which of the following actions best demonstrates this principle?
a. ) Offering a smoking cessation program
b. ) Screening for hypertension
c. ) Lobbying for health care reform
d. ) Conducting home visits
c.) Lobbying for health care reform
Nurses should participate in implementing new directions for health care and help envision these new directions. Nurses can be an important voice in advocating for access to consistent, effective, and efficient health care for all. This is best accomplished by performing interventions at the population level.
There are two medically indigent clients in the clinic who have come to get their monthly supply of free insulin. There is only enough for one client. Which of the following actions would the nurse take first?
a. ) Identify all options
b. ) Make a decision
c. ) Gather additional information
d. ) Act and assess decisions made
c.) Gather additional information
The steps of the ethical decision-making framework are to first identify the ethical issues and dilemmas, then place them within a meaningful context, obtain all relevant facts, reformulate ethical issues and dilemmas if needed, consider appropriate approaches to actions or options, make decisions and take action, and evaluate decisions and action.
A public health nurse is examining several issues within daily practice. Which of the following issues would be considered an ethical dilemma?
a. ) Whether or not to establish a community health center in a rural area
b. ) Allocating resources in a natural disaster
c. ) Deciding to withdraw care on a hospice patient
d. ) Applying the principles of Florence Nightingale in Bangladesh
b.) Allocating resources in a natural disaster
When resources are scarce, a dilemma may exist as to how to allocate them. Considering establishing a community health center may be a dilemma, but it probably does not involve ethics. Withdrawing care from a hospice patient would most likely not be an issue encountered by a public health nurse, as this represents community health nursing practice, not public health nursing practice. Applying the principles of Florence Nightingale would not be ethical issue.
A nurse refers to the Code of Ethics for Nurses or the Public Health Code of Ethics. Which of the following describes why the nurse has referred to this document?
a. ) To provide answers for ethical dilemmas
b. ) To guide professional practice related to ethics
c. ) To increase moral leadership in ethics
d,) To find a framework for ethical decision making
b.) To guide professional practice related to ethics
These codes provide general ethical principles and guide personnel in thinking about the underlying ethics of the profession. They do not provide answers for ethical dilemmas, only serve as a guide. They do not increase moral leadership, nor do they provide a framework for ethical decision making.
An orderly process that considers ethical principles, client values, and professional obligations is:
a. ) moral distress.
b. ) ethical decision making.
c. ) a value.
d. ) a code of ethics.
b.) ethical decision making.
Ethical decision making is defined as an orderly process that considers ethical principles, client values, and professional obligations. Moral distress is an uncomfortable state of self when one is unable to act ethically. Values are beliefs about the worth or importance of what is right or esteemed. A code of ethics is a moral standard that delineates a profession’s values, goals, and obligations.
A nurse is using the principles of virtue ethics in decision making. Which of the following describes the action that the nurse would take?
a. ) Provide efficient and effective nursing care
b. ) Identify the meaningful facts in the situation
c. ) Seek ethical community support to enhance character development
d. ) Plan ways to restructure the social practices that oppress women
c.) Seek ethical community support to enhance character development
According to Aristotle, virtues are acquired and include interest in the concept of the good, including benevolence, compassion, trustworthiness, and integrity. One part of the process is seeking ethical community support to enhance character development. Nurses can demonstrate advocacy when providing efficient and effective nursing care. Identifying the meaningful facts in the situation is part of the ethical decision-making process. Planning ways to restructure the social practices that oppress women is part of the feminist ethics decision-making process.
