ethical and legal concepts

Question 1

A legal document that specifies healthcare instructions or identifies a proxy (surrogate decision maker) for making healthcare decisions.

Answer 1

advance directive

Question 2

The threat of harm from unauthorized touching.

Answer 2

assault

Question 3

An individual’s right to self-determination; the right of patients to make their own decisions about their care consistent with their personal values.

Answer 3

autonomy

Question 4

Unlawfully touching another individual.

Answer 4

battery

Question 5

The nurse’s moral obligation to do good.

Answer 5

beneficience

Question 6

Decision to deviate from a boundary for a therapeutic purpose, such as appointment changes, disclosing personal bits of information, or exchanging small gifts.

Answer 6

boundary crossing

Question 7

Decision to deviate from a boundary for a purpose that is other than therapeutic; this might include holding dual roles with a patient, inappropriate self-disclosure or touching, or sexual misconduct.

Answer 7

boundary violation

Question 8

A nursing action (or inaction) that fails to meet accepted standards of care.

Answer 8

breach of duty

Question 9

A clinical determination of whether an individual is capable of making healthcare decisions.

Answer 9

capacity

Question 10

Developed by the ANA, a code that mandates every professional nurse’s obligations and commitment to society.

Answer 10

code of ethics for nurses

Question 11

The power of one person to affect the decision of another; includes persuasion and manipulation. Also called undue influence.

Answer 11

coercion

Question 12

The obligation not to disclose private information.

Answer 12

confidentiality

Question 13

Ethical behavior characterized by unchanging, self-evident moral duty; “rule-based” ethics.

Answer 13

deontology

Question 14

The nurse’s legal and ethical responsibility to perform nursing care according to accepted standards of care once the nurse–patient relationship has been established.

Answer 14

duty of care

Question 15

Duty of a clinician to warn an individual of foreseeable harm when a patient threatens the safety of that individual.

Answer 15

duty to warn

Question 16

Identifying empathy and emotional connectedness as dictating moral behavior.

Answer 16

ethics of care

Question 17

Unlawful confinement of a patient against his or her will.

Answer 17

false imprisonment

Question 18

The nurse’s obligation to be dedicated to patients and faithful in the performance of his or her duties.

Answer 18

fidelity

Question 19

The permission that a patient, or her representative, grants a healthcare provider to provide medical treatment.

Answer 19

informed consent

Question 20

The ability to consistently adhere to character-resonating values.

Answer 20

integrity

Question 21

A position or action that simultaneously accounts for potentially conflicting alternatives.

Answer 21

integrity preserving compromise

Question 22

Admission to treatment of an individual against his or her will.

Answer 22

involuntary commitment

Question 23

The fair and equal treatment of patients and others.

Answer 23

justice

Question 24

In New York, a statute that established requirements for involuntary commitment.

Answer 24

Kendra’s Law

Question 25

Professional negligence

Answer 25

malpractice

Question 26

The obligation to do no harm.

Answer 26

nonmalificience

Question 27

State legislation that establishes licensing requirements, permitting of nursing titles, and functions composing the legal scope of nursing practice in that state.

Answer 27

Nurse Practice Act

Question 28

The intentional overriding of another’s preferences with the intent to do good.

Answer 28

paternalism

Question 29

Confidential communications, usually between two individuals recognized as having a unique professional relationship (e.g., patient and healthcare provider).

Answer 29

privileged communications

Question 30

(PAD) A specific type of advance directive that permits individuals to specify treatment options should they become incapacitated due to mental illness (e.g., psychosis).

Answer 30

psychiatric advance directive

Question 31

The physical, mechanical, or chemical involuntary constraint or restriction of a patient’s freedom, including restriction or constraint of movement.

Answer 31

restraint

Question 32

The patient’s prerogative to be left alone, free from intrusion, and in command of personal information.

Answer 32

right to privacy

Question 33

Generally recognized and accepted benchmarks for the provision of nursing care, often defined as what any ordinary, reasonable, and prudent nurse would do, based on what any other reasonable and prudent nurse would have done in a similar situation.

Answer 33

standard of care

Question 34

A category of law that deals with harmful or wrongful acts resulting in injury to either another person or another person’s property.

Answer 34

Tort Law

Question 35

The power of one person to affect the decisions of another, especially through persuasion or manipulation.

Answer 35

undue influence

Question 36

Ethics based on the consequences of an action, with good or pleasure as the ethical imperative.

Answer 36

utlitarianism

Question 37

Ideals that assign meaning to individuals’ decisions.

Answer 37

values

Question 38

Truthfulness.

Answer 38

veracity

Question 39

Admission that occurs when a patient voluntarily consents to treatment, particularly admission into a residential treatment facility.

Answer 39

voluntary admission