Purpose of Assignment: Nurses encounter ethical issues in their daily practice and must be able to apply ethical considerations to scenarios and their ethics. Critique Ethical Issues in Current Nursing Practice Critique Ethical Issues in Current Nursing Practice Course Competency: Critique ethical issues in current nursing practice. Scenario: You are the nurse manager of a minor, four-bed emergency department. Your department received seven patients involved in a mass casualty shooting at a local grocery store two days ago. A brief overview of each client is provided below.
Critique Ethical Issues in Current Nursing Practice
Ethical values remain an essential component of nursing practice. Nursing ethics defines provisions that guide nurses in their practice and enable them to navigate the complexities that present within the healthcare setting. Ethical considerations in nursing practice enable the recognition of healthcare dilemmas that present within the practice and inform the appropriate clinical judgment that enhances care outcomes (Milliken & Grace, 2016). This paper seeks to discuss ethical issues that are present during routine patient handling, drawing findings from the presented case scenarios. The case presented depicted a 4-bed emergency department receiving seven patients involved in a mass shooting at a local grocery store.
Triage Evaluation and Effects of Providers’ Ethics and Beliefs
32-year-old Pregnant Female
The first patient was a 32-year-old pregnant female at 36 weeks of gestation with abdominal injuries upon being trampled on during the shooting incident. Assessment of the patient revealed that the patient was alert and had the highest level of orientation. The patient had a respiratory rate of 25 breaths per minute, palpable radial pulses, and complained of pain in the abdomen. The patient was triaged as green. The triaging of this patient was inappropriate. The assessment findings on this patient were consistent with the code yellow. According to Bazyar et al., 2019, code yellow is assigned to nonambulatory patients with respiratory breaths of less than 30 breaths per minute, palpable radial pulse, and proper mentation. Other factors, such as pregnancy, could be put into consideration when triaging this patient. This was the case with this patient since additional care was warranted to rule out fetal and maternal injuries that may have been life-threatening. The triaging on this patient may have been inappropriate. Still, there is however no indication that the clinician’s values, beliefs, and ethics may have affected their course of action on this patient.
45-year-old Caucasian Female
The patient presented with a right chest gunshot wound. The patient was unconscious, had a thready radial pulse, and shallowed breathing with a pulse rate of 8 breaths per minute. The patient was triaged as red. Triaging on this patient was appropriate. Red code is indicative of severe injuries but with potential for survival. Red code is assigned to patients who present to the ED unconscious despite having a palpable radial pulse and respiratory rate below 25 beats/minute (Bazyar et al., 2019). This is the case with this patient.
There was significant evidence that personal beliefs, values, and ethics may have affected the provider’s approach while triaging this patient. This patient is the suspected perpetrator of the shooting incident. While treating this patient, the providers were divided in line of personal beliefs, values, and ethics. Reports on the case reveal that an argument ensued upon discovery that the patient was the perpetrator of the shooting incident and that the patient was not offered health services after that discovery. This may have been the attributing factor to her death.
52-year-old Caucasian Female
The patient presented with a right leg gunshot wound. The patient appeared confused, had no palpable radial pulse, and shallow breathing with a respiratory rate of 40 breaths per minute. The patient was triaged as red. This patient was triaged appropriately. The patient had a respiratory rate of above 30 beats per minute, had no palpable radial pulse, and was confused. All these assessment findings are consistent with the agreeable criteria of assigning triage color red, as detailed by Magnusson et al., 2020. The triaging of this patient was satisfactory and showed no evidence of interference with the providers’ ethics and beliefs.
45-year-old African American
The patient presented with no observable physical injuries. However, the patient was hyperventilating with a respiratory rate of 45 breaths per minute, was light-headed, and had a palpable pulse. The patient was triaged as green. The patient was triaged appropriately. The patient presented to the clinic with no physical injuries. His higher respiratory rates could have been due to his past medical history that revealed a history of PTSD. The triaging of this patient was appropriate and with no evidence of interference from the providers’ beliefs and ethics.
6-year-old Hispanic Male Child
The patient presented with an abdominal gunshot wound. The patient was unconscious, had no spontaneous respirations, and had no palpable radial pulse. The patient was triaged as red. This triage was inappropriate. Assessment fi