Ethical and Cultural Dilemmas Assignment
For this Assignment, you will select one of the cases that follow and write a 3–5 page expository paper that addresses both the ethical and cultural aspects of caring for the patient. You will have the opportunity to identify ethical issues within the field of mental health nursing and you will use principles of sound reasoning to plan culturally sensitive care for client.
Ethics and culture are important components of nursing care. It is important for you to thoroughly understand and to apply the five principles of bioethics: beneficence, autonomy, justice, fidelity, and veracity. You must also understand cultural competence in order to care for all patients holistically. Dr. Josepha Campinha-Bacote recommends a blueprint with the Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Health Care Model.
Select one of the following case studies as the focus of your paper:
A.L., a 78-year-old female, is diagnosed with dementia. She has regressed to her native language, which is Russian. The nurse assigned to A.L. is looking at the new orders and states, “Wow, 1000mg of Depakene sounds like a lot of medication.” The nurse then retrieves the medication and proceeds to give A.L. the Depakene. As you look at the medication administration record, you notice that the writing is very sloppy. It is difficult to read the actual mg amount of the medication. The next day, you are called to the unit manager’s office. The unit manager would like you to tell her what happened with the 78-year-old patient, as she died during the night.
J.M., a 48-year-old male Navaho tribe member, is brought to your unit with suicidal ideation and a diagnosis of alcohol abuse. J.M. refused the psychotropic medications prescribed to him on the unit. The psychiatrist told the nurse to hide the medicine in his food. The evening nurse complied with this order. When the man noticed that there was a pill in his food, he asked the nurse what was happening. The nurse stated, “You must take your medications. You will be sick without them.” The man turned the table over and was consequently put in restraints.
You are a nurse working in the emergency room.
W.P., a 82-year-old Asian female, is brought to the hospital and placed in your care. W.P. is well known to you and others in the hospital for being a frequent flyer. However, on this visit W.P. tells you that her son beats her repeatedly and she comes to the hospital for help but is fearful that he will find out. She tells you, “Please do not tell anyone about this.” The patient’s son happens to be a prominent professor at the local university and is always in the paper for helping the less fortunate in the community. He is also a hospital board member.
1. Begin by selecting one of the preceding case studies as the topic for your paper.
2. Your paper should begin with a thesis paragraph summarizing your position with regard to the ethical and cultural issue(s) present in the case study.
3. The body of your paper should provide support for your thesis and should demonstrate critical thinking in planning culturally sensitive care for the client.
4. The body of the paper should include five sections (not including the thesis paragraph).
Section 1: Define the problem. Be sure to get to the heart of the ethical and cultural issues present in the case study. You must identify at least one ethical issue in the case
Section 2: Analyze the problem. Carefully analyze the problem and explain its significance to the patient and to the patient’s culture as a whole. Be sure to recognize the various perspectives associated with the ethical and cultural issue(s) in the case study.
Section 3: Design a minimum of three possible solutions to the problem.
Section 4: Examine your proposed solutions to the problem. Discuss the pros and cons of each possible solution.
Section 5: The paper should have a theory that works well with the case study. The theory is used to discuss how this ethical dilemma might have been avoided or how a better outcome may have been achieved. There should be at least three different points about how this theory relates to the case study.
Your thesis paragraph is really a preview of the conclusion of your argument that takes place in the final paragraph.
5. IMPORTANT: You must visit Library to retrieve, read, and cite at least one peer-reviewed journal articles to support your argument.
6. Your paper should be a total of 3-5 pages, not including title and reference pages.
7. You are required to be objective in your response. This is not a paper for sharing your feelings on the topic. You must be able to support your ideas with current, peer-reviewed literature. Avoid inserting personal bias into the discussion. Be sure to use appropriate literature and not self-reflection or feelings regarding the situation.
8. General writing requirements: Your paper must be in APA 6th edition format, including a title and reference page, using New Times Roman and a 12 point font.
1. Use APA style formatting guidelines:
Include proper APA 6th edition citation of at least one peer-reviewed journal article to support your work. Web sources or other sources will not solely suffice. Your paper should demonstrate exceptional content, organization, style and mechanics.
The paper should include a clearly identifiable thesis statement and discuss a minimum of three points which support the thesis.
The paper should be very well-ordered and each paragraph must have a strong internal organization. Transitions between and within paragraphs should be clear. Your writing style should be appropriate to the assignment, fresh (interesting to read), accurate, (no far-fetched, unsupported comments), precise (say what you mean), and concise (not wordy).
Include a title page and reference page and make sure your writing is free of serious errors. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling should help to clarify the meaning of your paper by following the conventions of Standard English.
Citations must follow APA 6th edition guidelines. Remember: You must cite at least one peer-reviewed journal article from the online Library
Resources for APA 6th edition formatting and writing help: Writing Center (link found in the Student Portal).
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