Overview

Responsibility refers to specific accountability or liability associated with the performance of duties. Nurses must not engage in practices prohibited by law or delegate activities to others that are prohibited by the practice acts of other health care providers.

Instructions

Choose one of the following case studies to complete. Read the selected case study and answer the questions using a Microsoft Word document. Each response should be 2–4 sentences in length, clear and concise, and use correct grammar. You only need to complete one of the following case studies.

Meet Bill.

Mr. William Boggs (aka Bill) is a nurse manager for a busy ICU. He cannot cover all three shifts with the nurses he has available. He knows that if he does not have additional nurses, the RN working nights would not be able to leave the unit for breaks or any other reason. Bill has repeatedly voiced concerns to the Vice President of Nursing over the ongoing issue of short staffing but is simply told to deal with it. So, Bill institutes a change in the night shift patient to staff ratio. The RN on the unit will need to work without relief and have one CNA instead of another RN. Following a serious incident on the night shift, a disgruntled staff nurse anonymously reports Bill’s actions as unsafe to the State Board of Nursing. As a result of the investigation by the Board, Bill talks to the state hospital licensing agency and the local newspaper about the staffing patterns at the hospital. Consequently, the hospital receives bad press and is contacted by the hospital licensing agency. Bill is fired.

1. What values, virtues, or obligations are at stake in this case?
2. How would you assess this situation morally?
3. What are the clinical and medical dimensions of this situation?
4. What are the patient’s needs or desires?
5. What relationships are being affected?
6. What institutional factors are being affected?
7. What elements of the Code of Ethics for Nurses pertain?
8. If you were the nurse, how would you reason, ethically, about this?
9. What arguments would you make for this position (evidence-based, scholarly)?