Fundamentals Nursing Active Learning 1st Edition By Yoost Crawford – Test Bank

Chapter 11: Ethical and Legal Considerations

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Nurses are consistently considered to be honest and ethical professionals by most respondents in an annual Gallup poll. This is because professional nurses understand that ethics are:
a. internal values developed outside the influence of societal norms.
b. influenced by family, friends, and socioeconomics, among other variables.
c. societal in nature and do not involve personal influences.
d. totally independent from a person’s character.

ANS: B
Family, friends, beliefs, education, culture, and socioeconomic status influence the development of ethical behavior. The study of ethics considers the standards of moral conduct in a society. Personal ethics are influenced by values, societal norms, and practices. Behaviors that are judged as ethical or unethical, right or wrong, reflect a person’s character.

DIF: Remembering REF: p. 144 OBJ: 11.1
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics

2. The nurse is providing patient care and pays special attention to meeting the needs of the patient while maintaining the patient’s right to privacy, confidentiality, autonomy, and dignity. This nurse is applying what ethical theory?
a. Deontology
b. Utilitarianism
c. Autonomy
d. Accountability

ANS: A
Deontology is an ethical theory that stresses the rightness or wrongness of individual behaviors, duties, and obligations without concern for the consequences of specific actions. Meeting the needs of patients while maintaining their right to privacy, confidentiality, autonomy, and dignity is consistent with the tenets of deontology. Compared with deontology, utilitarianism is on the opposite end of the ethical theory continuum. Utilitarianism maintains that behaviors are determined to be right or wrong solely on the basis of their consequences. Autonomy, or self-determination, is the freedom to make decisions supported by knowledge and self-confidence. Accountability is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions.

DIF: Remembering REF: pp. 144-145 OBJ: 11.1
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics

3. The nurse is caring for a patient recently diagnosed with cancer that is being asked to participate in a new chemotherapy trial. How would the nurse respond if working under the ethical principle of utilitarianism?
a. “The patient should be allowed to decide.”
b. “As your nurse, I’ll support your right to refuse.”
c. “You should do this because many could benefit from it.”
d. “If this is against your beliefs, you should not do it.”

ANS: C
Compared with deontology, utilitarianism is on the opposite end of the ethical theory continuum. Utilitarianism maintains that behaviors are determined to be right or wrong solely on the basis of their consequences. Deontology is an ethical theory that stresses the rightness or wrongness of individual behaviors, duties, and obligations without concern for the consequences of specific actions. Meeting the needs of patients while maintaining their right to privacy, confidentiality, autonomy, and dignity is consistent with the tenets of deontology. Autonomy, or self-determination, is the freedom to make decisions supported by knowledge and self-confidence. The remaining responses are examples of either deontology or autonomy.

DIF: Applying REF: pp. 144-145 OBJ: 11.1 TOP: Implementation
MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity NOT: Concepts: Ethics

4. The nurse realizes that a medication error has been made. The nurse then reports the error and takes responsibility to ensure patient safety despite personal consequences. This nurse has exhibited:
a. autonomy.
b. accountability.
c. justice.
d. advocacy.

ANS: B
Accountability is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions. Autonomy, or self-determination, is the freedom to make decisions supported by knowledge and self-confidence. Supporting or promoting the interests of others or doing so for a cause greater than oneself defines advocacy. To do justice is to act fairly and equitably.

DIF: Remembering REF: pp. 145-146 OBJ: 11.2
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics

5. The nurse is providing care for a patient who has had a stroke recently and has multiple self-care deficits. The nurse is coordinating care with in-home agencies and arranging for the delivery of needed equipment. What ethical concept is being applied?
a. Advocacy
b. Confidentiality
c. Autonomy
d. Accountability

ANS: A
Supporting or promoting the interests of others or doing so for a cause greater than ourselves defines advocacy. Confidentiality is the ethical concept that limits sharing private patient information. Autonomy, or self-determination, is the freedom to make decisions supported by knowledge and self-confidence. Accountability is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions.

DIF: Remembering REF: pp. 145-146 OBJ: 11.2
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics

6. A nurse has been asked to care for a patient who is an inmate from a nearby prison. During shift report, the nurse asks, “Why was the man convicted and imprisoned?” Another nurse responds that this is not important since nurses are required to provide compassionate care for all people in all circumstances. The responding nurse has displayed what concept?
a. Beneficence
b. Advocacy
c. Confidentiality
d. Autonomy

ANS: A
In its simplest form, beneficence can be defined as doing good. Nurses demonstrate beneficence by acting on behalf of others and placing a priority on the needs of others rather than on personal thoughts and feelings. The ethical concept of beneficence necessitates providing care for the prisoner without reproach. Nurses are required by beneficence to provide compassionate care for all people in all circumstances. Supporting or promoting the interests of others or doing so for a cause greater than ourselves defines advocacy. Confidentiality is the ethical concept that limits sharing private patient information. Autonomy, or self-determination, is the freedom to make decisions supported by knowledge and self-confidence.

DIF: Remembering REF: pp. 145-146 OBJ: 11.2
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics

7. The nurse is providing care to a patient experiencing pain. The nurse assesses the pain and promptly administers the ordered analgesics as promised to the patient. This nurse has applied:
a. autonomy.
b. accountability.
c. confidentiality.
d. fidelity.

ANS: D
Keeping promises or agreements made with others constitutes fidelity. In nursing, fidelity is essential for building trusting relationships with patients and their families. Following through on promises is a critical factor in establishing strong professional relationships with patients and their families. Autonomy, or self-determination, is the freedom to make decisions supported by knowledge and self-confidence. Accountability is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions. Confidentiality is the ethical concept that limits sharing private patient information.

DIF: Remembering REF: pp. 145-146 OBJ: 11.2
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics

8. “First, do no harm” defines what ethical principle?
a. Beneficence
b. Justice
c. Fidelity
d. Nonmaleficence

ANS: D
First, do no harm is the colloquial definition of nonmaleficence. Unlike beneficence, which requires actively doing good, nonmaleficence requires only the avoidance of harm. In its simplest form, beneficence can be defined as doing good. To do justice is to act fairly and equitably. Keeping promises or agreements made with others constitutes fidelity.

DIF: Remembering REF: pp. 145-146 OBJ: 11.2
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics

9. The nurse is caring for a patient whose family does not want the patient to be told about the new diagnosis of cancer because of the poor prognosis. Keeping this secret from the patient is in direct conflict with the ethical concepts of:
a. autonomy and veracity.
b. veracity and advocacy.
c. justice and nonmaleficence.
d. confidentiality and justice.

ANS: A
Autonomy, or self-determination, is the freedom to make decisions supported by knowledge and self-confidence. Truthfulness defines the ethical concept of veracity. Supporting or promoting the interests of others or to do so for a cause greater than ourselves defines advocacy. To do justice is to act fairly and equitably. First, do no harm is the colloquial definition of nonmaleficence. Unlike beneficence, which requires actively doing good, nonmaleficence requires only the avoidance of harm. Confidentiality is the ethical concept that limits sharing private patient information.

DIF: Remembering REF: pp. 145-146 OBJ: 11.2
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics

10. The Code of Ethics for Nurses is:
a. like the Constitution and not revisable.
b. a succinct statement of ethical obligations.
c. required by entry level nurses only.
d. a negotiable document dependent on individual conscience.

ANS: B
The current nursing code, the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements, was adopted by the ANA House of Delegates in 2001. It is anticipated that a revised code will be published in 2015. The Code of Ethics for Nurses is “a succinct statement of the ethical obligations and duties of every individual who enters the nursing profession,” the profession’s “nonnegotiable ethical standard,” and “an expression of nursing’s own understanding of its commitment to society.”

DIF: Understanding REF: p. 147 OBJ: 11.3
TOP: Assessment MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Psychosocial Integrity
NOT: Concepts: Ethics