Using Driscoll’s Reflective Framework, Solve Nursing Ethical And Legal Complexities In An Essay.

What?

Discuss about the Ethical and Legal Complexities for Driscoll Reflective.

In this reflective essay on how to find out the ethical and legal complexities in my case scenario, I will describe my nursing experience at my practice placement and my encounter with a critical nurse who is nerve wrecking when things are not done her way as she has ordered. Using the Driscoll’s reflective model, I will demonstrate my understanding and familiarity with the fundamental concepts of ethical practice in the nursing field. The key ethical practice in nursing which is a medical field requires thinking and incorporation of ethics to handle ethical dilemmas like the one I was confronted with in during practice placement. First, as a medic practitioner, I should have had these several key ethical concepts of medical thinking such as self- determination which is the ability to act and decide for oneself (Quinn, 2013, p. 33). Therefore, in my scenario at the hospital ward when the confrontation with the registered nurse rose, I was able to stand my ground and refused to recap the needle.

According to Driscoll’s reflective model, the ethical and legal complexities take three processes that I should reflect on my practice as a nursing student in practice (Engelbrekt & Nergelius, 2013, p. 78). It helps me tackle the first bit of the complex nature of what?  Here is where I get to explain what happened that is when the registered nurse requested me to give an insulin injection to a patient. When I went to the patient, I administered her injection and realised that I had not brought the kidney dish with me Therefore, stranded beside the patient, I see the registered nurse looking at me I panicked for I could not trace the sharps container in the room.

The registered nurse having noticed my panic instructs me to recap the needle which I refused knowing very well the dangers associated with recapping of a needle. She repeated the order which I ignored, and for a third time, she shouts at me causing me to be distressed and become anxious hence I obey her command. When trying to recap the needle, the needle pierces me on my left thumb, and the nurse jubilantly tells the patient that she wants to take a blood sample from her to know the disease I had contracted from the patient (Driscoll, 2016, p. 90). 

The second part Driscoll's model seeks to answer so what? It explains what I was feeling which is I was feeling anxious and distressed, what was right or wrong about the experience in which there was nothing good about the experience but bad as there was a higher risk of contracting a serious blood borne disease from the patient.

The other key concept that I should be able to demonstrate is competence in my field of speciality which is nursing. I was able to show that I have the capacity to what it takes to be a nurse since I had been trained fully as a nurse and well equipped with the nursing skills and knowledge. Therefore, I was be able to show that am competent, I knew what I was doing, and it was the right thing to be done. Confidentiality is the other concept as a nurse I was be able to demonstrate. Being ethically confidential means that patients can trust you with their medical condition.. As a medic, I should maintain privacy and also have confidence in what I am doing for my patients. My nursing practice should not be based on trial and errors.

So What?

Benefit or harm is also another of the key concepts a medic practitioner should be able to demonstrate and I being a nurse in practice; I should have the skills to know that whatever I am doing will either harm or benefit the patient. The beneficence indicates that nurse should do well and the non-maleficence principle shows that I should not hurt my capacity as a nurse (Delany & Molloy, 2014, p. 67). The nurses’ main ethical rule is to take care and nurture the patients rather than cure them as the doctor. Therefore, it is important that I should always do whatever is in my capacity to take care and benefit the sick person in my custody.

 I should be guided by fairness and equity are whereby I will be treating all patients justly without discrimination of any kind, and I should give them my best part as a nurse promoting justice in health issues. Honesty, truth-telling and truthfulness should also be embraced in which I should tell my patients what medication am administering to them, where they are ailing and the side effects of the drug. As a nurse in practice, I should also let my patients know their rights, and I should understand my rights as well in matters of medical practices.

The ethical and legal complexities according to my scenario and my understanding of nursing ethics and the medical ethical principles was both ethically and legally wrong to order me to recap the needle. Also, it was wrong for the registered nurse to go ahead in a jubilant mood to tell the patient that she will continue to remove blood from her in a view to know the infection I had contracted.  The act by the nurse in itself shows that the registered has no good morals hence she is not guided by the code of ethics of nurses (Roth, Boelens & Zwarteveen, 2015, p. 43). The nurse violated the principle of nursing of non-maleficence by intentionally forcing me to harm myself while she should have embraced the beneficence concept which urges all medical personnel to do good at all times to their patients, colleagues and visiting persons in the hospital or medical facility (Palmirani, 2012, p. 56).

The code of conduct and ethics for nurses does not allow the nurse to play part to evil which the registered nurse did by forcing me to recap the needle and also having me accidentally inject myself with the same needle had used on the patient. The registered nurse failed to put into consideration the risks associated with recapping of the needle such as increasing the likelihood of needle-stick injury which can potentially transfer dangerous blood borne diseases.

The third process seeks to answer the now what question which I think would be wise for me to take laboratory tests on myself and know how I could have affected. This should have followed by undertaking respective vaccination to protect my health (Lynch, 2015, p. 34). About what I would do if it happens again and if I would do it differently is a yes for I would not allow the nurse to scare me to do wrong again.

Now What?

The evidence of developing ethical awareness and how self- reflection may inform my practice and relations with others can be demonstrated in my next interaction with the patients, colleagues and the general public (Butts & Rich, 2016, p, 78). However, it is important to note that the registered nurse was morally wrong, her code of conduct and ethics as well as her public relations are of low quality. The evidence of ethical awareness can be evident by how I got the motivation to search and read widely on nursing ethics and code of conduct.

The self-reflection helped me get more practical experience that makes me always to remember the risks I was exposed to and how I am a living testimony to my friends and college students who had different experiences in their practical.  Therefore, it is important for students, patients and nurses to be reminded the ethical and legal perspectives of ethical dilemmas they are faced with in the nursing and medical field. As a nurse after self-reflection, I vowed to always have the key concepts of nursing with me to guide me in my practical and nursing duties which need to be carried out with caution (Benjamin & Curtis, 2010, p. 32). 

The basic principles of nursing ethics are beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy that promote human dignity, emphasise relationships and collaborative care provided to patients by nurses such as myself. Virtues, morals and code of ethics go hand in hand. This is what I have learnt from my personal experience with the ethically immoral registered nurse. As the saying goes, experience is the best teacher in someone’s life. The vulnerability of patients and practising students such as me can be taken advantage of by ignorant and immoral nurses who do not value human life and dignity.

References

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Butts, J. & Rich, K. (2016). Nursing ethics: across the curriculum and into practice.Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. 

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Palmirani, M. (2012). AI approaches to the complexity of legal systems: models and ethical Challenges for legal systems, legal language and legal ontologies, argumentation and Software agents: International Workshop AICOL-III, held as Part of the 25th IVR Congress, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and August 15-16, 2011: revised selected papers.Berlin New York: Springer. 

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The Netherlands, December 16, 2009: revised selected papers. Berlin: Springer.

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Thompson, I. (2016). Nursing ethics. Edinburgh New York: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier. 

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Delany, C. & Molloy, E. (2014). Clinical education in the health professions. Chatswood,N.S.W: Elsevier Australia. 

Driscoll, J. (2016). Practising clinical supervision: a reflective approach for healthcare Professionals. Edinburgh New York: Baillie?re Tindall. 

Johns, C. (2014). Becoming a reflective practitioner. Chichester, U.K. Ames, Iowa: Wiley Blackwell.  

Lynch, L. (2015). Clinical supervision for nurses. Oxford Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. 

Quinn, F. (2013). The principles and practice of nurse education. Cheltenham, U.K