Often when we talk about ethics we are talking about the activity surrounding a patient. The following thoughts eventaully impact a patinet but start with the staff. Floating a nurse, it is a means to a staffing need for the institution but it is not often favored by the staff member. I have been present when staff have refused a float assignment and they feel justified. The agency feels justified in requesting the nurse to fill a need elsewhere in the organization.
In one case the nurse claims she was told to go to the float, find someone else or go home. She went home and later was disciplined as her supervisor said the last was never an option. The nurse had complained that she was not quailifed to go the the area in question and would endanger the patients and her license. The organization did have a policy in place requiring nurses to float. For not following policy she was terminated.
She sued and the board upheld the hospital rule even in the face of her concern for patinet safety. She again sued through public policy protecting patients and a jury found in her favor as she was not offered additional education in the area she was to be sent to.
In this case the state board of nursing did not support the nurse but public law did.
This case is mentioned because as nurses we may be asked to step into an area we are not experts in, the decision to persue an ethical course can be involved, costly and may not turn out the way we believe to be correct. Etichal issues are determined by people applying principles of right and wrong through their own perceptions and morals.
Reference
Westrick, S.J. & Dempski, K.,(2009). Essentials of Nursing Law and Ethics, Sudbury, MA. Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
No comments:
Post a Comment