Course

NR513 Professional Role Enhancement

Ethical Challenges in Nursing Practice – Assignment Overview

Purpose:
In the nursing profession, ethical challenges arise daily. These challenges can affect quality patient care and create moral distress for nurses delivering care. This assignment allows learners to explore a current ethical challenge in nursing practice or research and analyze it using scholarly evidence.

Discussion/Assignment Question:

Locate a current research-based article that addresses a current ethical challenge in nursing practice or research.
Alternatively, discuss a current ethical dilemma within your healthcare organization.
If choosing an organizational dilemma, support your discussion with current literature.

How to Approach This Assignment

1. Identify an Ethical Challenge

Examples include:
- End-of-life decisions
- Patient privacy and confidentiality
- Informed consent in research
- Allocation of scarce resources
- Moral distress from policy constraints

2. Locate Scholarly Evidence

Use peer-reviewed journals from the last 3–5 years.
Ensure the article directly addresses the ethical challenge and provides context for nursing practice or research.

3. Describe the Ethical Dilemma

Explain the scenario clearly (real-world or hypothetical).
Identify conflicting ethical principles (e.g., autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice).

4. Analyze the Impact

Discuss how the challenge affects patient care, nursing practice, and decision-making.
Highlight potential outcomes if the dilemma is not properly addressed.

5. Provide Solutions or Strategies

Suggest evidence-based approaches to resolve or manage the dilemma.
Discuss organizational policies, interdisciplinary collaboration, or ethical frameworks that guide practice.

Key Concepts to Focus On

Ethical principles in nursing: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice
Moral distress and its impact on nurses
Patient advocacy and ethical decision-making
Evidence-based approaches to ethical dilemmas
Role of organizational policies and professional codes of ethics (e.g., ANA Code of Ethics)
Application of ethics in research vs. clinical practice

Sample Solution

Nurses frequently face ethical challenges that impact patient care and create moral distress. One common challenge is end-of-life decision making, particularly when patients or families refuse recommended treatments or request interventions that may be futile. This situation raises questions about autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.…..Click below to access the full sample solution (PDF)