10-Ethical and Legal in Health Education
10-Ethical and Legal in Health Education
10-Ethical and Legal in Health Education
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1.A Differentiated View of Ethics, Morality, and the ethical dilemma
2. Application of Ethical Principles to Patient Education:
• Autonomy
• Veracity
• Confidentiality
• Non maleficence
• Beneficence
• Justice
3. Responsibility of nurse as health educator
4. Legality of patient education and information
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Introduction
In considering the ethical and legal responsibilities
inherent in the process of patient education, nurses
and nursing students can turn to a framework of six
major ethical principles.
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Ethical dilemmas
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Responsibility of nurse
as health educator
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1. Responsibility to the Public
a) A Health Educator's responsibilities are to educate, promote,
maintain, and improve the health of individuals, families, groups and
communities.
b) Health Educators are sensitive to social and cultural diversity and are
in accord with the law, when planning and implementing programs.
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Another example of autonomy is the development and use of
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For example, the nurse had advised a
patient with cancer of alternative
treatments without consulting the client’s
physician.
The nurse was sued by the physician for
interfering with the medical regimen that
he had prescribed for care of this patient.
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Confidentiality
It refers to personal information that is entrusted and
protected as privileged information via a social
contract, healthcare standard or code, or legal
covenant. When this information is acquired in a
professional capacity from a patient, healthcare
providers may not disclose it without consent of that
patient.
If sensitive information were not to be protected,
patients would lose trust in their providers and would
be reluctant to openly share problems with them or
even seek medical care at all (Butts & Rich, 2016;
University of California, Irvine, 2015).
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for example, In the case of
the nurse.
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Beneficence is defined as “doing good” for the benefit of others. It is a
concept that is legalized through properly carrying out critical tasks and
duties contained in job descriptions; in policies, procedures, and
protocols set forth by the healthcare facility; and in standards and codes
of ethical behaviors established by professional nursing organizations
(Beauchamp & Childress,2012).
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Professionals must be as objective as possible in
allocating insufficient medical resources in a just
manner. Decision making for the fair
distribution of resources includes the following
criteria as:
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for example, the patient has a right to proper instruction
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Legality of patient education and
information:
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The process should involve the physician providing the
patient with information on the diagnosis, procedure,
treatment options(including no treatment), and the risks and
benefits of the procedure.
The nurse’s role is to ensure this information was provided
and that the patient understands what has been
communicated by the physician.
Most often, consent is completed by using a specific consent
form, but the process should be well documented in other
areas of the patient’s medical record to ensure
that legal and ethical components are reflected(Menendez,
2013).Hall et al. (2012) and Menendez (2013)
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Factors that affect obtaining informed
consent
1.Patient comprehension:
Readiness to learn, locus of control, patient age, prior
education, reading level, cognitive function, and
anxiety can determine the level of understanding.
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3. Patient autonomy: Decision making can be made
independently, in collaboration with others, or turned over to
a legally appointed person.
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