A client is referred to a surgeon by the general practitioner. After meeting the surgeon, the client
decides to find a different surgeon to continue treatment. The nurse supports the client's action,
utilizing which et
...
A client is referred to a surgeon by the general practitioner. After meeting the surgeon, the client
decides to find a different surgeon to continue treatment. The nurse supports the client's action,
utilizing which ethical principle?
1. Beneficence
2. Veracity
3. Autonomy
4. Privacy - ✔✔Answer: 3
Rationale: Autonomy is the right of individuals to take action for themselves. Beneficence is an
ethical principle to do good and applies when the nurse has a city to help others by doing what is
best for them. Veracity refers to truthfulness. Privacy is the nondisclosure of information by the
health care team.
Cognitive Level: Applying
Client Need: Management of Care
Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Implementation
Content Area: Fundamentals
Strategy: The core issue of the question is the ability to interpret which ethical principle is
operating in a specific situation. Eliminate beneficence and veracity next because they focus on
the obligation of the nurse rather than on a right of the client.
A nurse forgets to administer a client's diuretic and the client experiences an episode of
pulmonary edema. The charge nurse would consider the medication error to constitute
negligence because the situation contains which element?
1. Purposeful failure to perform a health care procedure
2. Unintentional failure to perform a health care procedure
3. Act of substituting a different medication for the one ordered
4. Failure to follow a direct order by a physician - ✔✔Answer: 2Rationale: Negligence is the unintentional failure of an individual to perform or not perform an
act that a reasonable person would or would not do in the same or similar circumstances. A
purposeful failure to perform a procedure would be the opposite of negligence, which is
unintentional. Substituting a different medication does not fit the description of the situation in
the question. Failure to follow a direct order does not fit the description in the situation in the
question.
Cognitive Level: Applying
Client Need: Management of Care
Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Assessment
Content Area: Fundamentals
Strategy: Two options are opposites, which is a clue that one of them may be correct. Choose
unintentional failure to carry out a procedure over purposeful failure because it matches the
definition of negligence.
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