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A nurse has been offered a position on an obstetric unit and has learned that the unit offers therapeutic abortions, a procedure which contradicts the nurses personal beliefs. What is the nurses ethical obligation to these patients?
- A. The nurse should adhere to professional standards of practice and offer service to these patients.
- B. The nurse should make the choice to decline this position and pursue a different nursing role.
- C. The nurse should decline to care for the patients considering abortion.
- D. The nurse should express alternatives to women considering terminating their pregnancy.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: To avoid facing ethical dilemmas, nurses can follow certain strategies. For example, when applying for a job, a nurse should ask questions regarding the patient population. If a nurse is uncomfortable with a particular situation, then not accepting the position would be the best option. The nurse is only required by law (and practice standards) to provide care to the patients the clinic accepts; the nurse may not discriminate between patients and the nurse expressing his or her own opinion and providing another option is inappropriate.
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A medical nurse is caring for a patient who is palliative following metastasis. The nurse is aware of the need to uphold the ethical principle of beneficence. How can the nurse best exemplify this principle in the care of this patient?
- A. The nurse tactfully regulates the number and timing of visitors as per the patients wishes.
- B. The nurse stays with the patient during his or her death.
- C. The nurse ensures that all members of the care team are aware of the patients DNR order.
- D. The nurse liaises with members of the care team to ensure continuity of care.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Beneficence is the duty to do good and the active promotion of benevolent acts. Enacting the patients wishes around visitors is an example of this. Each of the other nursing actions is consistent with ethical practice, but none directly exemplifies the principle of beneficence.
The nursing instructor is explaining critical thinking to a class of first-semester nursing students. When promoting critical thinking skills in these students, the instructor should encourage them to do which of the following actions?
- A. Disregard input from people who do not have to make the particular decision.
- B. Set aside all prejudices and personal experiences when making decisions.
- C. Weigh each of the potential negative outcomes in a situation.
- D. Examine and analyze all available information.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Critical thinking involves reasoning and purposeful, systematic, reflective, rational, outcome-directed thinking based on a body of knowledge, as well as examination and analysis of all available information and ideas. A full disregard of ones own experiences is not possible. Critical thinking does not denote a focus on potential negative outcomes. Input from others is a valuable resource that should not be ignored.
A care conference has been organized for a patient with complex medical and psychosocial needs. When applying the principles of critical thinking to this patients care planning, the nurse should most exemplify what characteristic?
- A. Willingness to observe behaviors
- B. A desire to utilize the nursing scope of practice fully
- C. An ability to base decisions on what has happened in the past
- D. Openness to various viewpoints
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Willingness and openness to various viewpoints are inherent in critical thinking; these allow the nurse to reflect on the current situation. An emphasis on the past, willingness to observe behaviors, and a desire to utilize the nursing scope of practice fully are not central characteristics of critical thinkers.
Critical thinking and decision-making skills are essential parts of nursing in all venues. What are examples of the use of critical thinking in the venue of genetics-related nursing?
- A. Notifying individuals and family members of the results of genetic testing
- B. Providing a written report on genetic testing to an insurance company
- C. Assessing and analyzing family history data for genetic risk factors
- D. Identifying individuals and families in need of referral for genetic testing
- E. Ensuring privacy and confidentiality of genetic information
Correct Answer: C,D,E
Rationale: Nurses use critical thinking and decision-making skills in providing genetics-related nursing care when they assess and analyze family history data for genetic risk factors, identify those individuals and families in need of referral for genetic testing or counseling, and ensure the privacy and confidentiality of genetic information. Nurses who work in the venue of genetics-related nursing do not notify family members of the results of an individuals genetic testing, and they do not provide written reports to insurance companies concerning the results of genetic testing.
A student nurse has been assigned to provide basic care for a 58-year-old man with a diagnosis of AIDS-related pneumonia. The student tells the instructor that she is unwilling to care for this patient. What key component of critical thinking is most likely missing from this students practice?
- A. Compliance with direction
- B. Respect for authority
- C. Analyzing information and situations
- D. Withholding judgment
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Key components of critical thinking behavior are withholding judgment and being open to options and explanations from one patient to another in similar circumstances. The other listed options are incorrect because they are not components of critical thinking.