Question

A medical-surgical nurse on a (ICU). Prior to transfer to the ICU, the nurse completes an online critical care and emergency nursing course. The nurse is demonstrating which of the following ethical principles? unit has accepted a transfer to the intensive care unit

Answer 1

Ans) Nursing Handover is a time when responsibility and accountability of care is transferred from one nurse to another at change of shift.

Here in the above situation the emergency nurse completes an online critical care and emergency course & then handover the patient to ICU.

There are five main principles of ethics are usually considered to be:

• Truthfulness and confidentiality.
• Autonomy and informed consent.
• Beneficence.
• Nonmaleficence.
• Justice.

Here she demonstrates:

Truthfulness: As she has completed an online critical care and emergency nursing care before handover to ICU nurse.

Confidentiality: In nursing handover, the patient's information are kept confidential pertaining to healthcare team.

Autonomy: Professional authority to make decisions and the freedom to act in accordance with one's professional knowledge base.

Informed consent: In any procedure, there is informed consent which is signed by patient/relatives. Accordingly there is refusal consent if patient refuses the treatment & is mentioned in nursing handover.

Beneficiance: All the care given in emergency is fully explained & directed towards benefiting the patient's condition.

Non- malfience: Not doing harm to patient example avoiding medication errors etc.in emergency care.

Justice: Nurse has provided justified nursing care.

Nurses handover provides an opportunity to improve communication between them and increase patient safety.

Following ISBAR as tool will enhance nursing handover:

I:Identify/Information: yourself, your role and your patient

S:Situation: state the patient's diagnosis or reason for admission and current problem
B:Background: Patient History-clinical background or contex
A:Assessment :current problems, observations and treatment
R:Recommendation: What do you recommend/request to be done?

(Suggested and anticipated changes, critical monitoring)