Running Head: BENCHMARK- ETHICAL DECISION MAKING 1

Benchmark- Ethical Decision Making

Ashley Odenbach

Grand Canyon University- NSG 436

December 8, 2019
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Benchmark- Ethical Decision Making

A prominent ethical dilemma in nursing is incompetence among peers. There may be

times when a nurse identifies incompetence among other members of the health care team that

could potentially cause a threat to patient safety. For the purpose of this assignment my thesis is:

An ethical dilemma regarding incomplete among coworkers was chosen, a justification of the

students stance was made, a description of the ethical decisions model was presented, and a

possible solution using a certain leadership style was examined.

Ethical dilemma and justification

The definition of incompetence is defined by these three things: it must relate to the

nurses professional care of a client, the nurse must display a lack of knowledge, skill or

judgement, and any of the ways they show incompetence must prove that the nurse is not fit to

continue to practice, or that their practice should be restricted. It can be hard because the nurse

may know that one of her co-workers is incompetent, but they may hesitate because of

challenges such as inadequate staffing (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2018). Nursing is the most

trusted profession. Nurses have the duty to protect other patients from harm. The student believes

that if incompetency is witnessed in the workplace it should be addressed accordingly. If

incompetence is just ignored a patient could be harmed. The moral responsibility of this error

would not only fall on the one who did it, but also on the nurse who knew the person was

incompetent but failed to report it.

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Standard application, providing safe client care, and ethical decision-making skills

The ethical decision model that should be used in this situation has seven steps. First you

identify the ethical problem, then collect information, state the options and alternatives for

analysis, apply ethical principles to the options, make the decision, implement the decision, and

lastly evaluate the results to prevent a similar occurrence (Park, 2011). This model can be a

helpful tool to ensure the situation is handled adequately. This situation is especially stressful

because the person who is incompetent in their care may be a friend of the nurse. Nurses need to

recognize that they might encounter adversity when addressing unethical behavior. Standing up

for what is ethical is risky and can create anxiety. Nurses must weight the benefits with the risks.

The patient could potentially be harmed in exchange for sparing the nurse embarrassment.

Morally, a nurse should not be able to accept that her lack of speaking up could cause a patient

harm. (Schmidt, 2015).

Solution and leadership influence

Using the ethical decision-making model, a solution can be reached in the situation where

a nurse identifies a fellow peer who is posing harm to patients due to incompetence. A nurse in

this situation needs to take a leadership role to address the issue. After the ethical problem has

been identified, information needs to be collected about the extent of the issue. The options the

nurse can take need to be identified and the pros and cons of each analyzed. In this situation the

options are: report the colleague, or ignore the problem. If the colleague is reported they could

potentially be fired, this can cause tension and it could worsen problems such as short staffing. If

ethical principles are applied to the problem, the nurse will realize that it is her duty to protect

patients from harm, and she has the obligation to report what she sees. Once she makes the

decision to report the incompetence there are a few things that can be done. It will be determined
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if the complaint made proves that the nurse violated laws that have been in place. An

investigation may take place, and there is a possibility of corrective actions that vary depending

on the severity of the issue. The nurse who was practicing incompetently may be required to

receive more education or a treatment for an illness, or they could have their nurse license taken

from them (NCSBN, 2018). In this situation a leadership style of democratic should be utilized.

The nurse will recognize that she cannot handle a situation such as this on her own and seek help

and guidance from the charge nurse to report the incompetence and get the other nurse the help

they need (Huber, 2018).

Conclusion

In conclusion, nurses are often faced with ethical dilemmas. In this circumstance the

nurse identified an incompetent co-worker, Using a dictatorship leading style the nurse was able

to use an ethical decision making model to evaluate the situation and take action to do what is

morally right. The nurse has the duty to protect the patient always. In this case the nurse must

make the hard decision of potentially losing a friend or further shortening the staff for the good

of the patient.
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References

College of Nurses of Ontario. (2018). Mandatory Reporting [PDF file]. Retrieved from
http://www.cno.org/globalassets/docs/ih/42006_fsmandreporting.pdf
Huber, D. L. (2018). Leadership and nursing care management. (6th edition) St. Louis, MO.
NCSBN. (2018). A health care consumers guide your state board of nursing works for you [PDF
file]. Retrieved from https://www.ncsbn.org/A_Health_Care_Consumers_Guide.pdf
Park, E.J. (2012). An integrated ethical decision-making model for nurses. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22156941.
Schmidt, K., Schmidt, K., Walsh, C., Kauchick, J., Gremmels, K., Doug. (2015). Nurses must
summon moral courage to confront unethical behavior. Retrieved from
https://www.nurse.com/blog/2015/10/19/nurses-must-summon-moral-courage-to-
confront-unethical-behavior/.