Ch.3 Law and Ethics NCLEX style questions

Ch.3 Law and Ethics NCLEX style questions Leave the first rating Students also studied Terms in this set (20) Science MedicineNursing Save Management and Leadership/Ethica...43 terms Amanda_Turanski Preview NCLEX Questions-Ethical and Legal ...13 terms Katrina_Beaver Preview Legal/Ethics practice questions (ncl...21 terms kristie_g_hamilton Preview ATI Pha 25 terms wije A client is received in a postoperative nursing unit after undergoing abdominal surgery. During this time the nurse failed to recognize the significance of abdominal swelling, which significantly increased during the next 6 hours. Later, the client had to undergo emergency surgery. The lack of action on the nurse's part is liable for action. Which legal term describes the case?

a) Felony

b) Battery

c) Tort

d) Misdemeanor

c) Tort

A tort is a litigation in which one person asserts that a physical, emotional, or financial injury was a consequence of another person's actions or failure to act. The lack of action on the nurse's part truly indicates unintentional tort. A misdemeanor or felony would be an offense under criminal law, and neither is applicable in this case. Battery is unlawful physical contact.A nurse enters the client's room and finds the client lying on the floor with ongoing seizures. The nurse helps the client to get up, makes him comfortable, and then informs the physician. The physician advises the nurse to prepare an incident report. What is the purpose of an incident report?

• to evaluate the immediate care provided by the nurse

to the client

• to provide information to local, state, and federal

agencies

• to provide a method of deciding the nurse's fault in the

incident

• to evaluate quality care and potential risks for injury to

the client

d) To evaluate quality care and potential risks for injury to the client.

An incident report is a written account of an unusual, potentially injurious event involving a client, employee, or visitor. Incident reports determine how to prevent hazardous situations and serve as a referencei that the nurse acted reasonably or appropriately in the circumstances. It may not always serve as a method of determining the nurse's fault in the incident. The document does not evaluate the immediate care provided to the client, rather states the actions taken.Incase of future litigation. Accurate and detailed documentation often helps to prove

Which situation is an example of battery that the nurse may experience while performing her duties at the health care facility?

• witnessing a procedure done on a client without his

consent

• performing a surgical procedure without getting

consent

• telling the client that he cannot leave the hospital
• taking the client's photographs without consent

b) Performing a surgical procedure without getting consent.

Performing a surgical procedure without the client's consent is an example of battery. To protect health care workers from being charged with battery, adult clients are asked to sign a general permission for care and treatment during admission, and additional written consent forms for tests, procedures, or surgery.Telling the client not to leave the hospital is a false imprisonment. Taking the client's photographs without his permission and witnessing a procedure done on him without consent is violation of the client's privacy.Two nurses meet at their home, where one of the nurses discusses a client who had been physically abused. The next day, the client is shifted to another nursing unit after a surgical procedure and becomes the care of the second nurse who had been part of the original discussion. Nurse No. 2 asks the client about the physical abuse.The client discovers that his original nurse revealed the information and is hurt. What would be the charges if the client files a suit?

a) The nurses could be charged for libel.

b) No charges are valid because the revelation took

place in off-duty hours.c)The nurses could be charged for slander.

d) No charges are valid because Nurse No. 2 is also

involved in client care.

c) The nurses could be charged for slander.

Slander is the character attack uttered orally in the presence of others. The injury is considered to occur because the derogatory remarks attacks a person's character and good name. In this case, the nurse can be charged with slander. If the defamation had been written, it would be libel. Even if the discussion took place at home and Nurse No. 2 was involved in the care, the revelation was without the client's consent. Even if the nurse is off- duty or may not be directly involved in the client's care, the nurse can still be charged with slander.A client is unhappy with the health care provided to him.He approaches the nurse and informs her that he is leaving the facility. The client has not been discharged by the physician. The nurse finds that the client has dressed and is ready to go. What would the nurse's action be in this situation?

a) The nurse should get the client restrained and call the

physician.

b) The nurse should let the client go because she cannot

do anything.

c) The nurse should warn the client that he cannot come

to the hospital again.

d) The nurse should call the nursing supervisor and

inform her about the situation.

d) The nurse should call the nursing supervisor and inform her about the situation.

The nurse should call the nursing supervisor and inform her about the situation.The client should be made to sign the document stating that he is responsible for his own actions. The nurse cannot keep the client restrained because that would be false imprisonment. Likewise, the nurse cannot overlook the incident because there is a responsibility for client care. Additionally, the nurse cannot warn the client that he will not be allowed to come back to the hospital because it is the client's right to access health care whenever required.

A client is brought to the emergency department in an unconscious state with a head injury. The client requires surgery to remove a blood clot. What would be the appropriate nursing intervention in keeping with the policy of informed consent prior to a surgical procedure?

a) The nurse informs the family about the living will.

b) The nurse ensures that the client signs the consent

form.

c) The nurse ensures that the client's family signs the

consent form.

d) The nurse informs the family about advance directives.

c) The nurse ensures that the client's family signs the consent form.

The nurse should ensure that the client's family signs the consent form. However, in some states and health care facilities, it is the physician who ensures that the client's family signs the consent form. The client cannot sign the consent form if he is not in an alert state or is unable tocommunicate. If the client is not in a condition to the sign the consent, a family member can sign the consent on his behalf. Advance directives are written statements identifying a competent person's wishes concerning terminal care and are not applicable here. A living will is an instructive form of advance directive; that is, it is a written document that identifies a person's preferences regarding medical interventions to use in a terminal condition, irreversible coma, or persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.A nurse witnesses a 50-year-old woman go into cardiac arrest while traveling in a train and attempts to resuscitate her. In spite of the nurse's eforts, the woman dies, and the family members file a suit against the nurse.Which of the following statements about Good Samaritan Laws is applicable here?

a) The Good Samaritan Law will protect the nurse if she

was negligent in her action.

b) The Good Samaritan Law will likely protect the nurse

because she acted in the woman's best interests.

c) The Good Samaritan Law is not applicable to nurses

and health professionals.

d) The Good Samaritan Law will protect the nurse from

any lawsuit filed by family members.

b) The Good Samaritan Law will likely protect the nurse because she acted in the

woman's best interests.The Good Samaritan Law provides legal immunity to passersby who provide emergency first aid to victims of accidents. Although these laws are helpful, no Good Samaritan law provides absolute exemption from prosecution in the event of injury. The law is applicable to health professionals as well.A physician is called to see a client with angina. During the visit the physician advises the nurse to decrease the client's atenolol to 12.5 mg daily. However, since the physician is late for another visit, the physician requests that the nurse write down the order and sign it. What should be the appropriate nursing action in this situation?

a) The nurse should ask the physician to come back and

write the order.

b) The nurse should discuss the order with a pharmacist.

c The nurse should inform the client of the change in medication.

d) The nurse should implement the order and monitor the

client closely

a) The nurse should ask the physician to come back and write the order.

The nurse should ask the physician to come back later and write down the order.Nurses are generally discouraged from following verbal orders, except in an emergency. The nurse should never write and sign an order on a physician's behalf. The client should be informed about the change of medications, but this is not an appropriate action. The order should not be implemented without appropriate documentation.

A nurse has been assigned to the ICU by a supervisor because of a number of sick calls. However, the nurse is not highly experienced in providing intensive nursing care. What would be the most appropriate action by the nurse?

a) To report to the nurse-in-charge for duty but explain

the nurse's practice limitations

b) To refuse to go to the ICU and keep working in the

previously assigned unit c)To call the lawyer and seek advice regarding the sudden change

d) To report to the ICU and take leave on the pretext of

some illness

a) To report to the nurse-in-charge for duty but explain the nurse's practice

limitations.The most appropriate action that the nurse could take is to go to the ICU and inform the nurse-in-charge about the concerns. The nurse may help with the task if competent to do so. The nurse cannot take a legal action against the order because it is not legally wrong to change the duties as per requirement. It would be ethically wrong to take leave on the pretext of illness. Also, it would be disobedience to wholly disregard the order.Recent staffing shortages on a hospital unit have resulted in unlicensed care providers being assigned to duties that are beyond their scope of practice. This has resulted in a number of near misses involving client safety. How should a nurse best respond to this trend in care?

a) Take on an increased client assignment during shifts

b) Remind the unlicensed care providers of their

appropriate scope of practice

c) Make the appropriate hospital authorities aware of this

practice

d) Inform clients family members of the risk that this

poses to clients

c) Make the appropriate hospital authorities aware of this practice.

This practice is unethical andillegal. As such, the nurse first response should be to ensure that the appropriate supervisors and authorities are made aware. This is more important than educating the unlicensed care providers, who are not the originators of the problem. Taking an increased workload would not resolve this problem and it would be inappropriate to involve family members at this early stage A nurse has become aware of a conflict between a client's children, one of whom want to withhold the client's recent cancer diagnosis from her in the belief that the client would "give up hope" if she became aware of her condition. Which response to this situation most clearly represents a deontological perspective?

a) The advantages and disadvantages of withholding this

information should be weighed carefully

b) Precedents from similar cases in the past should guide

the nurse's decision-making

c) The morality of the withholding information from a

client is the primary concern

d) The wishes of the majority of the client's children

should be respected

c) The morality of the withholding information from a client is the primary concern.

Deontology is ethical study based on duty or moral obligations. It proposes that the outcome is not the primary issue; rather, decisions must be based on the morality of the act itself. Consequently, priority would not be placed on precedents or the wishes of the majority of family members.Following a neonatal death, a maternity nurse has become named in a malpractice suit. When evaluating the nurse's actions, the court will compare the nurse's actions

to:

• the ethical principle of autonomy.
• the actions of a reasonable citizen.
• the judge's or jury's expectations of the nurse.
• the practice norms of nurses in similar circumstances.

d) The practice norms of nurses in similar circumstances.

Rather than being held accountable for acting as an ordinary, reasonable lay person, in a malpractice case the court determines whether a health care worker acted in a manner comparable to that of his or her peers. The judge's or jury's subjective expectations are not the point of reference and ethical principle of autonomy does not guide this form of legal decision-making.