To Prepare
Review the Learning Resources concerning legal and ethical implications.
Identify the legal and ethical implications associated with your practice change implementation.
Consider how you have prepared to manage and abide by these implications.
By Day 3 of Week 4
Post a description of the identified legal and ethical implications associated with the practice change implementation. Examples may include issues associated with improving access to care, timeliness, affordability, accessibility, etc. Explore the importance of considering these implications and discuss how you can support your implementation and what changes, support, and/or resources you may need.
Question number #1
For adult obesity patients (P), does the implementation of a staff education on obesity management (I) as compared to lack of staff education (C) improve Patient’s enrollment to weight loss program (O) over a period of 6 weeks(T)?
Legal and Ethical Implications
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Legal and Ethical Implications
Having an adequate understanding of the legal and ethical implications associated with a project is a vital competency for doctorally prepared nurses. When completing their Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) projects, nurses should be able to apply relevant ethical and legal principles to ensure that the changes that they are proposing conform to the applicable legal and ethical requirements (Sandman, 2017; American Nurses Association, n.d.). The clinical practice question that the DNP project seeks to address is that “For adult obesity patients (P), does the implementation of a staff education on obesity management (I) as compared to lack of staff education (C) improve Patient’s enrollment to weight loss program (O) over a period of 6 weeks(T)?” The purpose of this assignment is to describe the legal and ethical implications associated with the practice change implementation.
Ethical Implications, Importance, and Support/Resources
Ethical implications for the project relate to three of the four ethical principles directing nursing practice. These include autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence (Davies, 2022). The principle of autonomy applies to the practice change in that nurses have the right to be informed about the risks and benefits of participating in the training program. It is important to observe the principle of autonomy because nurses should be allowed the freedom to choose to either participate or not participate in the training (Rosenberg, 2021). To support the implementation, the DNP nurse will organize a session with the staff at the facility to inform them about the benefits and risks of taking part in the training and to obtain their consent.
The proposed change should benefit nurses who currently have limited knowledge regarding obesity management. A potential ethical issue related to the principle of beneficence that might arise is the effectiveness of the chosen training strategies in addressing the knowledge gaps of each nurse and eventually patients. It is important to consider the principle of beneficence because the current gap in clinical practice will be addressed when the training program is designed in a manner that will help to improve the knowledge of all nurses (Davies, 2022). To support the implementation of the proposed change, the DNP nurse will work with the project leader to choose teaching strategies that will effectively meet the learning needs of the trainees.
When implementing a clinical practice intervention, it is important to select and focus on interventions that will not cause harm to patients and providers. It is important to note that patients who are receiving care at the facility are of different ages and they need varied intensities of weight loss activities. Therefore, it is important to consider the ethical principle of non-maleficence to keep patients safe and ensure that providers learn relevant knowledge and skills to be able to help patients with obesity (Davies, 2022). The DNP nurse will ensure compliance with the principle of non-maleficence during the implementation of the proposed practice change by ensuring that the trainees obtain guidance on the implementation of age-appropriate weight loss activities to target patients of different age groups.
Legal Implications, Importance, and Support/Resources
The legal implications associated with the proposed change are related to data privacy and adherence to organizational policy. The trainees will confide in the implementers and will provide them with personal information that must be kept private and confidential throughout the training process (Scheid, 2019). Additionally, it is important to comply with the policies of the healthcare organization when implementing the training program (Sorensen et al., 2021). The DNP nurse will facilitate this process by making arrangements to engage the organization in the implementation process. Generally, making considerations to these ethical and legal implications will ensure that the change follows the required ethical and legal standards.
References
American Nurses Association. (n.d.). Ethics and human rights. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-excellence/ethics/
Davies, L. (2022). Nursing ethics: 4 main principles. https://www.phoenix.edu/blog/ethics-in-nursing.html
Rosenberg, S. (2021). Why ethics in nursing matters. https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/health/ethics-in-nursing
Sandman, L. (2017). Ethics in quality improvement with in health care: focusing on the improvement. Open Medicine Journal, 4(1), 48-56. doi: 10.2174/1874220301704010048.
Scheid, M. (2019). The educator’s role: privacy, confidentiality, and security in the classroom. https://studentprivacycompass.org/scheid1/
Sorensen, G., Peters, S. E., Nielsen, K., Stelson, E., Wallace, L. M., Burke, L., Nagler, E. M., Roodbari, H., Karapanos, M., & Wagner, G. R. (2021). Implementation of an organizational intervention to improve low-wage food service workers’ safety, health and wellbeing: findings from the Workplace Organizational Health Study. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1869. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11937-9