Medical Scenario
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Medical Scenario
The right thing to do after realizing that the patient went into cardiac arrest due to lack of documentation is to report the incidence. Reporting the incidence will be effective in ensuring effective care for the patient. Patient care is supreme since nurses pursue goals to enhance patient safety and recovery. Reporting the incidence will improve the management of the patient with the idea that the cardiac arrest was a result of the excess opioid. I will report the incident to avoid further harm. Healthcare workers managing the patient should know the cause and thus determine restorative procedures.
The most important thing to do is, to be honest, and ethical in the delivery of care. Nurses should be authentic in the delivery of care to promote patient trust. While nurses should use their knowledge to avoid harm and promote the best interest of a patient, medical errors occur despite all the precautions nurses may take. It is important to disclose the issues to improve the quality of care, foster recovery, and provide caution to other healthcare workers taking care of the patient.
Christianity and ethical principles indicate that nurses should be accountable for their actions. Accountability is an ethical principle argues that nurses should accept all the personal and professional consequences that occur in the course of practice. Veracity is another ethical requirement that indicates nurses should be truthful in their practice. It is not professional practice to hide information from patients, yet the details can improve their healthcare.
I would take those actions to abide by ethical considerations. I would not be happy to hide the information since it would make me feel guilty. I cannot handle the patient and other patients confidently knowing I have some undisclosed truth. Disclosing the information is effective since it would help other nurses to learn about the mistake and avoid it in the future. The only motivation to hide the information would be the negative consequences such as punishment or lawsuits from the patient’s family. However, despite the risk of the negative consequences, it would be effective to disclose the information.
I would make a similar decision in the future to disclose information about the medical errors that occur in the course of practice. Effective management and reporting of medical errors improve the quality of care and encourage safe care. Another reason for disclosing such information in the future is to add credibility to my practice. I would not like an incident where investigations are made against me and the results indicate I was not truthful. I would lose credibility and trust with patients, supervisors, and other healthcare workers. It would tarnish my reputation and undermine my ability to secure a job in other healthcare services. Disclosing the information is a way of remaining truthful as a human being. Even the best healthcare workers can commit medical errors and thus no need to worry about the negative consequences.
The only discouragement against disclosing the information is the negative perception by other healthcare workers as incompetent and careless person. Another risk is that my supervisors might give me a negative rating for putting the life of a patient at risk. A negative rating may undermine appraisals in the future. However, despite the risk, I would be motivated to disclose the information since I have pledged to protect lives and adhere to ethical practices.
