SMSU Department Of Nursing
NURS 440
Module 6 Guide
Legal and Ethical Concerns in Organizations
Description of Module: This module builds on previous NURS 440 modules, now focusing on nursing as an ethical profession and the legal and ethical implication providing care.
Module Objectives:
- Analyze ethical principles within professional resources that most strongly influence care given
- Discover the need for analysis of errors and policies and procedures to insure quality care
Resources provided for module:
Readings:
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses: With interpretive statements (available free through the SMSU McFarland Library e-books: https://ssuproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1021757&scope=site
Read pages 23-26
American Nurses Association. (2021). Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (4th ed.).
Read pages 89-91
Brenan, M. (2023). Nurses retain top ethics rating in U.S., but below 2020 high. https://news.gallup.com/poll/467804/nurses-retain-top-ethics-rating-below-2020-high.aspx
Charles, R., Hood, B., Derosier, J. M., Li, Y., Caird, M. S., Biermann, J. S., & Hake, M.
- (2016). How to perform a root cause analysis for workup and future prevention. Patient Safety in Surgery, 10(20), 1-5. doi:10.1186/s13037-016-0107- 8. https://pssjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13037-016-0107-8
Cox, S., & Cohen, S. (2015). Essential skills for nurse managers. HCPro, a division of
Read Chapters 21 & 22
Kelly, P., Vottero, B. A., & Christie-McAuliffe, C. A. (2014). Introduction to quality and safety education for nurses: Core competencies. Springer Publishing Company. https://ssuproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e680sww&AN=720552&scope=site
Review Chapter 7 (assigned previously in Module 4)
Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors. (2006). When things go wrong: Responding to adverse events: A consensus statement of the Harvard Hospitals.
http://www.macoalition.org/documents/respondingToAdverseEvents.pdf Mensik, J. (2017). The nurse manager’s guide to innovative staffing (2nd ed.) Sigma
Theta Tau International. https://search-ebscohost-com.ssuproxy.mnpals.net/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e680sww&AN=1485244&scope=site
Read pages 35-40 Rubertino, F. (2014). Quality assurance and performance improvement: A nursing home’s guide to implementation and management. HCPro, a division of BLR. https://ssuproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e680sww&AN=782685&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_31
Websites:
ANA RNAction Center
http://p2a.co/ywz5JtS?_ga=2.107333058.190000811.1520005678-2133955223.1508782782
Minnesota Nurses Association
https://mnnurses.org/ (look under Issues and Advocacy tab)
Video:
What Happened to Josie?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFGHowu3pE
Additional Resources:
American Psychological Association (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Mustang Nursing Learning Team Compact Form.
Assignments: This is module six in NURS 440. The assignment due dates are found in the NURS 440 calendar.
Module 6 – assignments:
i. Utilize Resources provided above
ii. Discussion 2 (30 points)
Prepare a response to one of the topics listed below in a word document.
Place this word document (initial posting only) into the NURS 440 Discussion 2 Assignment Dropbox for Initial Posting found in Module 6 and utilize the Turn-it- in data that will be made available to you to prevent plagiarism. You may make changes to your initial posting in order to prevent plagiarism and resubmit it within this assignment dropbox as many times as you’d like.
Please know that you are required to place the initial posting in the NURS 440 Discussion 2 Assignment Dropbox for Initial Posting noted above prior to placing it in the Discussion 2 area. You will receive 1 point for placing the item in the Discussion 2 Assignment Dropbox.
Once the Turn-it-in data has been reviewed and changes have been made to prevent plagiarism, please post the initial posting discussion response in the NURS 440 Discussion 2 area in Module 6. Be sure to follow the discussion rubric guidelines found at the bottom of this module guide.
Please note the due dates for postings on the NURS 440 calendar. It is important to know that as the faculty member, I am sensitive to our student’s busy schedules with family, work, and school. There are due dates for postings, created to allow productive discussions between students in this course. If students ever feel that meeting a due date creates a significant challenge for them, please let the faculty member know and we will discuss an alternative plan. If students do not contact the faculty member ahead of the due date to arrange alternative plans, the grading criteria for late submissions will be followed.
After the student completes their initial posting, and has responded to at least two other students, the student will self-grade their discussion using the NURS 440 Discussion 2 Self-Grading quiz, located within NURS 440 Module 6 content area. The student’s self-grade will be reviewed by the course instructor for accuracy, and adjusted as needed.
Assignment not a collaborative team assignment. This assignment is to be completed individually by each student.
You may choose to respond to one of the topic assignments below: Get NURS540 Research Utilization Essay Help
Topics 1 Assignment:
View the “What Happened to Josie?” video found in the Module 6 Guide above. Address the following points in your initial posting.
- Label your discussion as Topic 1 and then address:
- What factors contributed or may have contributed to Josie King’s death?
- Using the table from Cox, page 267, what liability risk/s were involved in this story? How could they have been avoided? How could Josie’s death have been prevented?
- After learning about Josie King, share the value of the monitoring of care by family members by 1) the people receiving care, and/or by 2) other healthcare team members.
- Using Module 4 resources, what National Standards for quality of care could apply here?
- After hearing about Josie’s death, many students experience feelings of anger, outrage, or sadness over health care worker’s errors. Sorrel King said her anger propelled her forward to positive action. How can this story positively impact your future practice in nursing?
- Describe the steps you’d use in the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Process to analyze error in this case and help design care improvements.
- Additional assignment requirement: In one of your replies to peers in this discussion, please reply to a peer professionally and with integrity, sharing your differing view on one of their posting points.
Topics 2 Assignment:
View the “What Happened to Josie?” video found in the Module 6 Guide above. Address the following points in your initial posting.
- Label your discussion as Topic 2 and then address:
- What factors contributed or may have contributed to Josie King’s death?
- Review the ANA Standards of Professional Performance titled Ethics (Standard 7) and the Code of Ethics for Nursing. Identify at least one standard that would direct how you would have responded if you had been a nurse on duty providing person-centered care.
- How could this standard come in conflict with providing Person-Centered Care?
- In these cases, give examples of the tension you may feel between your autonomy as a nurse and the healthcare system.
- Describe your feelings about the tensions that exist between Josie’s rights and the healthcare organization’s responsibilities for ethical care.
- Share what you value about the care you give and/or the care others’ give to people served where you live.
- Describe the steps you’d use in the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Process to analyze error in this case and help design care improvements.
- Additional assignment requirement: In one of your replies to peers in this discussion, please reply to a peer professionally and with integrity, sharing your differing view on one of their posting points.
iii. Again – Upcoming Planned Change Process Poster assignment and Opportunity to Collaborate in Teams for this assignment
I will make note again this week: Throughout this course, you will create a Planned Change Process Poster. This poster will be completed throughout the next five to six modules in this course. Due dates for the Planned Change Process Poster are found in the NURS 440 calendar. This week you may begin work on this assignment.
Students will have the option to work alone or collaborate as teams for the Planned Change Process Poster assignment that will be due during Module 11 in NURS 440. Students have started to get to know each other over the past few weeks of NURS 440. They will continue to get to know each other throughout the remainder of NURS 440. If they would like to collaborate together as a team, they may start creating teams. I will give them until the end of Module 8 in NURS 440 to create teams for this upcoming assignment.
To learn more about this assignment, the resources available to you, and the opportunity to collaborate as teams, please see the Planned Changed Process Poster Resource Module provided in the NURS 440 table of contents (between Module 10 and Module 11).
Here is information regarding team creation.
- Students have the option to create a team of no more than 2 students.
- Let faculty member know the members of the team prior to the end of Module 8.
- View the Mustang Nursing Learning Team Compact Review Video found in the Planned Change Process Poster Resource Module provided in the NURS 440 table of contents (between Module 10 and Module 11).
- The teams must complete a Mustang Nursing Learning Team Compact form and provide the faculty member with this form by the end of Module 8 (for convenience, the Mustang Nursing Learning Team Compact form and assignment dropbox will be available in the NURS 440 modules each week through Module 8).
- These teams will not be changed following submission of team members and the Mustang Nursing Learning Team Compact.
- Each member of the team will complete a Mustang Nursing Learning Team Evaluation form upon completion and submission of the Planned Change Process Poster assignment during Module 11. No grade will be granted until all members of the team have submitted the Mustang Nursing Learning Team Evaluation.
- If students are collaborating in a team for this assignment, both team members will submit the same final copy of the assignment. However, each student will be awarded individual grades, as noted in the grading rubric.
Please let me know of any questions about collaborating in teams. I’m glad to help!
Excited to provide everyone with this opportunity!
Checklist: A checklist has been created for you own personal use in each module in NURS 440. If you choose to use the checklist tool, it may provide you with a system to double check if you have everything done for each module.
Discussion Evaluation Rubric
Please note: Discussions are not collaborative team assignments. Discussions are to be completed individually by each student.
Initial assigned discussion posts are due by 11:59 PM on Thursday of the assignment week and a response to at least two other people is due by 11:59 PM on the following Sunday. Any discussion posts after the 11:59 PM deadline on Sunday will be given zero credit. It is expected that students actively participate in the discussion forums.
Each student is expected to contribute one initial discussion posting for each assigned discussion question, read all student’s initial discussion posts, and contribute participation discussion responses to at least two other student’s posts. Please note that when there are two discussion topics, at least one of your replies must be to the topic you did not address in your original post.
Students self-grade their initial posts each week by the following Thursday at 11:59 pm using the assigned Discussion Self-Grading tool in the NURS 440 course.
The faculty member will review the self-grades for accuracy and reserves the right to adjust any grades.
Read the entire rubric below – this will guide your discussion grade.
30 points are possible for each discussion and will be assigned as follows:
| Rating Points | Mechanics of Posting |
| 6 | Complete sentences, well organized, grammatically correct and free of spelling errors (have used spell check to help ensure this) |
| 4 | Complete sentences, well organized, but some (2 or less per paragraph) grammar and/or spelling errors |
| 2 | Complete sentences, comprehensible, organization could be improved to present a more coherent argument or statement, has three or more grammar and/or spelling errors per paragraph |
| 0 | Poor sentence structure inadequate organization, several grammar and/or spelling errors; run-on sentences.
Initial discussion posting not completed by the Sunday night due date |
| Rating Points | Participation in Discussion |
| 6 | Makes postings on at least two different days (Thursday initial post due by 11:59PM, response to two peer postings are due by Sunday at 11:59PM). Responds to at least 2 peers’ postings. |
| 4 | Late first post and/or posts everything 1 day only. Responds to at least 2 peers’ postings |
| 2 | Responds to only 1 peer’s posting |
| 0 | Does not reply to or provides minimal comments and information to other participants.
Initial discussion posting and/or replies to peers not completed by the Sunday night due date |
| Rating Points | Content of Initial Posting |
| 6 | Initial posting thoroughly addresses all parts of the discussion, is clearly and concisely stated, and demonstrates that the content was appropriately reviewed, understood, and synthesized. At least two references are presented for student’s initial posting.
Posting includes a question related to the topic to stimulate further discussion. Posts by 11:59PM Thursday. |
| 4 | Initial posting addresses most, but not all, of the discussion. Comments are reasonably organized and demonstrate adequate familiarity and analysis of the content and posts by 11:59PM Thursday |
| 2 | Initial posting shows limited knowledge and evaluation of the topic or limited to information that could be derived from prior posts and/or late initial post |
| 0 | Message was unrelated to discussion
Initial discussion posting not completed by the Sunday night due date |
| Rating Points | Critical Thinking Evidenced by Replies to Peer’s Postings |
| 6 | In replies to peer’s postings, offered a critical analysis of an existing posted idea or introduced a different interpretation to an existing idea. Critical analysis must be substantial, including support by a valid resource/reference, and may include a story about a related experience, a probing question, or point(s). Analysis must include citations and references from the resource/reference utilized. When there are two topics for a discussion assignment, at least one of your peer replies must be to the question you did not address in your initial post. |
| 4 | Agreed or disagreed with existing discussion and provided limited justification/explanation |
| 2 | Agreed or disagreed with existing discussion but provided no justification/explanation or support. Responds to two peers who responded to the same topic as your initial post. |
| 0 | Provided no evidence of agreement or disagreement with existing discussion
Initial discussion posting and/or replies to peers not completed by the Sunday night due date |
| Rating Points | APA Format |
| 6 | Provides evidence-based, scholarly resources to support one’s position on the posed topic or idea; References for initial posting are correctly & accurately presented in APA format — uses in-text referencing within the posting |
| 4 | Provides evidence-based, scholarly resources, but uses incorrect APA Format for in-text referencing |
| 2 | Provides evidence-based, scholarly references and incorrect APA Format OR provides non-scholarly references with correct APA Format in-text |
| 0 | Provides no scholarly reference to support position/ideas in postings/discussion AND/OR uses no APA
format Initial discussion posting not completed by the Sunday night due date |
Rubric authored by Laura M. Schwarz, adapted by Nancyruth Leibold, further adapted by Laurie Johansen/Nancyruth Leibold, and again further adapted by Laurie Johansen