Initial Post
The Code of Ethics for Nurses Act provides guidance to these professionals on how to conduct themselves and handle various topics in a professional manner when dealing with public matters (Notes, n.d.). Some of these ethics may be conflicting as well as competing with those of their patients, place of work to their personal ethics. Milstead and Short (2017) therefore deduce on the importance of nurses being knowledgeable on the area of clinical practice, institutional rules and procedures, the Nurses Code of Ethics and the field of ethics, as well as understanding their personal values.
In our case, Lena is therefore a nurse who is bound by these regulations as a professional. However, there are various ways of reasoning through this ethical problem to find an ethical solution. The American Nursing Association, 2015 (ANA) endorses patient privacy and confidentiality protection for the purpose of upholding a trusting relationship between healthcare providers and patients (American Nursing Association, 2015). Confidentiality therefore means that the patient’s information and identity is kept private at all times, meaning that the patient retains the right to decide whom to share the information with. Lena’s sister’s boyfriend is therefore protected under this code.
However, ANA 2015 annuls this protection and confidentiality code in the case that a person’s life is at risk or could endanger the public, meaning that Lena’s sister is protected here. If I were Lena, I would inform my sister’s boyfriend of his rights as a patient and the importance of sharing the information with his girlfriend to avoid infecting her. . I would stay within my scope of practice and make sure that the patient reports the information to the required entities.
References
American Nursing Association. (June 2015). American Nursing Association Position Statement on Privacy and Confidentiality. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/~4ad4a8/globalassets/docs/ana/position-statement-privacy-and-confidentiality.pdf
Milstead, J. & Short, N. (2019). Health policy and politics : a nurse’s guide. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Notes on Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses: Interpretation and Application
Based in this Post posted above, answer the following question
My state is : Florida
In researching for this discussion post, I ran across a law from the state of Maryland that reads, “It is the responsibility of the physician to ensure that partner notification occurs, either by the patient or by the physician. Assistance can be requested from the health department.” (“Maryland Partner Notification,” n.d.). The law does not state how and within what time period the partner should be notified. Are there any laws such as this where you are from? What regulating agencies certify that physicians are upheld to this standard for reporting?
References
HIV/AIDS reporting and partner notification. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://healthymaryland.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/10-HIVAIDS-Reporting-and-Partner-Notification.pdf
