Ethics Resources at Baystate: Nursing Ethics Discussion Group

First Thursdays, 5-7pm,
Chestnut Room #2:

• Feb 2
• Mar 2
• Apr 6
• May 4
• Jun 1
• Jul 6
• Aug 3

Emergency Nursing

Discussion Points:

• In what ways do you think dignity is diminished when someone becomes a patient in the Emergency Room?
• What do you do in your own practice to protect your patient’s dignity?
• How is triage influenced by EMTALA and deaths in the Emergency Room?
• What ethical considerations would you like to discuss regarding those issues?

Plan:

• Topic 1: Ethics and The Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act
• Topic 2: Dignity and Death in the Emergency Room

Suggested Readings:

Pediatrics, Genetics and Prenatal

Discussion Points:

• As a nurse, how do you balance supporting parents and protecting the patients?
• What is morally distressing about supporting a patient’s choice that is not in line with your personal values? How do you provide more education while supporting your patient’s values?
• When there are so many different values to consider, how do you prioritize/decide what is “most right”?
• Consider the idea of how the identity of an individual can be altered by the examples below

Topics:

1. The choices that parents have over their child’s health
2. Asymptomatic Genetic Testing & Modification - is it ethical or unethical to use genetic technology to eradicate disease?
3. Prenatal/Peri-natal Choice: a different way of looking at choice - what does choice mean in prenatal care? The options of abortion and Perinatal Hospice

Suggested Readings / Videos:

Overview of Ethics in Healthcare

Discussion Points:

• What is ethics? What is the difference between ethics and morals/values?
• Does Medicine need ethics? What does it contribute?
• What is the purpose of Risk Management versus an ethics consult?

Plan:

• Review of the ANA Code of Ethics at Baystate
• Brief history of medicine and how the desire to “do Good” has shaped standards of care

Suggested Readings: