Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs
Walden University Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs-Step-By-Step Guide
This guide will demonstrate how to complete the Walden University Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs assignment based on general principles of academic writing. Here, we will show you the A, B, Cs of completing an academic paper, irrespective of the instructions. After guiding you through what to do, the guide will leave one or two sample essays at the end to highlight the various sections discussed below.
How to Research and Prepare for Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs
Whether one passes or fails an academic assignment such as the Walden University Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs depends on the preparation done beforehand. The first thing to do once you receive an assignment is to quickly skim through the requirements. Once that is done, start going through the instructions one by one to clearly understand what the instructor wants. The most important thing here is to understand the required format—whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.
After understanding the requirements of the paper, the next phase is to gather relevant materials. The first place to start the research process is the weekly resources. Go through the resources provided in the instructions to determine which ones fit the assignment. After reviewing the provided resources, use the university library to search for additional resources. After gathering sufficient and necessary resources, you are now ready to start drafting your paper.
How to Write the Introduction for Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs
The introduction for the Walden University Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs is where you tell the instructor what your paper will encompass. In three to four statements, highlight the important points that will form the basis of your paper. Here, you can include statistics to show the importance of the topic you will be discussing. At the end of the introduction, write a clear purpose statement outlining what exactly will be contained in the paper. This statement will start with “The purpose of this paper…” and then proceed to outline the various sections of the instructions.
How to Write the Body for Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs
After the introduction, move into the main part of the Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs assignment, which is the body. Given that the paper you will be writing is not experimental, the way you organize the headings and subheadings of your paper is critically important. In some cases, you might have to use more subheadings to properly organize the assignment. The organization will depend on the rubric provided. Carefully examine the rubric, as it will contain all the detailed requirements of the assignment. Sometimes, the rubric will have information that the normal instructions lack.
Another important factor to consider at this point is how to do citations. In-text citations are fundamental as they support the arguments and points you make in the paper. At this point, the resources gathered at the beginning will come in handy. Integrating the ideas of the authors with your own will ensure that you produce a comprehensive paper. Also, follow the given citation format. In most cases, APA 7 is the preferred format for nursing assignments.
How to Write the Conclusion for Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs
After completing the main sections, write the conclusion of your paper. The conclusion is a summary of the main points you made in your paper. However, you need to rewrite the points and not simply copy and paste them. By restating the points from each subheading, you will provide a nuanced overview of the assignment to the reader.
How to Format the References List for Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs
The very last part of your paper involves listing the sources used in your paper. These sources should be listed in alphabetical order and double-spaced. Additionally, use a hanging indent for each source that appears in this list. Lastly, only the sources cited within the body of the paper should appear here.
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Introduction
The scenario involves a nurse practitioner being requested by a friend to prescribe medication. However, even though the practitioner does not have the friend’s complete medical history, the NP goes ahead and writes the prescription. According to Cooper & Fitzpatrick (2021), a medication prescription is not supposed to be written without complete health history and physical examination. Writing prescriptions should be done according to the medical history of the patient, including past and current medications, as well as diagnosis. It is also important for the prescriber to first perform a risk-to-benefit analysis prior to writing a prescription (Cooper & Fitzpatrick, 2021). Therefore, advanced practice nurses need to be aware of the responsibilities allied to prescribing drugs. This paper will provide an analysis of the legal and ethical implications in the provided scenario.
Ethical and Legal Implications and Relevant Stakeholders
States regulate and control prescriptive practices and depending on the state, an NP writing a prescription without performing the required tests, physical examination, and gathering medical history may be liable for unprofessional conduct, leading to legal implications like omission (Peterson, 2017). Therefore, an NP prescribing for a friend without a medical history may have some legal implications because the NP may not know the patient’s allergies and current medications; this may result in adverse reactions, which can lead to patient harm (Halli-Tierney et al., 2019). NPs also have the ethical duty to prescribe correctly, which is possible through physical examination, collecting medical history, and assessment. Moreover, prescribing to friends and family without documentation may result in legal implications in case of patient harm (Coombes et al., 2020). The patient and the family are also involved as they can take legal action if the prescription caused harm to the patient. The pharmacist is also involved in the scenario. When filling and dispensing the prescription, the pharmacist has the duty of checking the prescriptions before dispensing and filling the medication to patients in order to make sure the patient receives the correct prescription.
Strategies to Address Disclosure and Nondisclosure
Health practitioners recognize medical errors occur during practice. As a result, there are established processes to prevent and report medical errors. The state government passed HB 1614 (Quality and patient safety, n.d). legislation that requires medical practitioners to have a detailed entry of medical error incidents (Gracia et al., 2019). This strategy ensures surveillance of medical practitioners who make medical errors frequently and the intensity of the errors leading to legal actions. This strategy can be implemented to identify and take disciplinary action against practitioners who are rampant in medical errors, negligence, and other errors. The strategy also helps to identify quack practitioners (Gracia et al., 2019). The second strategy is to obligate healthcare practitioners to document medical errors and implement legal frameworks to handle court cases (Gracia et al., 2019). This strategy can improve the cautiousness among healthcare practitioners and minimize medical errors and the resulting adverse events.
Strategies for Decision Making
The response to this scenario should be guided by the principles of honesty and integrity. These principles guide an individual when it comes to adhering to the codes of conduct and professional ethics. Therefore, codes of conduct and ethics can effectively guide the response to this scenario. For example, Kantian deontology requires individuals to base their actions on the rule of law, irrespective of the consequences to both the recipient and the actor (Suri et al., 2020). Therefore, in this scenario, it is appropriate to report the incident because this is what the state law requires. Therefore, this incident should be reported as per ethical principles. It is also important for the NP to follow up with the patient to establish if any adverse event occurred after prescribing the medication without physical assessment and the required history.
The Process of Writing Prescriptions
It is important for the nurse practitioner to have the required health history, medication history, patient information, and laboratory findings before prescribing medications. This information helps the prescriber to know the type of medication and dosage of the medication, as well as the route of administration (Cooper, & Fitzpatrick, 2021). The pharmacist also needs to have an overview of this patient information in order to ensure the correct dispensing of medication.
Conclusion
Prescribing of medications should not be done without the complete patient’s health information. This is because a lack of vital information such as allergies, diagnosis, and current medications could lead to adverse effects and patient harm. As a result, can result in the violation of both legal and ethical prerequisites, resulting in legal implications on such a prescriber.
References
Coombes, I., Markwell, A., Kubler, P., Redmond, A. M., McGurk, G., & Roberts, J. A. (2020). Principles of ethical prescribing for self and others: hydroxychloroquine in the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian prescriber, 43(3), 76–77. https://doi.org/10.18773/austprescr.2020.030
Cooper, S. M., & Fitzpatrick, R. W. (2021). Implementation and evaluation of a good prescribing tip email to reduce junior doctors’ prescribing errors. Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management, 26(5), 214-220.
Gracia, J. E., Serrano, R. B., & Garrido, J. F. (2019). Medication errors and drug knowledge gaps among critical-care nurses: a mixed multi-method study. BMC health services research, 19(1), 1-9.
Halli-Tierney, A. D., Scarbrough, C., & Carroll, D. (2019). Polypharmacy: evaluating risks and deprescribing. American family physician, 100(1), 32-38.
Peterson M. E. (2017). Barriers to Practice and the Impact on Health Care: A Nurse Practitioner Focus. Journal of the advanced practitioner in oncology, 8(1), 74–81.
Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs
What type of drug should you prescribe based on your patient’s diagnosis? How much of the drug should the patient receive? How often should the drug be administered? When should the drug not be prescribed? Are there individual patient factors that could create complications when taking the drug? Should you be prescribing drugs to this patient? How might different state regulations affect the prescribing of this drug to this patient?
These are some of the questions you might consider when selecting a treatment plan for a patient.
As an advanced practice nurse prescribing drugs, you are held accountable for people’s lives every day. Patients and their families will often place trust in you because of your position. With this trust comes power and responsibility, as well as an ethical and legal obligation to “do no harm.” It is important that you are aware of current professional, legal, and ethical standards for advanced practice nurses with prescriptive authority. Additionally, it is important to ensure that the treatment plans and administration/prescribing of drugs is in accordance with the regulations of the state in which you practice. Understanding how these regulations may affect the prescribing of certain drugs in different states may have a significant impact on your patient’s treatment plan. In this Assignment, you explore ethical and legal implications of scenarios and consider how to appropriately respond.
Resources
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources for this module and consider the legal and ethical implications of prescribing prescription drugs, disclosure, and nondisclosure.
- Review the scenario assigned by your Instructor for this Assignment.
- Search specific laws and standards for prescribing prescription drugs and for addressing medication errors for your state or region, and reflect on these as you review the scenario assigned by your Instructor.
- Consider the ethical and legal implications of the scenario for all stakeholders involved, such as the prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and patient’s family.
- Think about two strategies that you, as an advanced practice nurse, would use to guide your ethically and legally responsible decision-making in this scenario, including whether you would disclose any medication errors.
By Day 7 of Week 1
Write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:
- Explain the ethical and legal implications of the scenario you selected on all stakeholders involved, such as the prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and patient’s family.
- Describe strategies to address disclosure and nondisclosure as identified in the scenario you selected. Be sure to reference laws specific to your state.
- Explain two strategies that you, as an advanced practice nurse, would use to guide your decision making in this scenario, including whether you would disclose your error. Be sure to justify your explanation.
- Explain the process of writing prescriptions, including strategies to minimize medication errors.
Reminder: The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The College of Nursing Writing Template with Instructions provided at the Walden Writing Center offers an example of those required elements (available at https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general#s-lg-box-20293632
Links to an external site.). All papers submitted must use this formatting.
submission information
Before submitting your final assignment, you can check your draft for authenticity. To check your draft, access the Turnitin Drafts from the Start Here area.
- To submit your completed assignment, save your Assignment as WK1Assgn2_LastName_Firstinitial
- Then, click on Start Assignment near the top of the page.
- Next, click on Upload File and select Submit Assignment for review.
The promotion of safety and quality in the prescription of medications is imperative in nursing practice. Advanced registered nurses make treatment decisions based on best practices available and utilize interprofessional collaboration to optimize treatment outcomes. Therefore, this paper explores the ethics of prescribing a new drug, which has not been approved to a 7-year-old child for asthma.
Ethical and Legal Implications
The prescription of unapproved drug to the 7-year-old child is associated with significant ethical and legal implications to the nurses’ role in practice. First, the new drug has not been tested or approved for its efficiency and effectiveness in asthma treatment. The drug has also not been used in children under the age of 12 years. As a result, it raises the concerns related to the safety of the drug(Woo et al., 2019). The drug predisposes the 7-year-old to harm because of the lack of information about its safety in children below 12 years.
The prescription of the new drug to the 7-year-old violates the nurses’ code of ethics and standards of practice. Advanced registered nurses have the professional and legal responsibility of promoting safety, quality, and efficiency in their practice. They make decisions based on best available evidence, practice guidelines, and protection of the patient’s rights in the treatment process. The professional standards of practice require them to make decisions that minimize harm while optimizing treatment benefits(Grace & Uveges, 2022). The new drug has never been tested or studied to determine its safety and efficacy profile. Therefore, prescribing the drug will violate the stated codes of practice and ethics in nursing.
Strategies to Address Disclosure and Non-Disclosure
Disclosure and non-disclosure influence the actions that nurses implement in their practice. disclosure entails the provider informing the patient and their significant others about the events that have happened to them in the care process. Advanced practice nurses have the professional obligation to inform their patients about any health interventions implemented to promote their health and recovery. The code of ethics by the American Nurses Association requires that nurses should promote and advocate the patients’ rights, safety, health, and wellbeing(Passini et al., 2023). Non-disclosure entails not informing the patients about any events that have happened to them in the care process.
The state of California requires that healthcare providers to disclose any information that influences health and outcomes to the patients. The disclosure includes providing information about any error that has been made in the delivery of the care. The patient then makes the decision to either share the information with other people or not. The disclosure will also extend to the hospital’s management for the implementation of interventions that will minimize error occurrence in the future. Disclosure of information would promote patient’s autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence in the treatment process(Fairchild, 2021). Non-disclosure will translate into nurse’s lack of professional responsibility and negligence, which violates provision 3 of the American Code of Ethics for nurses.
Strategies to Guide Decision Making
One of the strategies that I will adopt to guide my decision-making is interprofessional collaboration. I will involve the other healthcare providers in assessing if we should prescribe the new drug to the 7-year-old. Interprofessional collaboration will ensure the collective examination of the potential alternatives that we may consider to optimize outcomes in the treatment process. Collaboration will also enable the team to examine any evidence that supports the use of the new drug in the treatment and potential risks if any(Donnelly et al., 2021). Therefore, interprofessional collaboration will ensure the adoption of an ethical and most relevant solution in the scenario.
The second strategy that I will use to guide my decision making is relying on the set organizational policies and guidelines. Health organizations have policies that guide nurses in making decisions. The guidelines limit the nurses’ involvement in activities that predispose patients to unintended harm. Relying on them will ensure that I make an informed decision about the issue(Grace & Uveges, 2022). I will disclose the error. As noted above, disclosure is crucial to promote the adoption of interventions that will minimize any harm. Disclosure will also ensure accountability and professional responsibility as an advanced practice nurse.
Process of Writing Prescriptions and Strategies to Minimize Medication Errors
Writing prescriptions should follow developed guidelines to minimize medication errors. One of the processes in writing prescriptions is writing clearly and accurately the patient’s data such as name, age, gender, and diagnosis. Information about the medication name should also be written clearly and accurately to avoid confusion. The prescriber should avoid abbreviations and illegible writing. The dosage information should be concise with clear and specific directions. The therapeutic duration of the drug should also be specific alongside the drug’s therapeutic intervention. Any supplemental instructions such as medication refill or warnings should also be included. The strategies that can be adopted to minimize medication errors include provider training and education about best practices, use of health technologies, double checking and encouraging open reporting of medication errors(Royce et al., 2019; Sutton et al., 2020).
Conclusion
The promotion of safety and quality in prescribing medications is important. I will disclose the medication error. The issue has significant and ethical implications to nursing practice. Advanced registered nurses should adopt best practices that minimize errors in their practice.
References
Donnelly, S., Ó Coimín, D., O’Donnell, D., Ní Shé, É., Davies, C., Christophers, L., Mc Donald, S., & Kroll, T. (2021). Assisted decision-making and interprofessional collaboration in the care of older people: A qualitative study exploring perceptions of barriers and facilitators in the acute hospital setting. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 35(6), 852–862. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2020.1863342
Fairchild, A. (2021). The ethical conflict of truth, hope, and the experience of suffering: A discussion of non-disclosure of terminal illness and clinical placebos. Clinical Ethics, 16(2), 130–136. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477750920959556
Grace, P. J., & Uveges, M. K. (2022). Nursing Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Advanced Practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Passini, L., Bouedec, S. L., Dassieu, G., Reynaud, A., Jung, C., Keller, M.-L., Lefebvre, A., Katty, T., Baleyte, J.-M., Layese, R., Audureau, E., &Caeymaex, L. (2023). Error disclosure in neonatal intensive care: A multicentre, prospective, observational study. BMJ Quality & Safety. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2022-015247
Royce, C. S., Hayes, M. M., &Schwartzstein, R. M. (2019). Teaching Critical Thinking: A Case for Instruction in Cognitive Biases to Reduce Diagnostic Errors and Improve Patient Safety. Academic Medicine, 94(2), 187. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002518
Sutton, R. T., Pincock, D., Baumgart, D. C., Sadowski, D. C., Fedorak, R. N., & Kroeker, K. I. (2020). An overview of clinical decision support systems: Benefits, risks, and strategies for success. Npj Digital Medicine, 3(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0221-y
Woo, B. F. Y., Zhou, W., Lim, T. W., & Tam, W. W. S. (2019). Practice patterns and role perception of advanced practice nurses: A nationwide cross-sectional study. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(5), 992–1004. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12759
Rubric
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Explain the ethical and legal implications of the scenario you selected on all stakeholders involved such as the prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and the patient’s family. |
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Describe strategies to address disclosure and nondisclosure as identified in the scenario selected. Be sure to reference laws specific to your state. |
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Explain two strategies that you, as an advanced practice nurse would use to guide your decision making in this scenario, including whether you would disclose your error. Be sure to justify your explanation. |
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Explain the process of writing prescriptions including strategies to minimize medication errors. |
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Written Expression and Formatting – Paragraph Development and Organization: Paragraphs make clear points that support well developed ideas, flow logically, and demonstrate continuity of ideas. Sentences are carefully focused–neither long and rambling nor short and lacking substance. |
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Written Expression and Formatting – English writing standards: Correct grammar, mechanics, and proper punctuation |
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Written Expression and Formatting – The paper follows correct APA format for title page, headings, font, spacing, margins, indentations, page numbers, running head, parenthetical/in-text citations, and reference list. |
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Total Points: 100
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