Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs – nurs 6521 Discussion

Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs – nurs 6521 Discussion

Week 2

discussion

Discussion: 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?

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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 on a daily

basis. 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. In this Discussion, you explore

ethical and legal implications of scenarios and consider how to appropriately respond.

Scenario 1:

As a nurse practitioner, you prescribe medications for your

patients. You make an error when prescribing medication to a 5-year-old

patient. Rather than dosing him appropriately, you prescribe a dose suitable

for an adult. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs – nurs 6521 Discussion.

Scenario 2:

A friend calls and asks you to prescribe a medication for

her. You have this autonomy, but you don’t have your friend’s medical history.

You write the prescription anyway.

Scenario 3:

You see another nurse practitioner writing a prescription

for her husband who is not a patient of the nurse practitioner. The

prescription is for a narcotic. You can’t decide whether or not to report the

incident.

Scenario 4:

During your lunch break at the hospital, you read a journal

article on pharmacoeconomics. You think of a couple of patients who have

recently mentioned their financial difficulties. You wonder if some of the

expensive drugs you have prescribed are sufficiently managing the patients’

health conditions and improving their quality of life.

To prepare:

Review Chapter 1 of the Arcangelo and Peterson text, as well

as articles from the American Nurses Association, Anderson and Townsend, the

Drug Enforcement Administration, and Philipsend and Soeken.

Select one of the four scenarios listed above.

Consider the ethical and legal implications of the scenario

for all stakeholders involved such as the prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and

the patient’s family. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs – nurs 6521 Discussion.

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.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 3

Post an explanation of 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. Describe two strategies that

you, as an advanced practice nurse, would use to guide your decision making in

this scenario.

By Day 6

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond

to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who selected a

different scenario than you did, in one or more of the following ways:

Suggest additional ethical and legal implications for all

stakeholders in your colleagues’ scenarios.

Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings

from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.

Validate an idea with your own experience and additional

research. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs – nurs 6521 Discussion.