Due Wednesday
Week 2 Discussion Prompt 2
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Discuss the nurse’s role in the policy development model.AIDitionally, talk about the policy meeting you have attended or will be attending. What key points could a nurse bring to this meeting and subject?

Week 2 Discussion Prompt 1
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Evaluate and discuss clinical and business solutions for hospital improvement. Include in your discussion improvement of outcomes, reduction in costs, optimization of payment, and improvement in the overall patient experience.
Due Sunday
Week 2 View or Attend Public Policy Meeting

Week 2 Position Paper
Position Paper Written Assignment
A position paper is a document you could present to a legislator to seek support for an issue you endorse. Present your position on a current health-care issue in a one-page paper, following the assignment guidelines below. You can select your issue topic from newspapers, national news magazine articles, professional journals, or professional association literature; and this can be the topic you choose for your ethical issues debate.
Your position paper should:
Be quickly and easily understood.
Be succinct and clear.
Appear very professional with the legislator’s name and title on top and your name and your credentials at the bottom.
Condense essential information in one, single-spaced page, excluding the title and reference list pages.
Be written using correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, and APA format.
Clearly describe the issue that you are aIDressing in the opening paragraph.
Include 3–4 bullet points regarding why you are seeking the legislator’s vote, support, or opposition. Bullet points should be clear and concise but not repetitive and should reflect current literature that substantiates your position.
Summarize the implications for the nursing profession and/or patients.
Conclude with two recommendations that you wish to see happen related to your issue, such as a vote for or against, a change in policy, or the introduction of new legislation.
Use APA format (6th ed.), correct grammar, and references as appropriate.
The literature you cite must be from peer-reviewed journals and primary source information. You may use this paper as preliminary research for your ethical issues debate project that occurs in weeks 4-7.
Due Sunday reply to 2 students in discussion
Nur 521

Due Wednesday
Discussion 2
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Apply the framework of The Five R’s approach to ethical nursing practice from this week’s reading to answer the questions about values and choices.
What are values?
Q. What are your personal values?
Q. Why do you value them?
Q. What are the values in your society?
Q. How do you make choices?
Q. Are your choices based on your values?
Q. What values are useful in society?
What are the limits to personal choice?
Q. Who limits your choices?
Q. Are limits to choices good?
Q. Do you limit other people’s choices?
Q. Should the health care organization or the government limit people’s choices? If so, how, and under what circumstances?
In your responses to peers, feel free to agree, disagree, question, compare, and discuss each other’s responses in a way that fosters thoughtful and respectful dialog. You may also aIDress the following: Did any responses surprise you? If so, how? Did reading your peers’ responses to the questions expand your own view of ways to answer questions?
Finally, consider this: A common idea in health care is that if you are drawn to health care as a profession, you are inherently guided by an inner compass that is composed of a strong moral framework. Why is this a dangerous assumption?
Discussion 1
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Explain the statement, “What may be an ethical dilemma for one registered nurse may not be an ethical dilemma for another registered nurse.” Be sure to define an ethical dilemma in the course of your discussion. Describe a challenging situation in your nursing career that required you to consider the ethical dimensions of the patient case and the role you played in providing care. (Be sure to respect and maintain patient and colleague confidentiality.)

Due Sunday
Week 2 Ethical Frameworks Essay
Consider the “Four Topics Approach” (or Four Box method) to ethical decision making on page 61, Table 2.1 in Butts (below).  Apply this model to a challenging situation in your nursing career that required you to consider the ethical dimensions of the patient case and the role you played in providing care. Specifically apply and aIDress the questions within each topic area as they pertain to your situation.
In your conclusion, discuss the impact of the Four Topics process. Did applying these principles shape your decision making in any way?  Does this seem like a valid process for you to apply in your practice?
Your paper should be 1-2 pages. Adhere to APA formatting throughout, and cite any outside sources you may use.
Review the rubric for further information on how your assignment will be graded.
Optional: You may download this pdf, complete it using correct grammar and APA, and submit it as your assignment in lieu of writing a paper. *You will need Adobe Acrobat in order to utilize this fillable .pdf form.
TABLE 2-1 Four Topics Method for Analysis of Clinical Ethics Cases

Medical Indications: The Principles of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
1. What is the patient’s medical problem? Is the problem acute? Chronic? Critical? Reversible? Emergent? Terminal?
2.  What are the goals of treatment?
3.  In what circumstances are medical treatments not indicated?
4.  What are the probabilities of success of various treatment options?
5.  In sum, how can this patient be benefited by medical and nursing care, and how can harm be avoided?
Patient Preferences:  The Principle of Respect for Autonomy
1. Has the patient been informed of benefits and risks, understood this information, and given consent?
2.  Is the patient mentally capable and legally competent, and is there evidence of incapacity?
3.  If mentally capable, what preferences about treatment is the patient stating?
4.  If incapacitated, has the patient expressed prior preferences?
5.  Who is the appropriate surrogate to make decisions for the incapacitated patient?
6.  Is the patient unwilling or unable to cooperate with medical treatment? If so, why?
Quality of Life: The Principles of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence and Respect for Autonomy
1.  What are the prospects, with or without treatment, for a return to normal life, and what physical, mental, and social deficits might the patient experience even if treatment succeeds?
2.  On what grounds can anyone judge that some quality of life would be undesirable for a patient who cannot make or express such a judgment?
3.  Are there biases that might prejudice the provider’s evaluation of the patient’s quality of life?
4.  What ethical issues arise concerning improving or enhancing a patient’s quality of life?
5.  Do quality-of-life assessments raise any questions regarding changes in treatment plans, such as forgoing life-sustaining treatment?
6.  What are plans and rationale to forgo life-sustaining treatment?
7.  What is the legal and ethical status of suicide?
Contextual Features: The Principles of Justice and Fairness
1.  Are there professional, interprofessional, or business interests that might create conflicts of interest in the clinical treatment of patients?
2.  Are there parties other than clinicians and patients, such as family members, who have an interest in clinical decisions?
3.  What are the limits imposed on patient confidentiality by the legitimate interests of third parties?
4.  Are there financial factors that create conflicts of interest in clinical decisions?
5.  Are there problems of allocation of scarce health resources that might affect clinical decisions?
6.  Are there religious issues that might influence clinical decisions?
7.  What are the legal issues that might affect clinical decisions?
8.  Are there considerations of clinical research and education that might affect clinical decisions?
9.  Are there issues of public health and safety that affect clinical decisions?
10.  Are there conflicts of interest within institutions and organizations (e.g., hospitals) that may affect clinical decisions and patient welfare?
Source: Jonsen et al., 2010
Due Sunday reply to 2 students discussion