DNP 815 Describe a recent or current ethical issue you have faced in nursing practice, or which has attained national attention Re: Topic 4 DQ 1

DNP 815 Describe a recent or current ethical issue you have faced in nursing practice, or which has attained national attention Re: Topic 4 DQ 1

Opioid misuse and addiction have become a national crisis in the United States of America. The writer works with elderly patients with crippling disease conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, degenerative joint disease, and generalized pain syndrome due to chronic health conditions (Tavernier, 2022). New pain management guidelines call for the use of multimodal analgesia to manage acute pain in hospitals and clinic settings. A clinical decision aid that emphasizes multimodal analgesia may improve healthcare professionals’ use of opioid-sparing strategy. Nurses and other health care professionals are at the forefront of medicine and can make a positive impact on the national opioid epidemic (Tavernier, 2022). Hospital leaders, Prescribers, and Pharmacists must address practices regarding the use of opioids for the management of acute pain by using clinical decision tools such as the Michigan Opioid Safety Score which would assist them to adopt new acute pain management guidelines (Tavernier, 2022).

A research study by Tavernier, (2022), provides nurses with evidence-based practice information on the opioid-sparing benefits of multimodal analgesia management strategies which is effective in pain management and reduces opioid requirements (Tavernier, 2022). Pain is common in those with a life-threatening illness and chronic pain syndrome. Yet well-known barriers of limited education, lack of time, and impaired access to expert and adequate treatment persist. The opioid abuse epidemic and the rising rate of deaths related to the misuse of opioids present new obstacles to chronic pain management and cancer pain relief (Tavernier, 2022).

The effort by the federal government to crack down on and reduce the impact of the opioid epidemic is important to the community. Due to the addicting nature of narcotic medications in the management of chronic health conditions, this is a difficult task for healthcare providers and patient’s caregivers (Vearrier, & Henderson, 2021). There are unintended consequences such as some patients truly need adequate pain management and are not getting it due to addiction, an overdose of the medication, and strict guidelines. When faced with an ethical dilemma, ethical principles serve as a guide to providing safe and effective pain control in chronic pain syndromes such as hospice and palliative care patients (Vearrier, & Henderson, 2021).

Discuss the application of ethical theories or principles to the issue.

This research was conducted in a single-center retrospective cohort study of ethics consultations from January 1, 1993, to December 31, 2017, at Massachusetts General Hospital. Research studies conducted by Vearrier, & Henderson, (2021), introduce the model of Utilitarian Principles as a framework for healthcare ethics crisis. During non-crisis times, Ethical principles provide four guiding rules in biomedical ethics which include (Bandini, et al., 2020).

–Autonomy: When it comes to Opioid Use Disorder, autonomy typically emerges as the decisive principle as nurses act according to their knowledge and judgment in providing nursing care within the full scope of practice as defined by existing professional, regulatory, and organizational rules (Vearrier, & Henderson, 2021).

–Nonmaleficence: Nurses providing care during the end of life for chronic pain management must not do-no-harm intentionally. Healthcare providers must provide a standard of care that avoids and minimizes risk as it relates to medical competencies. An example of intentional harm includes patients’ abandonment and negligence care (Vearrier, & Henderson, 2021).

Beneficence: Do unto others as you want others to do unto you. Beneficence requires action from the nurse to benefit others which includes being kind, compassionate, caring, and empathetic during providing care to the patient (Vearrier, & Henderson, 2021). Beneficence is an action guided by compassion and it includes helping patients during baths, providing medication in a timely manner, and feeding a patient that has dependent care needs (Vearrier, & Henderson, 2021).

Justice: This means that patients have a right to fair and impartial treatment. This means patients cannot be discriminated against or treatment cannot be denied based on insurance status, socioeconomic status, age ethnicity, or sexual orientation (Vearrier, & Henderson, 2021).

Reference

Bandini, J. I., Courtwright, A. M., Rubin, E., Erler, K. S., Zwirner, M., Cremens, M. C., McCoy, T. H., Robinson, E. M. (2020). Ethics Consultations Related to Opioid Use Disorder. 61(2):161-170. DOI: 10.1016/j.psym.2019.10.003

Tavernier, J. R. (2022). Original Research: Combati