Any ideas for debatable nursing issues for school paper?

How about cardiac surgery for the elderly (or any big surgery for that matter) ? Who decides what's too old?

What about feeding tubes. The Shaivo case?

What about pain management. Who decides who's seeking and who really needs pain relief?

DNA Banking

Cloning

End of life care.

These mighjt be specifically ethical issues, but thought I'd just throw these out there.

Begali had some reall good ones. I can only offer my one idea of circumsicion of newborns without anesthetics (i.e: We don't need anesthetics because babies "don't feel pain" or wont remember)

BSNin05 said:

I have to write an Issue paper for school on something that's considered a 'hot topic' among nursing. Suggested examples are: liver transplants for alcoholics, needle exchange programs for drug users, stem-cell research, etc. Does anyone else have any other ideas? I'm getting stuck because I have to choose one side or the other, which is harder to do with some of the topics (I have mixed feelings about things like needle exchange programs, etc.). I would love to do stem-cell research, but so far 3/4 of the class wants to as well. Does anyone have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions that might help me? Thanks a ton!

Staffing ratios? Use of UAPs? etc. Phillipino Nurses, from both the U.S. and Phillipine perspective. How computers are used in Nursing? Medicine errors?

Have you tried looking at the "nursing issues" forum? Should be fodder for lots of ideas.

NurseFirst

How about Necrotizing Fasciitis. Have you ever seen it.

http://my.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/hw140408.asp

We had an assignment where we had to do debates as a team of 4, 2 vs 2, in front of the class. We did whether or not we should go to extremes to save micropreemies. We actually got an "award" from the teacher for having the most original topic. Good luck!!!

You can always tackle the very OLD BSN versus ADN debate. God knows there are bout 600 threads on this here at allnurses already. Expect if you are in a University, to hear your professors want you to take the BSN side of things, however.

how about organ transplants between aids patients?

weight loss surgery in teens

blood transfusion (right of refusal)

The rising rate of csections? The discussion of making elective csections for first-time moms more available?

The immunization debate?

Unions for nurses....

Should nurses have the right to refuse to participate in morally objectionable procedures (abortion, circumsision, blood transfusions, etc).....

Mandatory staffing levels....

Mandatory overtime.....

Length of shifts (8, 12 or 16 hour shifts)....

Care of the pregnant drug addict....

or since we live in a 'plastic' society, what about the prevalence of all the plastic surgeries and the ethics involved re: having surgery to help someone's self-esteem, and this same person keeps on coming back for all sorts of surgeries- (self-esteem still down) when does the surgeon say enough?

or for people w/cancer- going through all the treatments along with the complications and side effects and pt is not getting better. how do you convince oncologists that enough is enough and get the pt. into hospice?

(that is a very problematic scenario)

and of course the old an ongoing, how does one change the image of nsg?

good luck.....

leslie

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis

Sex selection prior to implanting embryo

Elective c/sections

Organ donation...who gets it, who don't, priority list