Need help from an experienced Grad on Ethical Dilemma

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Hello to all Grads....I posted in this forum because I know you guys are a lot more experienced and maybe you guys could help.

I am taking an ethical and legal aspect class. This class is normally for students who are in already in their 3rd nursing semester, but I am taking this class in my very FIRST semester because they said it was only convenient for our schedule to work out, which I think is very unfair because I have not had any clinical experience.:confused:

We are required to do a paper based on peer reviewed articles and I need your help in what types of topics I should write about. The topic can be on anything, but it has to have an ETHICAL DILEMMA NOT A CLINICAL DECISION. So a topic that I can find LOTS of ethical articles on would be a real help. And links to some articles would be nice.

I really don't know where to start and how to begin. I am only in the 2nd week of classes and it's my first semester in nursing school. I don't know what kinds of ethical dilemmas can arise.....

Please help.

Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Try Googling "ethical dilemmas in healthcare" and see what comes up.

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Specializes in SICU.

Think about things that can occur in health care that have demonstrators shouting at each other. Look up the meaning of deontology and tetontology (sorry for any bad spelling), find out were YOU stand on these issues.

At the end of the day as a working nurse you have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and sleep at night.

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Specializes in NICU/L&D, Hospice.

I did an "ethical dilemma" paper on the following journal article. It is about student nurses working with RN's and the struggles about speaking up when you see something done that has changed now due to evidence based practice.

Morris, R. (2004, Jul/Aug). Speak out or shut up? Paediatric Nursing, 16(6), 20-22. Retrieved March 8, 2006, from CINAHL database.

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There are so many issues you could do a paper on. Just some that come to mind quickly are:

- Abortion

- Genetics testing

- Blood transfusions

- Euthanasia/Right to die

- Organ transplantation

- Animal testing

- Birth control

You should be able to find mounds of information on any one of these topics. I just graduated, so I don't have access to journal articles anymore. Your library should give you access to journals and be able to show you how to search/access them.

Good luck.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, orthopedics.

In my third semester of school we all had to do debates on ethical and legal issues and here are some of the issues I can remember:

-Physician Assisted Suicide

-Guardisil Vaccine given to young girls

-Circumcision in newborns

-Universal Healthcare

-Providing clean needles to IV drug abusers for free in a community

I know that there were more topics that were debated over, but these are the ones that I can remember off the top of my head, so I hope this helps give you some ideas. Good luck to you on the paper!

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I had to write a paper like this in my 3rd semester. I did mine on in vitro fertilization and the ethical issues related to it.

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Your lack of clinical experience is not bad and should not inhibit you for this papaer.

There are tons of topics. Perhaps a librarian or your instructor can help? Also, lots of ideas were given here. Here is another: take the case of an elderly person who is sort of going down hill. Lots of health issues, not able to do all that she used to do, still in her right mind and not wanting to move out of state to be near daughter (as dtr would like, so she can help her mom and they can enjoy their last years together). Ethics of that type of situation.

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One big ethical issue is assisted suicide. Your school library should have many peer reviewed articles to look at. I did my paper on foreign nurses and whether that is the answer to the nursing shortage. It was hard because I was on both sides of the fence. So I did lots of research and intergrated both sides into my paper and got a 100%. Good luck....there are so many ideas and subjects to write on. Pm me if you want more info about it.

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Specializes in floor to ICU.

I did mine on stem cell research. Lots of info

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Specializes in Emergency, Cardiac, PAT/SPU, Urgent Care.

Another topic could be the "morning-after pill" or "Plan B."

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Specializes in ER and family advanced nursing practice.

I don't know, ummm, asking others for your topic in an ethics class...?

I am seriously kidding...I just couldn't resist...:D

Ivan

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