Kris0215

I did mention it to my instructor. Thank you for your feedback.

Alright, I will stop being vague. I am a nursing student, and I had this happen to me recently. I have and had no intention of using the patient as a reference for anything. I took his card and said that I appreciated the offer, and I was glad that he thought that well of me. I later wondered if I did wrong by even accepting his card. As I stated I would never use it. I am also aware of the break in HIPPA, by identifying how I knew the reference.

If a nurse is given a business card by a patient and the patient states, "If you ever need a reference for anything, you can use my name and number." Is this an ethical issue? The patient had stated his reason for doing so was because the nurse gave very good care, and had excellent people/communication skills. It has been my understanding that gifts of value are not ethical to accept, but what about a person's word or opinion? Taking the business card and saying thank you, may not be unethical. However if the nurse chose to use the patient as a reference, this may cross boundaries that are not meant to be crossed for ethical reasons. Plus if the nurse did use him as a reference to say get a job or something, and then benefited from a good reference then this would be a gift of value. So how does this play on the ethics score? Opinions please.