Which of these 3 ethical dilemmas would be better to talk about?

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Hi, I have to write an ethical dilemma paper that involved my past experiences as a student. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me which of one of these dilemmas would be particularly suitable to write about with alot of options that I could have potentially have done but at the same time, one that would not get me in trouble if I mentioned it.

1) 1st Semester. Pt got crazy. LVN handed me restraints to tie on patient. I chose not to and only help hold the patient down and calm them.

2) 2nd Semester. Pt had restraints on and RN showed me how to tie it but the "extra loop" was just wrapped around the restraint. Instructor said that was illegal. Also, I did not document restraints and RN assumed I would do so. We never talked about documenting and it never occurred to me I would document. (this one I want to avoid because my instructor got mad!)

3) 2nd Semester. Got a 1st glucose reading that was a little bit too high for pt. Perhaps too much blood or something. Home health specialist used her glucose machine and got a totally different reading. I wasn't sure to trust her or use my own instinct. Did a 3rd glucose reading just to be sure and it was a little bit lower but not high enough to require insulin. I stuck with this one. Not sure if this is an ethical dilemma...

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

I would vote for #1. #2 would also work, but you're hoping to avoid it :) Restraints in this day and age are ALWAYS ripe with dilemmas. The LVN may have handed you the restraints but how we're you to know if there was an order in place for them? If there was an order, what those of restraint was ordered? Chemical? Etc, etc.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

The 3rd one does not really seem like an ethical dilemma to me. It seems to me that you were just using good nursing judgement in checking the sugar again. Something as simple as the alcohol not drying before you take the blood sample can cause an accucheck to be too high. You definatley did the right thing, just doesn't seem like an ethical issue to me.

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