Deck 14: Ethical Issues and Dilemmas in Nursing Practice

Question 1

Which of the following is true of early codes of ethics for nursing?

A)They were similar to nursing guidelines.
B)They were prescriptive in nature.
C)They provided a framework for ethical decisions.
D)They enabled nurses to fulfill responsibilities to the public and the profession.

Answer 1

They were prescriptive in nature.

Question 2

Which following factor has contributed to the increasing complexity of ethical dilemmas faced by nurses?

A)New qualifications for entry to practice
B)New reproductive technologies
C)The rapidly expanding body of knowledge about health and illness
D)The hiring of clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners

Answer 2

The rapidly expanding body of knowledge about health and illness

Question 3

Which following moral principle that limits liberty is generally accepted?

A)Harm
B)Existentialism
C)Paternalism
D)Legal moralism

Answer 3

Harm

Question 4

Which type of treatment would take priority when applying the principle of just allocation of health care resources?

A)Treatments that can benefit many
B)Treatments that provide marginal benefits
C)Treatments that can benefit only children
D)Treatments that are more controversial

Question 5

In which year did the Supreme Court of Canada endorse women's rights to self-determination in relation to abortion?

A)1984
B)1988
C)1992
D)1994

Question 6

Which following approach from moral philosophy encompasses nursing ethics?

A)Bioethics
B)Virtue ethics
C)Normative ethics
D)Value ethics

Question 7

Which of the following is a value outlined in the Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics (2008)?

A)Preserving dignity
B)Promoting autonomy
C)Maintaining anonymity
D)Maintaining social equity

Question 8

Which one of the following is defined as a "reasoned enquiry about the ethical dimension of interventions in the lives of human beings directed to or bearing on their good health, individually or collectively"?

A)Ethics
B)Bioethics
C)Nursing ethics
D)The Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics

Question 9

Which following circumstance represents an example of when the principle of respect for autonomy can be overridden?

A)The patient is a 16-year-old requesting an abortion.
B)The patient refuses treatment for an infected wound on his leg.
C)The patient refuses treatment midway through a procedure that is not considered to be lifesaving.
D)The patient refuses a blood transfusion for religious reasons when its determined that he may die without it.

Question 10

Which of the following is a goal of teaching ethics to nursing students as a preventive strategy, as identified by Thompson and Thompson in 1989?

A)To help nurses tolerate and decrease agreements and ambiguity
B)To help nurses develop critical thinking skills
C)To help stimulate the nurse's moral imagination
D)To help nurses solve ethical and moral problems

Question 11

Whose responsibility is it to write a "do not resuscitate" (DNR) order?

A)Patient
B)Nurse
C)Anaesthetist
D)Physician

Question 12

Which of the following represents a societal concern about allowing the mentally ill to refuse treatment?

A)A mentally ill patient lacks the ability to express autonomy.
B)A mentally ill patient may become an economic burden if untreated.
C)Mentally ill patients lack community integration and support.
D)Mentally ill patients are vulnerable to having their rights disregarded.

Question 13

Which of the following is a principle of just allocation of health care resources?

A)Only futile treatment should be provided.
B)A superior level of health care should be provided to everyone.
C)Allocation criteria should be established in a public and democratic process.
D)Resource allocation is based on the amount of research funds that an organization can attract.

Question 14

Which one of the following factors limits access to treatment under Canada's policy regarding reproductive technologies?

A)Age of the mother
B)Nationality of the mother
C)Allocation of health care resources
D)There are no limits to the use of these treatments.

Question 15

Which of the following is true in relation to advance directives?

A)Advance directives document a patient's preferences for life-support procedures.
B)An advance directive is exactly the same as a power of attorney.
C)Advances directives are consistent from province to province to territory.
D)An advance directive determines who can make decisions for the patient.