Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
Ethical and Legal Foundations of PMHNP Care Across the Lifespan
The psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner needs to know about the various legal and ethical considerations during the provision of care to different individuals, from children to the elderly, to provide quality care. Child and elder abuse reporting is a common issue in the healthcare setting. The children and elderly can be abused differently, leading to emotional and physical harm, exploitation, sexual abuse, or even death. This paper elaborates on the legal and ethical issues when reporting child and elderly abuse in addition to its application in clinical practice. Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
Child and Elder Abuse
Child abuse is a common problem in society and globally. The primary forms of child abuse include; sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, educational neglect, and emotional abuse. All the forms of maltreatment and abuse significantly affect a child’s mental, social, physical, and emotional health. The cases of child abuse in the U.S. in 2016 were 3.5 million, and 74.8% resulted from child neglect (Liu & Vaughn, 2019). Most children who are victims of child abuse can face one or more forms of abuse.
Elder abuse mainly involves mistreatment in various issues, including; human rights, justice, health, and ethics. Vulnerable adults are an individual who can be mistreated because of disability or age and cannot protect themselves. 1 in 6 older adults experience abuse, and most cases are not always reported (Saghafi et al., 2019). The common types of elderly abuse include; physical, psychological, or sexual abuse in addition to abandonment, neglect, and material or financial exploitation. Increased cases of elderly abuse have led to increased ethical, legal, and other personal issues.
Ethical considerations for Children
All cases of child abuse need clear information; therefore, there is a need to collect data through a thorough physical assessment. According to the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (2016), the primary ethical considerations include; informed consent, confidentiality, and privacy. Obtaining passive consent from parents or guardians can play a role in ensuring the presence of informed consent. A study in the U.S. indicated that the participation rate for passive support was 93%, while that of active consent was 62%. It is also vital to ensure privacy and confidentiality by assuring the child that the information will be protected. Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
Legal considerations for Children
The rise in child abuse and maltreatment cases resulted in increased laws that can play a role in reporting child abuse cases and increased social awareness. According to Liu and Vaughn (2019), all professionals should be trained on the various policies that help indicate and report child abuse. The training should include the need to inform the reporters when they have to report child abuse and the presence of proof during reporting, in addition to the risks that come about if they do not report. Through training, the reporters can differentiate between the various types of abuse, including how to report the abuse. It is mandatory to report child abuse according to the law. U.S. professionals in multiple fields, including; social services, public services, medicine, education, and religion, should report any child abuse to the police or the child protective services (Liu & Vaughn, 2019).
Ethical considerations for Elderly
Due to various struggles with cultural, social, and religious aspects of life. During elderly abuse, the ethical principles of autonomy and dignity are violated. Although the elderly should have the autonomy to make decisions about themselves, negative autonomy results when they prevent services and the guardian or caregiver accepts the behavior (Saghafi et al., 2019). It results in neglect in cases where the older adult does not have the mental capacity to make decisions independently. Beneficence and non-maleficence are achieved in cases where the healthcare provider reports abuse and prevents harm to the patient. Caregivers need to ensure the presence of trust and confidentiality. Elder abuse causes challenges among the team providing care and can cause dilemmas while trying to come up with the best intervention for the problem. Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
Ethical considerations for Elderly
Due to increased cases of elderly abuse, various legal considerations enhance reporting of the issues. According to Kurkurina et al. (2017), law enforcement officers play a role in investigating various elder abuse cases in the United States. Training the officers is vital because the law enforcement guide varies from state to state. The police officers work with individuals in the community by utilizing the provided resources to identify elder abuse cases (Kurkurina et al., 2017). The officers are also offered screening tools that can enable them to identify the type of abuse. Through this, they can refer the victim to an organization that will play a role in helping them meet their immediate needs and receive treatment.
Application in clinical practice
There are increased child and elder abuse cases globally. The various ethical and legal considerations play a role in identifying the various ways of dealing with various forms of abuse in the clinical setting. As a psychiatric-mental health nurse, I have learned the need to identify the type of abuse and write a clear report to present to the responsible agency. It is, therefore, vital for every healthcare practitioner to understand the various ethics and laws, and also clinical guidelines so that they can be able to deal with all the cases of abuse. Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
References
International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN). (2016). Ethical Considerations for the Collection, Analysis & Publication of Child Maltreatment Data. https://www.ispcan.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Ethics_Report.pdf
Kurkurina, E., Lange, B. C. L., Lama, S. D., Burk-Leaver, E., Yaffe, M. J., Monin, J. K., & Humphries, D. (2017). Detection of elder abuse: Exploring the potential use of the Elder Abuse Suspicion Index© by law enforcement in the field. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 30(2), 103–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2017.1382413
Liu, B. C. C., & Vaughn, M. S. (2019). Legal and policy issues from the United States and internationally about mandatory reporting of child abuse. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 64, 219–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2019.03.007
Saghafi, A., Bahramnezhad, F., Poormollamirza, A., Dadgari, A., & Navab, E. (2019). Examining the ethical challenges in managing elder abuse: a systematic review. Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 12, 7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6642445/ Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
Week 2: Ethical and Legal Foundations of PMHNP Care Across the Lifespan
In your role as a PMHNP, you will regularly encounter situations that require your ability to make sound judgments and practice decisions for the safety and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. There may not be a clear-cut answer of how to address the issue, but your ethical decision making must be based on evidence-based practice and what is good, right, and beneficial for patients. You will encounter patients who do not hold your values, but you must remain professional and unbiased in the care you provide to all patients regardless of their background or worldview. You must be prepared to critically analyze ethical situations and develop an appropriate plan of action.
Learning Objectives Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
Students will:
Analyze salient ethical and legal issues in psychiatric-mental health practice
Analyze the impact of cultural considerations on ethical/legal decision making in advanced practice nursing
Evaluate mastery of nurse practitioner knowledge in preparation for the nurse practitioner national certification examination*
*Assessed in Week 3 Assignment
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-excellence/ethics/code-of-ethics-for-nurses/coe-view-only/
American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and diagnostic formulation. http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (2014). Code of ethics. https://www.aacap.org/App_Themes/AACAP/docs/about_us/transparency_portal/aacap_code_of_ethics_2012.pdf
American Psychiatric Nurses Association. (2020). APRN psychiatric-mental health nursing practice. https://www.apna.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageID=3846
Anderson, S. L. (2012). Practice parameter on gay, lesbian, or bisexual sexual orientation, gender nonconformity, and gender discordance in children and adolescents. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(9). 957–974. https://www.jaacap.org/action/showPdf?pii=S0890-8567%2812%2900500-X
Hilt, R. J., & Nussbaum, A. M. (2016). DSM-5 pocket guide for child and adolescent mental health. American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
Chapter 2, “Addressing Behavioral and Mental Problems in Community Settingsâ€
Thapar, A., Pine, D. S., Leckman, J. F., Scott, S., Snowling, M. J., & Taylor, E. A. (2015). Rutter’s child and adolescent psychiatry (6th ed.). Wiley Blackwell.
Chapter 19, “Legal Issues in the Care and Treatment of Children with Mental Health Problemsâ€
Zakhari, R. (2020). The psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner certification review manual. Springer.
Chapter 1, “Preparing to Pass the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certification Examâ€
Reminder: Keep Your Library of Advanced Practice Nursing Texts at Your Fingertips Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
Several textbooks are assigned in multiple courses in your program. That is, you will see reading assignments from the books assigned in the Learning Resources of more than one course. You should, however, keep all prior textbooks—not just the ones explicitly assigned—readily accessible. The expectation is that you will independently consult these prior textbooks to synthesize information needed to complete your final courses. This is your time to “put it all together†and to more fully embrace the advanced practice nursing role. Part of the responsibility of advanced practice is developing information literacy skills to know where to locate needed information for your clinical practice.
Discussion: Ethical and Legal Foundations of PMHNP Care
Advanced practice nursing in all specialties is guided by codes of ethics that put the care, rights, duty, health, and safety of the patient first and foremost. PMHNP practice is also guided by ethical codes specifically for psychiatry. These ethical codes are frameworks to guide clinical decision making; they are generally not prescriptive. They also represent the aspirational ideals for the profession. Laws, on the other hand, dictate the requirements that must be followed. In this way, legal codes may be thought to represent the minimum standards of care, and ethics represent the highest goals for care.
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For this Discussion, you select a topic that has both legal and ethical implications for PMHNP practice and then perform a literature review on the topic. Your goal will be to identify the most salient legal and ethical facets of the issue for PMHNP practice, and also how these facets differ in the care of adult patients versus children. Keep in mind as you research your issue, that laws differ by state and your clinical practice will be dictated by the laws that govern your state. Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
To Prepare
Select one of the following ethical/legal topics:
Autonomy
Beneficence
Justice
Fidelity
Veracity
Involuntary hospitalization and due process of civil commitment
Informed assent/consent and capacity
Duty to warn
Restraints
HIPPA
Child and elder abuse reporting
Tort law
Negligence/malpractice
In the Walden library, locate a total of four scholarly, professional, or legal resources related to this topic. One should address ethical considerations related to this topic for adults, one should be on ethical considerations related to this topic for children/adolescents, one should be on legal considerations related to this topic for adults, and one should be on legal considerations related to this topic for children/adolescents.
By Day 3 of Week 2
Briefly identify the topic you selected. Then, summarize the articles you selected, explaining the most salient ethical and legal issues related to the topic as they concern psychiatric-mental health practice for children/adolescents and for adults. Explain how this information could apply to your clinical practice, including specific implications for practice within your state. Attach the PDFs of your articles. Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6 of Week 2
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on 2 different days by sharing cultural considerations that may impact the legal or ethical issues present in their articles.
Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link, and then select “Create Thread” to complete your Ethical Challenges in Managing Elder Abuse Assignment
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