Carol, a nurse on a busy medical-surgical unit, is precepting Henry, a nursing student. Carol opens Mr. Smith’s chart in the electronic health record (EHR) to document his assessment. She must step away from the computer to assist with an emergency with another patient. Carol asks Henry to continue charting the assessment in Mr. Smith’s chart while she is gone. Henry completes the charting for Mr. Smith and then opens the charts of other patients on the unit to see why they have been admitted.
Carol returns to the computer with Henry. Mr. Smith had requested a printout of his medications. Carol clicks print for the medication list but did not notice that Henry had opened another patient’s chart. Carol and Henry leave the computer to find the printer for Mr. Smith’s medication list.
George, another nurse on the floor, sees that the EHR is logged in and is in a hurry. He switches to his patient’s chart and documents his patient’s vital signs and administration of a medication. He does not sign the computer off but leaves to go administer the medication.
Samuel, a social worker from another unit, comes by to see Mr. Smith, who is his neighbor. Mr. Smith is sleeping, and the EHR is open on the computer. Samuel is curious about why Mr. Smith is in the hospital, so he starts to read the chart.
Carol and Henry are unable to find the medication list for Mr. Smith but did find a print-out of a medication list for another patient on the unit. They return to the computer to re-print the medication list where they find Samuel reviewing Mr. Smith’s chart.
Respond to the following prompts:
- Evaluate the professional responsibilities for the ethical use of health care informatics technology.
- Discuss the ethical challenges the nurse encountered in this scenario and the principles that were violated.
- Describe how you would handle this in your own practice or describe one thing that could have been done differently.
Initial discussion question posts should be a minimum of 200 words and include at least two references cited using APA format. Responses to peers or faculty should be 100-150 words and include one reference. Refer to “RN-BSN Discussion Question Rubric” and “RN-BSN Participation Rubric,” located in Class Resources, to understand the expectations for initial discussion question posts and participation posts, respectively.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education
This assignment aligns to AACN Core Competencies 9.4
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