Assignment: Practicum Journal Entry: Analyzing an Ethical Decision

In your role as a PMHNP, you will encounter several situations that will 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 evidenced-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 socio-demographic and ethnic/racial background. You must be prepared to critically analyze ethical situations and develop an appropriate plan of action. For this Assignment, you review the literature and discover the various ethical dilemmas PMHNPs encounter and how these issues are typically addressed in your state.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze salient ethical issues in psychiatric mental health practice
• Compare ethical dilemmas with state health laws and regulations
• Analyze ethical decision-making processes

To prepare:

• Review literature for moral/ethical issues encountered by a PMHNP.
• Select one of the articles you found that was published within the last 5 years to use as a focus for this assignment.

Write a 2-page paper in which you do the following:

• Summarize the moral/ethical issue in the article (no more than 1 paragraph).
• Describe the moral and ethical dilemmas surrounding the issue.
• Analyze the ethical issue and compare them to the state health laws and regulations in your state.(Texas)
• Outline the process of ethical decision making you would use to address this ethical dilemma.

Note: Be sure to use the Practicum Journal Template, located in this week's Learning Resources.