Ethics and Negligence
Ethics and Negligence
Negligence in healthcare means practicing below the standard of care for a certain specialty. Psychiatric nurse practitioners should become familiar with legal issues surrounding this practice area to ensure best practices for patients and to avoid malpractice litigation and licensing issues. Children have unique needs because of their inability to fully express the symptoms of the psychiatric conditions and the law allows their parents or guardians to provide consent for their healthcare. Therefore, a psychiatric nurse practitioner is the child’s advocate and must ensure the child receives the necessary care.
Psychiatric nurse practitioners owe their patients a duty of care and the associated legal liability that is imposed whenever a patient is admitted to the hospital for care (Huang et al., 2015). Therefore, a charge of negligence against a nurse can arise from almost any action or failure to act that causes damage to patient health. It is the child and adolescent psychiatrist’s primary responsibility to act on behalf of the needs of the child or adolescent patient and their families(AACAP, 2014). Negligence, according to the American Journal of Nursing can occur in the following circumstances:Failure to follow standards of care, failure to use equipment responsibly, failure to communicate, failure to document, failure to assess and monitor, and failure to act as a patient advocate.
Psychiatric nurse practitioners must address the needs of special groups including children from LGBTQ groups without discrimination or neglect due to procedure. Childhood gender nonconformity is shown through variation from norms in gender role behaviors such as toy preferences, rough-and-tumble play, aggression, or playmate gender (Adelson, & Child, 2012). It is necessary to identify these characters and provide the support that does not cause the child of their family to feel neglected.
Ethical issues may arise when providing psychiatric care for both children and adult populations. Psychologists’ ethical responsibilities may conflict with law, regulations, or other governing legal authorities. In such cases, it is necessary for the practitioner to clarify the nature of the conflict, make known their commitment to the Ethics Code, and take reasonable steps to resolve the conflict consistent with the General Principles and Ethical Standards of the Ethics Code.
References
Adelson, S. L., & of Child, T. A. A. (2012). Practice parameters on gay, lesbian, or bisexual sexual orientation, gender nonconformity, and gender discordance in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & adolescent psychiatry, 51(9), 957-974.
APA, (.2017). Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/ethics-code-2017.pdf
Huang, H. M., Sun, F. K., & Lien, Y. F. (2015). Nurse practitioners, medical negligence and crime: A case study. Clinical Nursing Studies
