Legal/Ethical issues that may occur in the care of Chronically or Terminally ill patients

The purpose of this practice experience assignment is to evaluate and discuss a legal or ethical issue that may occur in the care of chronically or terminally ill patients.  This is a graded written assignment and contributes 20% to your course grade.  This is an individual assignment, not to be completed by your group.  A grading rubric will be used to evaluate your work.  

1.  Choose an ethical or legal issue encountered in potential palliative or hospice care settings.
2. Research the topic for legal or ethical law or code of practice guidelines. Also, look for evidenced based practice guidelines on the topic. 
3. Use these guidelines to structure your paper:
   1. Introduction
      1. briefly describe the topic.  If broad, then zero in on a specific area to be discussed. 
      2. Why is this topic considered to be an issue? 
      3. Use recent statistics to explain the importance and current impact of your topic.
      4. Clearly explain the purpose of your paper. What will be discussed? Which side of the issue will you support? 
   2. Summary of the Issue
      1. Explain the various sides of the issue and why opposing views exist.  Have any of these views changed over time?  Why or why not?
      2. Give examples throughout your discussion.
      3. Incorporate current research in your discussion. 
      4. Describe major strength and limitation of the current research related to your issue.  
      5. Explore the economic, political, legal, ethical and religious dimensions of the issue as they apply to your issue. 
   3. Approaches by Health Care providers
      1. Briefly explain the ethical decision making process, using specific resource. 
      2. Describe how each step of the ethical decision-making process applies to your issue. 
      3. Explain how each of the major ethical principles related to your issue (Autonomy, Beneficence, Justice, Nonmaleficence).
      4. What approaches do specific health care providers (including nurse) use related to your issue?  Provide examples. 
      5. Why do the healthcare providers use specific approaches? 
      6. What internal and external forces affect these approaches? 
   4. Personal Reaction to Issue
      1. Clearly explain your reaction to the issue (your position). 
      2. Describe your rationale for your position. 
      3. Use resources to support your position.
      4. Explain why each of the opposing viewpoints is not a valid argument.
   5.  Action you would take if confronted with issue
      1. Explain what you would do from a nurse’s perspective if confronted with the issue. 
      2. What ethical-decision-making process would you use and why? 
      3. How would your actions support the safety of patients and the standards of nursing care? 
      4. Explain what you would do from a personal perspective if confronted with the issue and your rationale. 
   6. Conclusion
      1. Briefly reiterate the importance of the issue. 
      2. Summarize the main points. 
   7. Grammar, Format, References, Organization
      1. Use current APA guidelines throughout the paper.
      2. Make sure grammar and spelling are correct throughout paper. 
      3. Cite and reference resources correctly. 
      4. Paper should be organized and flow smoothly from idea to another, clear and concise, following the above guidelines. 
      5. Use APA headings and subheadings as paper dictates. 
4. Submit your paper to the “Legal/Ethical Paper Assignment” link above as a word doc or docx file.  Please be sure that your carefully upload your paper as emailed assignments will not be accepted without instructor permission prior to the deadline.