Question 1

A nurse who was working in the 1960s used the code of ethics to guide making an ethical decision.Which code of ethics would have been used?
A) Nightingale Pledge
B) Code for Professional Nurses
C) Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements
D) International Council of Nurses (ICN) Code of Ethics for Nurses

Accepted Answer

Florence Nightingale lived in the 1800s.The Code for Professional Nurses was adopted in 1950,the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements was adopted in 2001,and the ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses was adopted in 2000.

Question 2

A nurse has used the steps of the ethical decision-making process when making a decision.Which of the following is most similar to this process?
A) Healthy People 2010
B) Deontology
C) The nursing process
D) Advocacy

Accepted Answer

The steps of the ethical decision-making framework are to first identify the ethical issues and dilemmas,then place them within a meaningful context,obtain all relevant facts,reformulate ethical issues and dilemmas if needed,consider appropriate approaches to actions or options,make decisions and take action,and evaluate decisions and action.The nursing process involves the same basic steps: assessment,diagnosis,planning,implementation,and evaluation.Healthy People 2010,deontology,and advocacy do not involve these multiple steps described by the ethical decision-making framework and the nursing process.

Question 3

A nurse believes everyone is entitled to equal rights and equal treatment in society.Which of the following principles is being applied?
A) Distributive or social justice
B) Egalitarianism
C) Libertarian view of justice
D) Communitarianism

Accepted Answer

Egalitarianism is defined as the view that everyone is entitled to equal rights and equal treatment in society.Distributive justice requires that the distribution of benefits and burdens on a society be fair or equal.The libertarian view of justice holds that the right to private property is the most important right.Communitarianism views that individual rights need to be balanced with social responsibilities; individuals do not live in isolation but are shaped by the values and culture of their communities.

Question 4

Which statement is discussed in the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements?
A) The profession of nursing is responsible for making political statements and supporting nurse-friendly candidates for office.
B) The nurse's primary focus is on acute bedside nursing, followed by community health care to promote seamless care.
C) The nurse owes duty primarily to the physician to strive to protect health, safety, and the rights of the patient.
D) The profession of nursing is responsible for articulating nursing values, for maintaining the integrity of the profession, and for shaping social policy.

Accepted Answer

Provision 9 of the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements discusses the need for the nursing profession to address national and global health concerns as well as be involved with shaping policies through political action.The Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements does not address the practice setting for nursing care.According to the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements,public health should achieve community health in a way that respects the rights of individuals in the community,not owing duty primarily to the physician.Public health should seek the information needed to implement effective policies and programs that protect and promote health.

Question 5

A public health nurse is examining several issues within daily practice.Which of the following issues would be considered an ethical dilemma?
A) Whether or not to establish a community health center in a rural area
B) Allocating resources in a natural disaster
C) Deciding to withdraw care on a hospice patient
D) Applying the principles of Florence Nightingale in Bangladesh

Accepted Answer

When resources are scarce,a dilemma may exist as to how to allocate them.Considering establishing a community health center may be a dilemma,but it probably does not involve ethics.Withdrawing care from a hospice patient would most likely not be an issue encountered by a public health nurse,as this represents community health nursing practice,not public health nursing practice.Applying the principles of Florence Nightingale would not be ethical issue.

Question 6

Public health administrators in a community provide a health department to serve an indigent population of immigrants providing translators on certain days of the week.Which of the following best describes what is being done?
A) Policy development
B) Quality
C) Assurance
D) Libertarian philosophy

Accepted Answer

Assurance refers to the role of public health in making sure that essential community-oriented health services are available,which may include providing essential personal health services for those who would otherwise not receive them.Policy development refers to the need to provide leadership in developing policies that support the health of the population,including the use of the scientific knowledge base in making decisions about policy.Quality refers to providing the best care possible.Libertarian philosophy refers to the view that the right to private property is the most important right.

Question 7

A nurse is applying the principle of distributive justice.Which of the following describes the benefits that will occur through application of this principle?
A) Basic needs, material and social goods, liberties, rights, and entitlements
B) Taxes, military service, location of incinerators or power plants
C) Entitlement to equal rights and equal treatment
D) The right to private property and personal assets

Accepted Answer

Distributive justice requires that the distribution of benefits and burdens on a society be fair or equal.Entitlement to equal rights and equal treatment refers to egalitarianism.The right to private property and personal assets refers to libertarianism.Taxes,military service,and location of incinerators or power plants are not benefits associated with justice.

Question 8

According to Leininger and Watson,the moral ideal of nursing is:
A) caring.
B) advocacy.
C) responsibility.
D) accountability.

Accepted Answer

This conceptualization occurred as a response to the technological advances in health care science and the desire of nurses to differentiate nursing practice from medical practice.Advocacy,responsibility,and accountability are not part of the moral idea of nursing proposed by Leininger and Watson.

Question 9

There are two medically indigent clients in the clinic who have come to get their monthly supply of free insulin.There is only enough for one client.Which of the following actions would the nurse take first?
A) Identify all options
B) Make a decision
C) Gather additional information
D) Act and assess decisions made

Accepted Answer

The steps of the ethical decision-making framework are to first identify the ethical issues and dilemmas,then place them within a meaningful context,obtain all relevant facts,reformulate ethical issues and dilemmas if needed,consider appropriate approaches to actions or options,make decisions and take action,and evaluate decisions and action.

Question 10

A nurse is applying the knowledge and processes of ethics to the examination of ethical problems in health care.Which of the following describes the actions of the nurse?
A) Values
B) Morality
C) Ethics
D) Bioethics

Accepted Answer

Bioethics applies the knowledge and processes of ethics to the examination of ethical problems in health care.Values are beliefs about the worth or importance of what is right or esteemed.Morality is shared and generational societal norms about what constitutes right or wrong conduct.Ethics is a branch of philosophy that includes both a body of knowledge about the moral life and a process of reflection for determining what persons ought to do or be regarding this life.

Question 11

Which statement about feminist ethics is correct?
A) Feminists include only women in their worldview.
B) Persons who ascribe to feminist ethics are passive and wish to pursue their ideals through the legislative process.
C) Feminists believe that men should not be nurses.
D) Women's thinking and moral experiences are important and should be taken into account.

Accepted Answer

Feminist theory ascribes to the idea that women's thinking and moral experiences are important and should be considered.A feminist perspective leads us to think critically about connections among gender,disadvantage,and health as well as the distribution of power in public health processes.Feminists are women and men who hold a worldview advocating economic,social,and political equality for women that is equivalent to that of men.

Question 12

A nurse is using the principles of virtue ethics in decision making.Which of the following describes the action that the nurse would take?
A) Provide efficient and effective nursing care
B) Identify the meaningful facts in the situation
C) Seek ethical community support to enhance character development
D) Plan ways to restructure the social practices that oppress women

Accepted Answer

According to Aristotle,virtues are acquired and include interest in the concept of the good,including benevolence,compassion,trustworthiness,and integrity.One part of the process is seeking ethical community support to enhance character development.Nurses can demonstrate advocacy when providing efficient and effective nursing care.Identifying the meaningful facts in the situation is part of the ethical decision-making process.Planning ways to restructure the social practices that oppress women is part of the feminist ethics decision-making process.

Question 13

A nurse is providing care using the idea of "servicing citizens,not customers." Which of the following ideas is being applied by the nurse?
A) Ethical tenets of policy development
B) Basic concepts of the feminist theory
C) Underlying premise of virtue ethics
D) Components of distributive justice

Accepted Answer

There are three tenets of both policy and ethics.The approach is based on the voice of the community as the foundation on which policy is developed.The basic concept of feminist theory allows us to think critically about connections among gender,disadvantage,and health as well as the distribution of power in public health processes.The goal of virtue ethics is to enable persons to flourish as human beings.Distributive justice requires that there be a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens in society based on the needs and contributions of its members.

Question 14

A nurse is applying the ethical principle of non-maleficence.Which of the following describes the action that the nurse is taking?
A) Administering medications using the "five rights"
B) Allowing clients to be active participants in their care
C) Providing patient privacy when delivering care
D) Referring a client to a physical therapist

Accepted Answer

Non-maleficence requires that one do no harm.It requires that health care professionals act according to the standards of due care,always seeking to produce the least amount of harm possible.Providing privacy when delivering care demonstrates the client's right to privacy.Allowing clients to be active participants in their care refers to the ethical principle of the right to autonomy.Referring a client to a physical therapist demonstrates the nursing role of referral agent.

Question 15

The growing multiculturalism of American society can contribute to ethnicity conflicts when:
A) providing care to different cultural groups.
B) individual values align with the cultural norms.
C) ethnic groups overburden the health care system.
D) the greater community's values are jeopardized by specific ethnic values.

Accepted Answer

Callahan offered perspectives on judging diversity and suggests a thoughtful tolerance and some degree of moral persuasion (not coercion)for ethnic groups to alter values so that they are more in keeping with what is normative in American culture.Providing care to different cultural groups should not produce an ethnicity conflict.Individual alignment with cultural norms would make it less likely that an ethnicity conflict would occur.Ethnic groups using the health care system will not cause it to be overburdened or result in an ethnicity conflict.

Question 16

Which statement fits the Liberal Democratic Theory of John Rawls?
A) One should reject any idea that societies, states, or collectives of any form can be the bearers of rights or can owe duties.
B) Inequalities result from birth, natural endowment, and historic circumstances.
C) Everyone has a right to private property.
D) Government should be limited.

Accepted Answer

Rawls acknowledges that inequities are inevitable in society,but he tries to justify them by establishing a system in which everyone benefits,especially the least advantaged.This is an attempt to address the inequalities that result from birth,natural endowments,and historic circumstances.The other choices relate to libertarianism.

Question 17

A nurse believes that all Americans should receive basic health care services.Which of the following core functions supports this belief?
A) Assessment
B) Assurance
C) Policy development
D) Advocacy

Accepted Answer

Assurance purports that all persons should receive essential personal health services.Assessment refers to systematically collecting data on the population,monitoring the population's health status,and making information available about the health of the community.Policy development refers to the need to provide leadership in developing policies that support the health of the population,including the use of the scientific knowledge base in making decisions about policy.Advocacy embodies an ethical focus grounded in quality of life.

Question 18

An orderly process that considers ethical principles,client values,and professional obligations is:
A) moral distress.
B) ethical decision making.
C) a value.
D) a code of ethics.

Accepted Answer

Ethical decision making is defined as an orderly process that considers ethical principles,client values,and professional obligations.Moral distress is an uncomfortable state of self when one is unable to act ethically.Values are beliefs about the worth or importance of what is right or esteemed.A code of ethics is a moral standard that delineates a profession's values,goals,and obligations.

Question 19

Which ethical principle requires "doing no harm?"
A) Respect for autonomy
B) Non-maleficence
C) Beneficence
D) Distributive justice

Accepted Answer

Non-maleficence refers to doing no harm.Respect for autonomy requires that individuals be permitted to choose those actions and goals that fulfill their life plans unless those choices result in harm to another.Beneficence requires that we do good.Distributive justice requires that there be a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens in society based on the needs and contributions of its members.

Question 20

Which statement regarding Florence Nightingale's ideas about ethics is correct?
A) Nursing is a call to service, and the moral character of persons entering nursing is important.
B) Ethical principles are based on the values of the individual nurse.
C) Society will dictate the ethical principles to which nurses must adhere.
D) Ethics are very important in times of war, such as in the Crimean War, when she set up public health centers.

Accepted Answer

Florence Nightingale saw nursing as a call to service and viewed the moral character of persons entering nursing as important.Florence Nightingale did not set up public health centers.Florence Nightingale did not believe that nurses must adhere to society's view of ethical principles.Ethical beliefs are based on the values of the individual nurse,not ethical principles.

Quiz 6: Application of Ethics in the Community

A nurse who was working in the 1960s used the code of ethics to guide making an ethical decision.Which code of ethics would have been used?

A nurse has used the steps of the ethical decision-making process when making a decision.Which of the following is most similar to this process?

A nurse believes everyone is entitled to equal rights and equal treatment in society.Which of the following principles is being applied?

Which statement is discussed in the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements?

A public health nurse is examining several issues within daily practice.Which of the following issues would be considered an ethical dilemma?

Public health administrators in a community provide a health department to serve an indigent population of immigrants providing translators on certain days of the week.Which of the following best describes what is being done?

A nurse is applying the principle of distributive justice.Which of the following describes the benefits that will occur through application of this principle?

According to Leininger and Watson,the moral ideal of nursing is:

There are two medically indigent clients in the clinic who have come to get their monthly supply of free insulin.There is only enough for one client.Which of the following actions would the nurse take first?

A nurse is applying the knowledge and processes of ethics to the examination of ethical problems in health care.Which of the following describes the actions of the nurse?

Which statement about feminist ethics is correct?

A nurse is using the principles of virtue ethics in decision making.Which of the following describes the action that the nurse would take?

A nurse is providing care using the idea of "servicing citizens,not customers." Which of the following ideas is being applied by the nurse?

A nurse is applying the ethical principle of non-maleficence.Which of the following describes the action that the nurse is taking?

The growing multiculturalism of American society can contribute to ethnicity conflicts when:

Which statement fits the Liberal Democratic Theory of John Rawls?

A nurse believes that all Americans should receive basic health care services.Which of the following core functions supports this belief?

An orderly process that considers ethical principles,client values,and professional obligations is:

Which ethical principle requires "doing no harm?"

Which statement regarding Florence Nightingale's ideas about ethics is correct?