A staff nurse in the area that you manage has excelled in the delivery

QUESTION

A staff nurse in the area that you manage has excelled in the delivery of patient education.

You are considering implementing a new job description that would broaden her opportunity to teach patients and orient new staff members to the value of patient education. The ethical principle that you are most directly reinforcing is:

a. Justice.
b. Fidelity.
c. Paternalism.
d. Respect for others.

ANSWER:

ANS: C
The principle of paternalism allows one person to make partial decisions for another and is most frequently deemed to be a negative or undesirable principle. Paternalism, however, may be used to assist persons to make decisions when they do not have sufficient data or expertise. Paternalism becomes undesirable when the entire decision is taken away from the employee.