Discussion: Ethical and Legal Foundations of PMHNP Care

Advanced practice nursing in all specialties is
guided by codes of ethics that put the care, rights, duty, health, and
safety of the patient first and foremost. PMHNP practice is also guided
by ethical codes specifically for psychiatry. These ethical codes are frameworks
to guide clinical decision making; they are generally not prescriptive.
They also represent the aspirational ideals for the profession. Laws,
on the other hand, dictate the requirements that must be followed. In
this way, legal codes may be thought to represent the minimum standards
of care, and ethics represent the highest goals for care.



Photo Credit: [Hero Images]/[Hero Images]/Getty Images

For this Discussion, you select a topic that has
both legal and ethical implications for PMHNP practice and then perform
a literature review on the topic. Your goal will be to identify the
most salient legal and ethical facets of the issue for PMHNP practice,
and also how these facets differ in the care of adult patients versus
children. Keep in mind as you research your issue, that laws differ by
state and your clinical practice will be dictated by the laws that
govern your state.

To Prepare

• Select one of the following ethical/legal topics:
  • Autonomy
  • Beneficence
  • Justice
  • Fidelity
  • Veracity
  • Involuntary hospitalization and due process of civil commitment
  • Informed assent/consent and capacity
  • Duty to warn
  • Restraints
  • HIPPA
  • Child and elder abuse reporting
  • Tort law
  • Negligence/malpractice
• locate a total of four scholarly,
  professional, or legal resources related to this topic. One should
  address ethical considerations related to this topic for adults, one
  should be on ethical considerations related to this topic for
  children/adolescents, one should be on legal considerations related to
  this topic for adults, and one should be on legal considerations related
  to this topic for children/adolescents.