After 3 years of uneventful employment, the nurse made a medication error that resulted in patient injury. What hospital response to this event is ethical?
1. The nurse was dismissed for incompetence.
2. The hospital was supportive and assistive as the nurse coped with this event.
3. The hospital quality department advised the nurse not to tell the patient about the error.
4. The nurse was reassigned to an area in which there is no direct patient care responsibility.
2
Rationale: Nurses must be held accountable for errors, but should be treated in a professional and assistive manner. With this nurse's employment record, dismissal and transfer to a no patient care area are not appropriate or ethical steps for the hospital. Disclosure of errors is the ethical approach.
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