A nurse is ambivalent about performing vigorous suctioning in a terminally ill patient in a comatose state. Which of the following is the appropriate statement by the nurse in regard to processing this ethical dilemma?

Question

a. "I need to know the legalities of the living will of this patient."
b. "My spiritual beliefs mandate that I continue to provide all the interventions within my scope of practice."
c. "I cannot figure out what's right in this situation. I need to collect more data."
d. "I just feel that I should not suction this patient."

Answer 1

C

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A The nurse who wants to know the legalities of the living will of a patient is collecting some, but not all, data pertaining to the problem.
B The statement "My spiritual beliefs mandate that I continue to provide all the interventions within my scope of practice" describes the nurse's own beliefs.
C The first step in processing an ethical dilemma is determining whether the problem is an ethical one. The nurse who cannot figure out what is right is stating a characteristic of an ethical dilemma, which is that the problem is perplexing. The next step is to gather as much relevant information as possible.
D The nurse is describing the problem in terms of her feelings.