Instructions:
To prepare:
- When have you encountered a tension between the individual right and the collective good in your nursing practice (The client is a med surg nurse)?
- With information from the Learning Resources in mind, consider relatively recent examples of health care policy that demonstrate this tension. For this Discussion, select one example of timely health care policy that allows you to evaluate the tension between individual rights and the collective good. Conduct additional research as necessary using credible websites and the Walden Library.
By Day 3
Post a cohesive response that addresses the following:
- In the first line of your posting, identify a health care policy.
- Explain the tension between individual rights and the collective good.
- Analyze the ethical and legal considerations of the policy.
Learning Resources
Required Readings
Bodenheimer, T., & Grumbach, K. (2020). Understanding health policy: A clinical
approach (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
● Chapter 13, “Medical Ethics and Rationing of Health Care”
This chapter discusses the four principles of medical ethics—beneficence,
malfeasance, autonomy, and justice, and views current health care conditions
through these lenses. Distributive justice, allocation of limited health care
resources, rationing, and the ethics of health care financing are also examined.
Bae, S., & Brewer, C. (2010). Mandatory overtime regulations and nurse overtime.
Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice, 11 (2), 99-107.
The authors examine the effect of government regulations on health care
issues by studying nurse overtime. They discovered that states with
mandatory overtime regulations had higher total RN work hours.
Blum, J. D., Talib, N. (2006). Balancing individual rights versus collective good in public
health enforcement. Medicine & Law, 25 (2), 273-281.
This article examines the balance of public good and individual liberty
through the examples of policies regarding communicable disease and
childhood immunization. The impact of the U.S. Supreme Court Case,
Jacobson v. Massachusettson health care policy is discussed.
Pauly, B. (2008). Harm reduction through a social justice lens. International Journal of
Drug Policy, 19 (1), 4-10.
The author discusses the ethical issue of marginalized groups, such as the
homeless, and their barriers to health care. The philosophy of harm
reduction and various social justice theories are examined as possible
guides to a policy initiative.
Ruger, J. P. (2008). Ethics in American health 2: An ethical framework for health system
reform. American Journal of Public Health, 98 (1), 1756–1763.
Wieck, K. L., Oehler, T., Green, A., & Jordan, C. (2004). Safe nurse staffing: A win-win
collaboration model for influencing health policy. Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice,
5 (3), 160–166.
Optional Resources
Fowler, M. (2008). Guide to the code of ethics for nurses: Interpretation and application.
M. D. M. Fowler (Ed.). Silver Spring, MD: The American Nurses Association, Inc.
O’Connor, J. C., MacNeil, A., Chriqui, J. F., Tynan, M., Bates, H., & Eidson, S. K.
(2008). Preemption of local smoke-free air ordinances: The implications of judicial
opinions for meeting national health objectives. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics,
36(2), 403–412.
Rogers, E. M., & Peterson, J. C. (2008). Diffusion of clean indoor air ordinances in the
southwestern United States. Health Education & Behavior, 35(5), 683–697.
Trentham, M. (2009). Patient abandonment—What is it really? ASBN Update, 13(1).
