Practicum Journal Entry: Analyzing an Ethical Decision
In your role as a PMHNP, you will encounter several situations that will require your ability to make sound judgments and practice decisions for the safety and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. There may not be a clear-cut answer of how to address the issue, but your ethical decision making must be based on evidenced-based practice and what is good, right, and beneficial for patients. You will encounter patients who do not hold your values, but you must remain professional and unbiased in the care you provide to all patients regardless of their socio-demographic and ethnic/racial background. You must be prepared to critically analyze ethical situations and develop an appropriate plan of action. For this Assignment, you review the literature and discover the various ethical dilemmas PMHNPs encounter and how these issues are typically addressed in your state.
To prepare:
- Review literature for moral/ethical issues encountered by a PMHNP.
- Select one of the articles you found that was published within the last 5 years to use as a focus for this assignment.
Write a 2-page paper in which you do the following:
- Summarize the moral/ethical issue in the article (no more than 1 paragraph).
- Describe the moral and ethical dilemmas surrounding the issue.
- Analyze the ethical issue and compare them to the state health laws and regulations in your state. State of Maryland
- Outline the process of ethical decision making you would use to address this ethical
Note: Be sure to use the Practicum Journal Template, located in this week’s Learning Resources
Required Readings
Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2014). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry: Behavioral sciences/clinical psychiatry (11th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
- Chapter 5, “Examination and Diagnosis of the Psychiatric Patient” (pp. 192–289)
- Chapter 31, “Child Psychiatry” (pp. 1082–1107)
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
- “Introduction”
- “Use of the Manual”
- “Cultural Formulation”
Required Media
Optional Resources
Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2014). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry: Behavioral sciences/clinical psychiatry (11th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
- Chapter 1, “Neural Sciences” (pp. 1–92)
- Chapter 31.2, “Assessment, Examination, and Psychological testing” (pp. 1107–1118)
Thapar, A., Pine, D. S., Leckman, J. F., Scott, S., Snowling, M. J., & Taylor, E. A. (2015). Rutter’s child and adolescent psychiatry (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
