Ethics, Patient Outcomes, and Nurse Satisfaction

Order Description
Describe a complex ethical issue confronting professional nurses in your healthcare setting. Choose a different issue than the one you are addressing in the course project.

Evaluate how this issue impacts patient outcomes and safety, as well as nurse satisfaction and retention.

How has this issue been addressed within your organization? Do you agree or disagree with how the issue has been addressed? Explain.
How might you, as a nurse leader, address it? How would you approach the issue? Who should be involved in the decision making and why? What actions would you take? Why?
What are the implications of compassion fatigue for this issue? How might you, as a nurse leader, identify and address these implications?
Your initial post should be succinct, and demonstrate clarity of thought and precision in writing. Support your discussion with at least one reference other than the required reading.

Resources:
Read Absolon and Krueger’s 2008 article, “Compassion Fatigue Nursing Support Group in Ambulatory Care Gynecology/Oncology Nursing,” from Oncology Nursing Forum, volume 35, issue 3, page 500.
Read Aycock and Boyle’s 2009 article, “Interventions to Manage Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Nursing,” from Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, volume 13, issue 2, pages 183–191. This article presents the findings of a study identifying the availability of interventions in three major categories: on-site professional resources, educational programs, and specialized retreats for nurses.
Read Bush’s 2009 article, “Compassion Fatigue: Are You at Risk?,” from Oncology Nursing Forum, volume 36, issue 1, pages 24–28. This article defines compassion fatigue, identifies who may be at risk, and provides information on how to provide compassionate care for oneself.
Read Repenshek’s 2009 article, “Moral Distress: Inability to Act or Discomfort With Moral Subjectivity?,” from Nursing Ethics, volume 16, issue 6, pages 734–742. This article provides a critical examination of how the Catholic tradition’s normative ethical framework accounts for moral subjectivity in end-of-life decision making serves to aid nursing’s discomfort and as a starting point to recontextualize moral distress.