Ethical Paper Instructions:
1. Choose an ethical topic of interest to you related to healthcare from the following topics:
Active Euthanasia
Mandatory HIV testing of health professionals
Do nurses have the right to refuse to treat Ebola patients?
2. Compile a Pro/Con annotated “BIB card” for at least six articles. (Three articles in support/Pro and three articles against/Con your ethical issue. Indicate at the top of the each page which articles are “Pro” and which ones are “Con”.) These articles must be obtained via the NSU online databases, which can be accessed via the Shreveport Library website. The articles must be from professional journals in the US, about the US population and issues, and no more than five years old. (Professional non-nursing journals can also be used.) Websites cannot be used as references. (See Ethical Analysis guidelines & grading rubric in the N2160 syllabus.)
3. Your annotated reference/Bibs (at least six) need to be submitted with your completed paper via Moodle. Label each bib as Pro or Con clearly at the top of the page. (The annotated references are basically “Bib Cards”, which have the reference listed at the top in APA format, followed by your summary (not copied parts) of the article content you will use in your paper.) The information from your summaries will be used in the text of the paper to support the pro or con arguments.
4. After reviewing the literature and compiling your annotated bibs, begin to write the paper, remembering to address the four ethical principles (beneficence, autonomy, nonmaleficence & justice) within the paper. Include your definition of each of the four terms (found in Ch. 2) and how the principle is either supported or violated. It is not enough just to mention the terms. You must define all four terms and apply them to your topic within your paper.
5. The text of your paper will be 2-3 pages in length. (Not including your title page, annotated Bibs and reference list.)
6. Organize the paper as follows: brief introduction to the ethical dilemma, followed by pro & con summaries. The final part of the paper should be your conclusion detailing your position (either pro or con) on the topic with justification/rationale. Incorporate/apply Ethical Standards 1,2,3,4,5, & 8 from the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses (Appendix A in your text) within the summaries and/or conclusion. Keep in mind, regardless of your personal opinion about a situation, as a nurse, you must adhere to the Code of Ethics for Nurses. (All the standards may not apply to your particular topic, however, some will apply.) References are to be integrated throughout the paper.
7. The article on Moral Courage that you should have read in the previous section of the course will be useful. The following website discusses the Four Topics Method, including an example of the application process that you might also find helpful:
https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/tools/cecase.html
8. So, the paper will have a brief introduction of your topic, pros and cons summarized (ideally, one Pro section/paragraph and one Con section/paragraph), followed by your conclusion. Include definitions and application of the four ethical principles, as mentioned above. Include application of the Code of Ethics for Nurses, as noted above. The completed assignment will have a title page and reference page (as did your Group Project paper). You will have at least six pages of annotated references/Bibs (one per page). Each annotated Bib does not have to cover the entire page, however, each Bib does need to be on a separate page with pro or con indicated at the top of the page, as noted above. Attach the annotated Bib pages behind/after the Reference List page of your paper and submit all the pages as one paper via Moodle. (If you have a three page paper with the title page, reference page and six annotated reference pages, you will be submitting eleven pages altogether.)