Consider the following scenarios:
• You are a nurse at a large county hospital. One of your patients is leaning toward selecting a certain radical
treatment for cancer, to which the family is in opposition. The family is concerned about making the correct
decision and asks for your advice.
•
• The state of Oregon has passed a “Death with Dignity” act that allows for euthanasia in certain situations.
One of your patients suffering from terminal cancer is thinking of moving there to take advantage of this law
and asks your opinion.
Throughout this course, you have explored a wide range of health assessments and abnormal examination
findings. Although you have predominantly focused on the procedural aspects of health assessment, this week,
you will focus on ethical considerations that should be taken into account when advising patients or their
families.
This week, you will consider how evidence-based practice guidelines and ethical considerations factor into
health assessments. You will also evaluate health assessment concepts related to sports physicals and wellchild and well-woman examinations.

o What necessary information would need to be obtained about the patient through health assessments and
diagnostic tests?
o Consider how you would respond as an advanced practice nurse. Review evidence-based practice
guidelines and ethical considerations applicable to the scenario you are given.
CASE STUDY 3:
A 27-year-old man with Crohn’s disease has been admitted to the emergency room with an extreme flare-up of
his condition. He explains that he has not been able to afford his medications for the last few months and is
concerned about the costs he may incur for treatment.
The Lab Assignment
Write a detailed one-page narrative (not a formal paper) explaining the health assessment information required
for a diagnosis of your selected patient (include the scenario number). Explain how you would respond to the
scenario as a practice nurse using evidence-based practice guidelines and applying ethical considerations.
Justify your response using at least three different references from current evidence-based literature.
As an practice nurse, you will run into situations where a patient’s wishes about his or her health conflict with
evidence, your own experience, or a family’s wishes. This may create an ethical dilemma. What do you do
when these situations occur?
In this Lab Assignment, you will explore evidence-based practice guidelines and ethical considerations for
specific scenarios.
To Prepare
Review the scenarios provided.
Based on the scenarios provided:
Reflect on the material presented throughout this course.