Nhs FPX 4000 Assessment 1
[Student Name]
Capella University
[Prof. Name]
August 2025
NHS FPX 4000 Assessment 1: Applying Ethical Principles
Most institutions and companies have codes of ethics, and the professional healthcare staff is expected to follow them to enhance the safety of their patients. Ethical standards are standard practices of the healthcare organizations and professions. The principle of beneficence should be applied in order to enhance wellness and avoid difficulties of patients. This case study in NHS FPX 4000 assessment 1 is of interest to the healthcare professionals who fail to adhere to the accepted moral principles. The line of investigation is a retained surgical component. Retained surgical objects or RSIs is one of the unwanted consequences of surgery. According to Weston and Chiodo (2022), retention of surgical items is considered as a serious and avoidable mistake, or more commonly known as a never event, which is capable of harming patients.
Overview of the Case Study
The name of the case study that I chose is The Missing Needlestuff Protector. The study presents the character of Dr. Cutrite, a general surgeon who used to be known worldwide, but now due to old age, he has been losing his mental and physical performance. The current director of clinical services in the hospital, Mr. Straight, spent some years in the hospital and is now coming up with initiatives to enhance standards of treatment. The first dangerous problem occurs when his operating room supervisor informs him one particular day that a missing protection on a needle could have been left on a patient during surgery. The supervisor mentioned that the red cap could not be observed at the time of operation of the injury. They received the equipment after the surgery had been counted, and have found that the cap was missing. One of the
solutions which Straight suggests is opening up the abdomen of Mrs. Jameson again in order to find the cap. Straight says, “we will tell her that it is necessary to trace her incision and deep sutures.” We shall be seeking the cover of the needle, but she will not know it. But he discovers it when it is too late since she had been released by the medical center the previous day. This example in NHS FPX 4000 assessment 1 provides the ethical and patient safety concerns that arise when there is a lapse in following proper surgical procedures.
Moreover, the surgery doctor called Dr. Cutrite is not ready to accept his failure. He explained to the supervisor of the operating room, that he will not mention anything to Mrs. Jameson and the patient should not be told. It will just pinch you a bit, and not hurt her, he says. Straight asks the chief of surgery on that day a question of what-if. This example demonstrates the application of ethical principles in patient care since it is evident that the principles of honesty and being responsible are breached. And he asks, what will happen when a patient had a cap left in him? According to the chief of surgery, it may be painful or uncomfortable. Straight never clues the chief of surgery on Mrs. Jameson and her needle cap in her abdomen or even the fact that it existed. Straight, a popular politician, does not even know whether he needs to cover Dr. Cutrite. This ethical dilemma causes significant uneasiness and nervousness to heterosexual people. This moral dilemma causes straight people to be very nervous and anxious.
Ethical Issues in the Case Study analysis/h2>
Clinical Services is directed by E.L. Straight. He is ensnared in a very grave ethical dilemma. An operating room supervisor contacted him and was discussing a recent surgery. She said a needle protective cap could end up being trapped in the
abdomen of a patient. This case in NHS FPX 4000 assessment 1 shows the ethical dilemma and patient safety risks associated with left behind surgical items. The procedure was done by Dr. Cutrite who is a physician at the hospital. Dr. Cutrite carried out the procedure with a syringe. The plastic syringe cap was not located in the post- operative count to verify the materials used. This episode demonstrates a high degree of a lack of accountability and underscores the importance of accountability as applied to surgical application of ethical principles. This situation poses an ethical issue because it entails that the patient was ignorant that she could have possibly brought washed needle cap into her abdomen. Such a needle cap might prove painful or otherwise objectionable. As it has been studied by Weston 2022, very significant outcomes might be related to retained surgical items, such as the need of invasive treatment or even death. This is because the potential needle cap is made visible to the doctor but he refuses to acknowledge the error or report about it to Mrs. Jameson. Concealing the facts, Dr. Cutrite is acting immorally. The clinical supervisor is as well acting unethically. Straight is unethical and demonstrates a lapse in application of ethical principles in nursing profession because he was going to deceive the patient in an attempt to protect the hospital against evaluation of the error.
He could have notified her that they will first examine her sutures prior to carrying out the second procedure to remove the cap. Anything but the fact that she was free. This would be against the moral principle that is the individual must not harm other people. It is referred to as non-maleficence of not harming somebody, which is a moral virtue. Also, Dr. Cutrite is breaching the non-maleficence criterion. She can become a
victim of such a needle shield, and it provokes serious issues about the NHS FPX 4000 evaluation 1 maintaining the ethical standard of caring about the patient. Even though he is not cognizant of that, he believes that it will be awkward. Straight, a clinical services director never disclosed his search of a solution to anyone. He is presented with a hard decision to make and since Dr. Cuthrite is a strong man, he is not sure whether to put him before him. Moreover, he cannot inform the patient Mrs. Jameson.
The Ethical Decision-Making Model as the Analysis Tool in the Case Study
Straight is showing an insufficiency of application of ethical principles in nursing because he is not applying the ethical judgment, moral awareness, and moral behavior with the patient, which are constituents of the model of ethical decision-making. Straight does not represent that one does not do something morally, reveals the truth to the patient, or does not report the mistake; however, he or she is morally aware and conscious of having an ethical dilemma. A moral awareness is portrayed by the operating room supervisor when she concedes that leaving a needle protector in a wound of a patient is a moral act. Moral judgment is also displayed by presenting the error publicly which is the right habit to follow. Without noticing the mistake when counting, Straight, Dr. Cutrite, and Mrs. Jameson would not have noticed it, had the supervisor not. Straight and Dr. Cutrite were not addressing the moral dilemma in an appropriate way. Straight is very jittery about confeassing the error due to the effect of Dr. Cutrite. He seemed to have a fear of breaking his orders because doing so will put his job in jeopardy. Leaving a needle cap in a patient is wrong, even though Straight is aware of it, what he does is not appropriable. As this case of the NHS FPX
4000 assessment 1 shows, the moral consequences of prioritizing fear of authority or professional relations over patient safety can be very serious.
The Influence of Communication Approaches in the Case Study
The approaches to communication that were used in this paper were not that successful. Straight utilized lots of non-working methods of communication. He used the Chief of Surgery to keep him informed and did not do the same by informing him the truth. He wanted to find answers to a question like: what would have happened to a patient who was exposed to the posting of a retained surgical item with an intension of determining whether the patient would be uncomfortable. I suppose the Chief of Surgery was supposed to look into this. I believe that the chief of surgery would be conscious that anything had occurred in case they have been contacted randomly and asked what if questions. The given breakdown becomes stressful on the importance of communicating clearly and honestly as well as how applying ethical principles in nursing is supposed to be a mere professional contact. When there is something left behind in the body of a patient it is a huge deal. He would have been able to ask more questions and listen to all the members of the surgery team. Had he contacted the supervisor of the surgery center, she would probably have informed him regarding the surgical outcome of Mrs. Jameson. The surgeon in-charge can then discuss with Dr. Cutrite and solve the problem. In addition, Straight could be at fault over his deception. The situation in the NHS FPX 4000 assessment 1 makes it clear the importance of the ethical decision-making, accountability, and communication in the practice of surgery.
The prospects of straight and Dr. Cutrite are that they will lose their jobs in case this gets discovered. This will also damage their reputations and also lose their
capability of operating in the healthcare industry. This serves as reminder to others in the medical work force by saying that they must always be truthful and moral. In the present case, neither Dr. Cutrite nor Straight have performed their professional tasks as they have not found a solution. This operating room supervisor was a pretty good epitome of effective communicator since she was very direct and honest to all, even Straight and Dr. Cutrite. However, upon realizing that Dr. Cutrite and Straight are not ethically acting, she can take a step ahead and report the same to the Chief of Surgery.
Identification of the Resolution or Addressing the Ethical Dilemma Using Ethical Principles
The only way to resolve this dilemma is that Straight and Dr. Cutrite should be honest and intimate to confess their wrongdoings. They are failing to adhere to the ethical concept, which is referred to as Duty ethics; under this concept as human beings we have a moral obligation of doing a given action regardless of the consequences. Neither of them is reporting because he or she is concerned about the possible aftermath of his/her reports or does not mind whether Mrs. Jameson faces some issues or not. They are no patient when they are demonstrating compassion. They break the moral principle of beneficence, in order to act as a source of comfort and a support to patients, indicating why it is important to applying ethical principles in nursing as a way to deliver patient-centred care.
Their approach to the problem should be to discuss the matter with the Chief of Surgery or the other members of the staff that deal with surgical processes. This brings into focus the importance of applying ethical principles whenever making decisions. This may involve discussing the case with the patient, Mrs. Jameson to inform her about
the mistake and review the implications of retaining surgical instrument. She would then make a choice of whether to wait and hope she will not experience some pain or suffering or have the thing removed again by surgery. Respecting the autonomy of a patient involves letting him/her make his own decisions (Vermont Ethics Network, 2011, p.1). Failure to extricate surgical item at once would show that Mrs. Jameson is self-empowered and is capable of observing her condition and reporting them in case she has any problems. The present example of NHS FPX 4000 assessment 1 demonstrates the significance of transparent communication through to the patients and the ethical principle of autonomy.
Conclusion
According to the process of applying ethical principles, moral keenness, ethical values, and sound sense should be the practice of healthcare practices. The patients and other medical practitioners would have trusted the Straight to act in the best interest of the case study had he mentioned this error to the case study at that moment. It is imperative to build a working relationship based on a trustful and ethical health care provider. The NHS FPX 4000 assessment 1 case scenario is a realization of the virtue of honesty, reliability, and responsibility in the practice of healthcare.
References
Capella University (2023). NHS-FPX4000 Ethical Case Study. Capella Website: Sharp, Aguirre,
Kickham, 2013, p. 10).
Vermont Ethics Network, 2011, p.1).
Weston, M. and Chiodo, C. (2022), Preventing Retained Surgical Items. AORN J, 115: 569-575. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.13697
