PNC Ethical & Spiritual Care 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A parish nurse is working with a terminally ill patient who refuses a blood transfusion due to religious beliefs. What ethical principle is the nurse upholding by honoring this decision?
- Beneficence
- Justice
- Autonomy (Correct answer)
- Fidelity
Correct answer: Autonomy
Autonomy is the ethical principle that respects an individual's right to make informed decisions about their own care, including those based on religious convictions.
Question 2: Which spiritual assessment tool uses the acronym HOPE to explore a patient's spiritual resources?
- Health, Openness, Purpose, Existence
- Sources of hope, Organized religion, Personal spirituality, Effects on care (Correct answer)
- Healing, Orientation, Prayer, Engagement
- History, Observation, Practice, Experience
Correct answer: Sources of hope, Organized religion, Personal spirituality, Effects on care
The HOPE tool assesses Sources of hope, Organized religion, Personal spirituality/practices, and Effects on care and end-of-life decisions.
Question 3: A faith community member confides suicidal ideation to the parish nurse and begs for confidentiality. What is the nurse's primary obligation?
- Honor the request and keep the information private
- Document the conversation but take no further action
- Immediately notify the faith community pastor
- Assess safety and initiate appropriate intervention protocols (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Assess safety and initiate appropriate intervention protocols
When a patient discloses suicidal ideation, the parish nurse's duty to protect life supersedes confidentiality; a thorough safety assessment and intervention are mandatory.
Question 4: During an ethical committee meeting, a parish nurse advocates for a patient whose family wants aggressive treatment the patient previously declined in writing. Which document supports the patient's wishes?
- POLST form only
- Advance directive / living will (Correct answer)
- Insurance authorization form
- Hospital admission consent
Correct answer: Advance directive / living will
An advance directive or living will is a legally recognized document that outlines a patient's treatment preferences when they can no longer speak for themselves.
Question 5: What does the 'F' in the FICA spiritual history tool stand for?
- Family
- Faith and belief (Correct answer)
- Feelings
- Function
Correct answer: Faith and belief
In the FICA tool, 'F' stands for Faith and belief, prompting the clinician to ask whether the patient considers themselves spiritual or religious.
Question 6: A parish nurse experiences moral distress when asked by leadership to limit spiritual care visits to reduce costs. Moral distress is best described as:
- Uncertainty about the correct ethical course of action
- Knowing the right action but being constrained from doing it (Correct answer)
- Disagreement between two equally valid ethical principles
- Feeling emotionally drained after caring for difficult patients
Correct answer: Knowing the right action but being constrained from doing it
Moral distress occurs when a nurse knows the ethically correct action but institutional or external constraints prevent carrying it out.
Question 7: Which ethical principle obligates a parish nurse to 'do no harm' when recommending complementary practices alongside conventional treatment?
- Autonomy
- Justice
- Non-maleficence (Correct answer)
- Veracity
Correct answer: Non-maleficence
Non-maleficence is the duty to avoid causing harm, requiring the parish nurse to evaluate whether any recommended practice could injure the patient.
PNC Ethical & Spiritual Care 2
A parish nurse is working with a terminally ill patient who refuses a blood transfusion due to religious beliefs.
What ethical principle is the nurse upholding by honoring this decision?