Category: Professional Integrity

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  • 51. Case: Confidentiality and Privacy

    Joanne Baker, a nurse practitioner in a small community, prescribed a partial opiate agonist to a young man, Brian, for treatment of prescription opiate dependence. Brian is talented and plays on the same soccer team as Joanne’s son. Three weeks later, Brian is found unresponsive after an overdose of opiates, requiring intubations and medical evacuation…

    View Case Study: 51. Case: Confidentiality and Privacy

  • 49. Case: Reality Check?

    A clerk and resident are frustrated after a morning of taking histories from and doing physical examinations of patients referred to the GI Clinic. As you (the attending clinic gastroenterologist) are going over the morning’s work with them, the clerk and resident complain that most of the patients seem to have less clinically significant symptoms…

    View Case Study: 49. Case: Reality Check?

  • 48. Case: Shared Experience

    You have recently started working as an RN in cardiology at the local pediatric health centre. One of the first cases you are involved with hits a little close to home. It involves a 2-year old patient named Kira who has a congenital cardiac abnormality. The clinical circumstances are similar to what you experienced with…

    View Case Study: 48. Case: Shared Experience

  • 47. Case: Collegial Responsibilities

    You are a pediatric critical care specialist working in the ICU taking care of a newborn infant who suffered a severe, prolonged reduction in blood flow to his brain at the time of birth. The consulting neurologist has indicated that the infant’s prognosis for functional neurological recovery is very poor in the unlikely event that…

    View Case Study: 47. Case: Collegial Responsibilities

  • 46. Case: Team Work?

    Judy, who had worked as a senior social worker in a mental health setting for 12 years, was hired as a team social worker in a community health care organization. Shirley, one of the team RNs, perceived Judy as hesitant and ineffective in patient care planning meetings. Other team members also found Judy to be…

    View Case Study: 46. Case: Team Work?

  • 37. Case: A Question of Resources

    Joyce Skinner is a 38-year old woman with non-curative leukemia. She is the single mother of two children, ages 11 and 8, and her ex-husband is ‘out of the (parental) picture’. Since her leukemia diagnosis, Joyce has approached her progressive hematological cancer in an assertive manner, seeing it as her responsibility to fight to stay…

    View Case Study: 37. Case: A Question of Resources

  • 32. Case: To Report or Not

    Dr. B is the epidemiologist and director of infection control for an academic health centre. The reportable disease statutes and regulations in Dr. B’s province specify that hospitals and other health care facilities throughout the province are required to track nosocomial infections (infections not present in patients prior to their admission to the hospital) and…

    View Case Study: 32. Case: To Report or Not

  • 27. Case: Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment

    Mr. Windown, age 82, is admitted to a cardiology clinical unit with unstable angina. In addition to his coronary artery disease, Mr. Windown suffers from disabling generalized osteoarthritis, chronic and progressive obstructive lung disease, and diabetes with associated compromise of his vision and kidney function. The coronary angiography reveals significant blockages of Mr. Windown’s coronary…

    View Case Study: 27. Case: Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment

  • 22. Case: Double Effect?

    The following call comes in to the ethics line: “Hi. It’s Celine from Oncology. We have a patient here who is in the end stages of lung cancer and is in a lot of pain. The patient and his family are strongly Catholic. The patient’s pain doesn’t seem to be well-controlled. But the family won’t…

    View Case Study: 22. Case: Double Effect?

  • 19. Case: Craig’s Right to Choose?

    Craig Renaldo is a 14-year old boy who was recently diagnosed with a right lower leg malignant vascular tumour. Staging investigations have been negative for distant metastases. Craig’s attending medical oncologist, Dr. Purvis, consults a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Mendes, who recommends a below-knee amputation. Dr. Purvis concurs with this recommendation given the aggressive nature…

    View Case Study: 19. Case: Craig’s Right to Choose?

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