Therapeutic Comm Q 13
Which statement demonstrates the best understanding of the nurse’s role regarding ensuring that each client’s rights are respected?
A. "Autonomy is the fundamental right of each and every client."
B. "A patient's rights are guaranteed by both state and federal laws."
C. "Being respectful and concerned will ensure that I'm attentive to my patient's rights."
D. "Regardless of the patient's conditions, all nurses have the duty to respect patient rights."
Correct Answer: C. “Being respectful and concerned will ensure that I’m attentive to my patients’ rights.”
The nurse needs to respect and have concern for the patient; this is vital to protecting the patient’s rights. Patient rights are a subset of human rights. Whereas the concept of human rights refers to minimum standards for the ways persons can expect to be treated by others, the concept of ethics refers to customary standards for the ways persons should treat others.
Option A: While it is true that autonomy is a basic client right, there are other rights that must also be both respected and facilitated. Commonly established rights tend to derive from a core set of ethical principles, including autonomy of the patient, beneficence, nonmaleficence, (distributive) justice, patient-provider fiduciary (trusting) relationship, and inviolability of human life.
Option B: State and federal laws do protect a patient’s rights, but it is sensitivity to those rights that will ensure that the nurse secures these rights for the patient. As such, rights and ethics are usually flip sides of the same coin, and behind every ‘patient right’ is one or more ethical principles from which that right is derived.
Option D: It is a fact that safeguarding a patient’s rights is a nursing responsibility, but stating that fact does not show understanding or respect for the concept. Establishing clearly defined patient rights helps standardize care across healthcare fields and enables patients to have uniform expectations during their treatment.