Advanced Practice Nurse Response to Concussion Patient Requesting Immediate Return-to-Play

Ethical Dilemmas in Advanced Practice Nursing: Balancing Patient Autonomy, Safety, and Evidence-Based Guidelines after a Head Injury

Advanced practice nurses frequently confront ethical dilemmas when a patient’s desires, such as a 17-year-old requesting immediate return to play after a football-related head injury, conflict with medical evidence, necessitating a judicious response grounded in beneficence, non-maleficence, and evidence-based concussion management guidelines for top-tier clinical decision-making.

Assignment: Lab Assignment: Ethical Concerns in Advanced Practice Nursing Practice

Assignment: Lab Assignment: Ethical Concerns Photo Credit: Getty Images/Maskot As an advanced 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. These moments can be incredibly challenging, testing your professional boundaries and personal ethics. This may create an ethical dilemma. Successfully navigating these conflicts is central to providing holistic and ethical patient care. 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. This exercise is designed to help you apply theoretical knowledge to complex real-world clinical situations.

To Prepare Review the scenarios provided by your instructor for this week’s Assignment. Remember to check for updated content or specific instructions that might affect your chosen scenario. Please see the “Course Announcements” section of the classroom for your scenarios.

Based on the scenarios provided:

• Select one scenario, and reflect on the material presented throughout this course. Consider how the principles you’ve learned apply directly to the patient’s predicament and your role.
• What necessary information would need to be obtained about the patient through health assessments and diagnostic tests? Think critically about the specific data points that would support or contradict the patient’s wishes.
• Consider how you would respond as an advanced practice nurse. Your response should be both medically sound and ethically justifiable. Review evidence-based practice guidelines and ethical considerations applicable to the scenarios you selected.

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). Focus on being thorough yet concise in your description of the necessary clinical data. Explain how you would respond to the scenario as an advanced practice nurse using evidence-based practice guidelines and applying ethical considerations. Your professional judgment must be guided by the best available research. Justify your response using at least three different references from current evidence-based literature. These sources will lend credibility and scholarly depth to your position.

Case Scenario Used in This Narrative:

A 17-year-old boy has come in for a check-up after a head injury during a football game. He has indicated that he would like to be able to play in the next game, which is in 3 days.

Submission Instructions

By Day 6 of Week 11 Submit your Assignment.

Submission and Grading Information To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK11Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.

Click the Week 11 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.

Click the Week 11 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.

Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK11Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.

If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.

Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

This lab assignment on ethical concerns for advanced practice nurses directly addresses the complexities of concussion management in adolescent sports, a topic demanding strict adherence to evidence-based practice and ethical principles like beneficence and non-maleficence. Understanding the legal and ethical responsibilities related to a minor’s assent versus parental consent in return-to-play decisions is crucial for top-tier clinical practice.

Prepare a 1-page narrative describing the health assessment and diagnostic tests required to diagnose a 17-year-old post-concussion and formulate an evidence-based, ethically sound APN response.

Learning Materials/Resources

1. Longo, L. M., Sclafani, S., & Bressan, S. (2022). Evaluation and Management of Concussion in Adolescents: A Review of Current Evidence and Guidelines. Pediatric Emergency Care, 38(1), e163–e168.
2. Koo, J. C., Didehban, N., & Kim, A. (2020). Concussion and Return-to-Play Decisions: An Ethical Framework for Healthcare Providers. Journal of Clinical Ethics, 31(3), 221–230.
3. Meehan, W. P., & O’Brien, M. J. (2019). Sport-Related Concussion in Children and Adolescents. Current Sports Medicine Reports, 18(11), 395–402.
4. American Nurses Association. (2021). Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.
5. Sneed, T. (2023). Pediatric Concussion Management: The Role of the Advanced Practice Nurse in Patient Education and Advocacy. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 19(2), 104443.