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HIV antibody testing presents multiple and complex legal and ethical issues. Nurse executives must be knowledgeable about these issues and their potential impact on administrative practice. In this two-part series, the author presents legal and ethical issues related to testing. Part 1 focuses on the AIDS epidemic, the ELISA test, informed consent, confidentiality, and mandatory vs. voluntary testing.
In part 1 of this two-part series, legal and ethical issues in HIV testing were examined, such as the ELISA test, informed consent, confidentiality, and mandatory vs. voluntary testing. In this article, the author presents the most important legal and ethical concerns related to legislation for testing, testing in the workplace, Centers for Disease Control guidelines and recommendations, ethical analysis, and implications for nurse executives.
"Mandatory" or required request for donation of the organs of patients dying in hospitals has been promulgated as a means of increasing the rate of organ harvest and alleviating the critical shortage of transplantable organs. Although the federal and many state governments have passed legislation to make such requests compulsory, the efficacy of this approach has not been demonstrated. Examination of the experience at our trauma center and in this region, before and after the enactment of a "strong" required request law by the State of New Jersey, did not reveal a statistically significant change in organ procurement. We conclude that such laws are unlikely to achieve the desired result in the absence of fundamental changes in the attitudes of the public and treating physicians.
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The impact of the United Network for Organ Sharing mandatory sharing policy on a large transplant center procuring kidneys primarily from caucasians while serving a pool of prospective recipients composed mainly of blacks is described. This policy requires that all 6-antigen-matched and phenotypically identical donor kidneys be shipped to the appropriately matched recipients. The study consisted of 49 kidneys from 25 cadaveric donors; one kidney was unusable. In general, the 33 recipients of the mandatorily shared kidneys were caucasian (94%), unsensitized (70%), and first-time transplants (73%). Allograft survival for the 24 first-time recipients was 100% (mean graft survival = 11.3 months). Of the 9 regraft kidneys, 2 have failed (mean graft survival = 11.9 months) due to chronic rejection. In comparison, the 16 paired kidneys transplanted into non-6-antigen-matched recipients exhibited a 1-year graft survival of 80% versus 92% for the 33 recipients of mandatorily shared kidneys (P = 0.01). These 16 recipients were composed of more blacks (38%), fewer regrafts (6%), and most were unsensitized (75%). All 25 cadaveric donors were caucasians with very common HLA types. Thus, kidneys provided by the UNOS mandatory sharing policy had excellent allograft survival, and the recipients were largely unsensitized caucasians receiving their first kidney. The low number of blacks receiving allografts under this policy may be due to two factors. First, the histocompatibility differences between black recipients and the primarily caucasian cadaveric donor pool limit the number of kidneys available to blacks. Secondly, blacks do not have access to the best-matched kidneys, in part due to few black donors, their best source for well-matched kidneys. Thus, the mandatory sharing program is of clear benefit to the recipients of these well-matched kidneys; however, for a local program servicing a waiting list composed of 64% blacks the policy has been of limited value. In contrast, over 50% of local cadaveric transplants are into black recipients in a waiting time of 197 days, one third the national average for blacks. In conclusion, this study supports efforts to improve graft survival through matching but emphasizes the need to broaden our efforts in all areas of research and organ procurement to serve the entire recipient population, regardless of race.
Medical screening and biomedical monitoring violate individual rights. Such conflicts of right with right are acted upon synergistically by uncertainty which, in some important respects, increases rather than decreases as a result of research. Issues of rightness and wrongness, ethical issues, arise because the human beings who are subjects of medical screening and biological monitoring often have little or no option whether to be subjected to them. We identify issues of rightness and wrongness of biomedical surveillance for various purposes of occupational health and safety. We distinguish between social validity and scientific validity. We observe that principles are well established for scientific validity, but not for social validity. We support guidelines as a way forward.
Multiple authorities have recommended that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing should be performed only with consent of the patient. After institution of a policy requiring written consent for testing patients and employees after blood/body fluid exposures, we prospectively studied incidents in which employees were exposed to the blood or body secretions of patients to determine the rate at which HIV testing could be performed under these circumstances. Two hundred four employees suffered an exposure. In 184/204 (90%) of incidents, the index patient was known. HIV testing was performed for 125/184 patients (68%). Patient consent was refused in one case, but consent could not be obtained from an additional 58/184 (32%) patients because of various logistical reasons. We conclude that a policy requiring informed consent for HIV testing of a patient after exposure of an employee to blood or body fluids of the patient results in an unacceptably low rate of testing and that an alternative approach must be developed.
Attempts to control industrial bladder cancer in the United Kingdom started with studies in the 1920s and 1930s among workers in the dye manufacturing industry. Annual cystoscopy examinations were attempted in some work forces. In addition, studies on microscopic hematuria were under way when Papanicolaou's method was published. In the United Kingdom this method was tested and refined and became standardized. Use of the Papanicolaou method spread through the high-risk industries, including dye manufacture, some other parts of the organic chemical industry, and rubber-related industries. Current mandatory screening programs in the United Kingdom are summarized, and consideration is given as to how screening might be changed in the future. Clinical practice associated with bladder cancer screening is reviewed. The identification of possible new high-risk groups is used to highlight future trends.
OBJECTIVE: This study explored the link between mandatory continuing education (CE) for relicensure and the development of professional competence. BACKGROUND DATA: Boards of nursing protect the public by establishing requirements for safe entry-level practice and assessing ongoing nursing competence. Some boards have mandated accumulation of CE hours as a means of assuring continued competence. The use of CE for this purpose has been controversial because no link had been established between CE and nurse competencies. METHODS: A survey was sent to 4000 randomly selected nursing subjects: 2000 licensed practical or vocational nurses (LPN/VNs) and 2000 registered nurses (RNs). RESULTS: Nurses perceived that work experience, their basic professional education, and mentors and preceptors were stronger contributors to their professional development than CE. Nurses mandated to collect CE hours did not experience more growth in their professional abilities nor did they accumulate more total hours of CE than those without such a mandate. Those with mandates did, however, attend more hours of CE that were unrelated to their work or interest, and were more likely to attend CE by correspondence. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses attend CE classes whether they are mandated to do so or not.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of a mandatory protocol for treating diabetic ketoacidosis. DESIGN: Chart review of patients treated before and after protocol implementation. SETTING: University-affiliated U.S. public teaching hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 241 consecutive nonpregnant patients >18 yrs old admitted to a medical intensive care unit for diabetic ketoacidosis between January 2000 and January 2005. INTERVENTION: Implementation of a mandatory treatment protocol in May 2003. MEASUREMENTS: Intensive care unit and hospital lengths of stay, time to correction of anion gap and ketone clearance, and hypoglycemic episodes. RESULTS: Before protocol implementation, the mean +/- sd intensive care unit and hospital lengths of stay were 44 +/- 28 hrs and 91 +/- 73 hrs, respectively. After implementation, intensive care unit and hospital lengths of stay decreased 23% and 30%, to 34 +/- 18 hrs and 64 +/- 41 hrs, respectively (both p < .007). Time to anion gap closure and ketone clearance also decreased (both p < .05). No difference in the number of hypoglycemic episodes was observed. CONCLUSION: Implementing a mandatory protocol for treating adult patients with diabetic ketoacidosis decreases intensive care and hospital lengths of stay and time to anion gap closure and ketone clearance, without increasing the rate of hypoglycemia.
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Most countries promote mass immunisation programmes. The varying policy details raise a raft of philosophical issues. I have two broad aims in this paper. First, I hope to begin to remedy a rather curious philosophical neglect of immunisation. With this in mind, I take a broad approach to the topic hoping to introduce rather than settle a range of philosophical issues. My second aim has two aspects: I argue that the states should have pro-immunisation policies, and I advance a view of the subsequent and more specific question as to which sorts of pro-immunisation policies they should prefer. I use the immunisation policies of the United States and New Zealand to frame my discussion of these substantive questions. Immunisation is effectively compulsory in the United States. New Zealand, by contrast, requires evidence not of immunisation but of immunisation status upon school enrolment: New Zealand's policy effectively makes immunisation choice compulsory. I argue that, as between the pro-immunisation policies of the United States and New Zealand, the latter should be preferred. Though the threshold question as to whether states should have pro-immunisation policies should be answered affirmatively, the move to compulsory immunisation cannot be justified.
In the Fall of 1997 the leading Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, created a media hype over the Swedish policy of compulsory sterilisation that had been in operation between 1935 and 1975. In the discussion that followed, the moral condemnation of our medical past was unanimous. However, the reasons for rejecting what had gone on were varied and mutually inconsistent. Three strands of criticism were common: the argument from autonomy, the argument from caution, and the argument from biological scepticism. In the paper it is argued that what point of departure you choose in your criticism of the past should be of consequence also for your ideas about present and future medical practice. In particular, if you rely on the argument from autonomy, you should be prepared to accept a liberal (present and future) use of reproductive techniques.
The aim of this study was to explore clinician reactions to (i) the introduction of routine outcome measures and (ii) the utility of outcomes data in clinical practice. Focus group discussions (n = 34) were conducted with mental health staff (n = 324) at approximately 8 months post implementation of routine outcome measures. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect data on two key issues; reactions to the introduction of outcome measures and factors influencing the utility of outcomes data in clinical practice. Data from the discussion groups were analysed using content analysis to isolate emerging themes. While the majority of participants endorsed the collection and utilization of outcomes data, many raised questions about the merits of the initiative. Ambivalence, competing work demands, lack of support from senior medical staff, questionable evidence to support the use of outcome measures, and fear of how outcomes data might be used emerged as key issues. At 8 months post implementation a significant number of clinical staff remained ambivalent about the benefits of outcome measurement and had not engaged in the process. The shift to a service model driven by outcomes and case-mix data will take time and resources to achieve. Implications for nursing staff are discussed.
Fletcher, Berg and Tranøy (1985) proposed that medical geneticists around the world would benefit from collective reflection on their preferred approaches to the most frequent of the difficult moral choices in practical genetics. In 1985-86, Wertz & Fletcher undertook a survey of geneticists' views in 19 nations. Results were widely disseminated. In this paper, the authors describe a new survey that they are conducting in 37 nations.