Deck 5: Values and Ethics of Healthcare Social Work

Question 1

Sue is a social worker whose client Mary, an 82-year-old woman, has been hospitalized following a fall at home. Mary has been living independently and wants to return home. Mary's children are very concerned that it is no longer safe for Mary to continue to live independently in her own home. Sue shares some of the same concern as Mary's family members, but Mary is alert and oriented and cognitively able to understand the risks of returning home. The family has requested a meeting without the patient present. Which of Beauchamp and Childress's principles of bioethics would help guide Sue as she decides what to do?

A) Principle of autonomy
B) Principle of beneficence
C) Principle of nonmaleficience
D) Principle of justice

Answer 1

Principle of autonomy

Question 2

Carol works in a hospital with an inpatient-only palliative care program. During a dinner with a colleague, Brenda, Carol discovers that the palliative care physician has been making home visits for Brenda's patients. Carol is concerned when she hears about this, but Brenda insists that the physician is "doing the right thing." It is true the patients being seen at home are very ill and will benefit enormously from this care. Which principle of bioethics applies in this case?

A) Principle of autonomy
B) Principle of beneficence
C) Principle of nonmaleficience
D) Principle of justice

Answer 2

Principle of justice

Question 3

The most universally acknowledged principle in medical ethics is ___.

A) Principle of autonomy
B) Principle of beneficence
C) Principle of nonmaleficience
D) Principle of justice

Answer 3

Principle of beneficence

Question 4

"First do no harm" is consistent with the principle of _____________________________.

A) Principle of autonomy
B) Principle of beneficence
C) Principle of nonmaleficience
D) Principle of justice

Question 5

In the _____________________________________ perspective, ethical rules are self-evident and should be upheld under all circumstances.

A) Deontological
B) Consequentialist
C) Virtue ethics
D) Ethics of care

Question 6

The ___________________________________ perspective states that ethics constitutes the bases for moral virtues in us and our communities.

A) Deontological
B) Consequentialist
C) Virtue ethics
D) Ethics of care

Question 7

The ________________________________ perspective proposes that decisions include consideration and promotion of the relationship needs of all the parties involved.

A) Deontological
B) Consequentialist
C) Virtue ethics
D) Ethics of care

Question 8

The ________________________________ perspective states that ethical decisions may consider the expected outcomes of a decision in the determination of whether the decision is morally acceptable.

A) Deontological
B) Consequentialist
C) Virtue ethics
D) Ethics of care

Question 9

According to Dolgoff, Lowenberg, and Harrington's hierarchy-of-decision-making model, _______________________ is the highest principle.

A) Least harm
B) Truthfulness and full disclosure
C) Quality of life
D) Protection of life

Question 10

A treatment that has not been effective in the last 100 cases but that may be effective on the 101st attempt is ____________________________________.

A) Not really futile
B) Qualitatively futile
C) Quantitatively futile
D) Successful

Question 11

A treatment that merely preserves permanent unconsciousness and cannot end dependence on intensive medical care is ___________________________.

A) Not really futile
B) Qualitatively futile
C) Quantitatively futile
D) Successful

Question 12

The degree to which social workers in hospitals are involved in ethical deliberations with patients and professionals is called ____________________________.

A) Hierarchy of decision making
B) Ethical activism
C) Autonomy
D) Beneficence

Question 13

Social workers identified _________________________ as their chief resource in dealing with ethical dilemmas.

A) Physicians
B) Team leaders
C) Administrators
D) Peers

Question 14

Pam is a social worker who has been working in a hospital. One of her patients, Julie, asks Pam if she will be her Facebook "friend." Pam says she cannot because this is against her professional code of ethics. Julie gets very emotional and states, "Well, I think you just don't really care about me. After all, I am Facebook 'friends' with several of the nurses." What should Pam do?

A) Go ahead and be Facebook "friends"
B) Explain that the code of ethics is not the same for all healthcare professions
C) Tell the nursing staff that they are behaving unethically
D) Report the nurses to the hospital administration

Question 15

A dual relationship is one in which ___________________________________.

A) A social worker has a professional as well as a personal or business relationship with a patient
B) A social worker is employed by two separate and competing healthcare facilities
C) A social worker is married to colleague
D) A social worker provides services to the patient and the patient's family

Question 16

The four elements of the provision of healthcare include:

A) Altruism, stewardship, acceptability, and legality
B) Equality, access, well-being, and integrity
C) Availability, access, acceptability, and quality
D) Fiscal responsibility, professionalism, legality, and collective responsibility

Question 17

When a patient is dying, social workers can act as ______________________________ to assist the patient and their family in understanding the natural course of their illness, the process of dying, and the benefits and risks of continued medical intervention.

A) Gatekeepers
B) Context interpreters
C) Team leaders
D) Doulas

Question 18

Referrals related to concerns about _______________________ represent some of the most vexing and time-consuming challenges faced by ethics committees.

A) Undocumented patients who may be in the country illegally
B) Adoption
C) Abortion
D) Futile treatment

Question 19

The rise in the use of ethics committees has been tied to __________________.

A) Rise in technology
B) Paternalism
C) Medicare requirements
D) Continuous quality improvement

Question 20

The gap between what the patient-care team communicates to the patient and family and what the patient and family understand about the patient's condition is an ongoing issue in end-of-life care because _________________________.

A) Physicians tend to initiate the conversation too early, and patients don't think these issues pertain to them
B) Patients are unable to cope with the knowledge they are dying
C) Of complex family dynamics
D) Goals of care are not elicited from patients to help frame their end-of-life decisions

Question 21

Healthcare professionals only need worry themselves with the values of their own profession.

Question 22

Working in end-of-life care, social workers can listen to their patients' stories and then share the values imbedded within the patient's stories with the other members of the healthcare team in order to promote better understanding of the patient's goals of care.

Question 23

One difficulty with many of the ethical decision-making models is that equal weight is given to each of the principles.

Question 24

There can be more than one morally accepted outcome to an ethical dilemma.

Question 25

Futility is a social construct.

Question 26

Social workers have fought hard and have finally been included as members of ethics committees.

Question 27

A key activity of an ethics committee is to act as a sounding board rather than the decision maker.

Question 28

The value of integrity dictates social workers behave in a trustworthy manner. This includes having respect for the ethical standards in organizational practice settings.

Question 29

____________________________ are defined as preferences, perceptions, and evaluations of worth.

Question 30

The ______________________________ perspective holds that ethical rules are self-evident and should be upheld in any circumstances.

Question 31

An _________________________________ is a multidisciplinary group of healthcare professionals within a healthcare institution that has been specifically established to address the ethical dilemmas that occur within the institution.

Question 32

NASW Code of Ethics (2008) Standard 1.06 (Conflicts of Interest) cautions that a dual relationship can interfere with the exercise of professional discretion and impartial judgment and should be avoided. Janice is a social worker that believes that based on the Code of Ethics, dual relationships should be avoided at all costs. She is expressing the ________________ view of ethics. Rachel is also a social worker; she says Janice is being too dogmatic and that dual relationships are situational and contextually determined. Rachel is expressing the ____________ view of ethics.