Professional Boundaries Violation and Crossing

Professional Boundaries Violation and Crossing

Definitions

Professional boundaries refer to limits put in place that assist nurses and patients establish a professional relationship. According to Masters (2015), they are regulations that protect the space between the vulnerabilities of patients and the power that nurses possess. Boundaries exist to protect both parties involved in a professional relationship. Ethical practices and professional boundaries exist to foster trust between nurses and patients. Nurses should never share anything that might cause the patients to be uncomfortable. Boundary violations are actions that do not have the best interest of one party at heart, and it might cause harm. Boundary crossings are normal short incidences that happen intentionally or accidentally.

Signs of a Potential Professional Boundary Violation or Crossing

Nurses need to conduct themselves within the allowed therapeutic relationship and not under-involve or over-involve themselves with the patients. Some of the signs that might indicate professional boundary violation or crossing include discussing personal or intimate issues with patients. Nurses should never at any point over share their personal and intimate issues with patients in a manner that violates the patent’s privacy as this might make the patients uncomfortable. When the patient is uncomfortable, it might lead to negative outcomes.

Another sign is when patients give gifts to the nurses. Nurses should generally avoid and discourage patients from giving gifts as it will lead to a violation of personal boundaries. In the event that a nurse does receive a gift, the nurse should asses the reason why the patient gave the gift, if the gift holds any therapeutic value to the patient, the value of the gift, and whether the patient gave the gift to influence the level of care that the nurse gives.

Engaging in flirtatious behavior with a patient is another violation that might be construed as sexual misconduct. Nurses should refrain from engaging in such behaviors as it has serious consequences. Spending more time than necessary with a patient is also another sign. Nurses should attend to patients and immediately they finish attending to the patient should politely excuse themselves and depart. By spending an inappropriate amount of time with a particular patient, the patient might misconstrue the gesture and might violate or cross the nurse’s professional boundaries. Meeting patients out of the immediate environment in which the nurse provides medical care is another sign. According to the American Nurses Association (2001), nurses should provide care according to the stipulated code of ethics and should not abuse the patients’ right to receive healthcare.

Contrasting Terms

According to Cowan and Walsh (2001), terminal sedation is the process of providing sedation to a person in severe pain during the last moments just before death. Physicians administer terminal sedation during the end of a person’s life and when the patient is in severe pain. The sedation aims to provide some reprieve just before death.

Physician-assisted suicide refers to the situation where a physician prescribes a lethal dose of drugs to patients that are severely ill and want to end it all. Before the physician prescribes the dose, the patient’s condition must first qualify for the physician-assisted suicide under the laws of the state in which they reside in.

Rational suicide refers to a person’s decision of taking their own life after a logical decision-making process. Many choose to commit rational suicide usually because of emotional distress. They choose this path as a means of escape from the emotional distress.

References

American Nurses Association. (2001). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Nursesbooks. org.

Cowan, J. D., & Walsh, D. (2001). Terminal sedation in palliative medicine–definition and review of the literature. Supportive Care in Cancer, 9(6), 403-407.

Masters, K. (2015). Role Development in Professional Nursing Practice (5th ed.). Hattiesburg , Mississipi: Jones & Bartlett Learning.