Story
During my second to last clinical I had been sent to wake my assigned resident up and get her ready for the day. When I had walked into the room, she was already sitting up at the edge of the bed. She told me to go and look on the back of the door and tell her what I saw. At first, I didn’t recognize the agitation in her voice and on her face. I told her what I saw on the back of the door, and she didn’t say anything. I asked her if she wanted to see the paper that was on the back of the door. After I had asked her if she wanted to see the paper she got more agitated, and told me no and that she would just get up and show me what was there. At that point, I had realized that she was getting frustrated with me, and in …show more content…
I didn’t want her to try to get up to show me the door, because I knew that she is a fall risk. I checked to see if her wheelchair was nearby, so that if she did insist on getting up I could get her into her chair instead of her trying to walk all the way to the door. However, her wheelchair was on the far end of the bathroom, and I didn’t want to leave her side in case she did try to get up. So, I stood in front of her and kneeled down to her level and asked her what she saw on the back of the door. She told me that there were a lot of tiny black bugs crawling all over the back of the door. I asked her if she wanted me to kill the bugs for her, and she said no, so I asked what she wanted me to do. She told me that she wanted me to believe her. I told her that I did believe her, and that she didn’t have to get up to show me. She seemed surprised at what I had told her, and …show more content…
However, maintaining client well-being is also one of the most important values (CNO, 2009). Maintaining the patients’ well-being includes the prevention or removal of potential harm (CNO, 2009). Furthermore, it is important to differentiate between what would be beneficial in the point of view of the patient, and what is considered beneficial in the point of view of the nurse (CNO, 2009). It is also important to consider the potential harm related to the treatment choice (CNO, 2009). In the case of this situation, being truthful may cause more harm than good. In the point of view of this resident, therapeutic lying, a term used to describe lies told when in the person’s best interest, would be the best course of action in terms of preserving the patient’s feelings (Hopkinson,