COURSE SYLLABUS: Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing
Course Title:
Department:
Instructor:
NR533 - Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing
Health Sciences
Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D, MBA, RN,CS, CNAA, FACHE E-Mail - Vita
Welcome to NR533, a graduate level course in the curriculum for the Degree, Masters in Nursing.
We are pleased to offer you this course, which will be an important course for your advanced
clinical practice. This is an exciting course. We have the opportunity in this course to explore
the most pressing legal and ethical issues and concerns related to the delivery of patient care,
and the administration of nursing services. This course is structured to present theories of
ethical practice, as well as issues of the law related to health care delivery. You will study
both specialties of practice in a blended manner, as the text provides for both to be examined
among board-based issues.
This course is formatted at the graduate level of study. It is intended to provide graduate
nursing students with the theory, knowledge and application necessary to deal with pressing
legal and ethical issues in administrative practice. Many concepts are presented that impact
patient care on a daily basis. Students who complete this course will have a far-reaching
knowledge base in which to provide for sound policies and procedures for nursing services, which
comply with legal and ethical mandates. Students will also be able to commensurate their roles
in nursing management/administration as high level “advocates” for clients.
This course will also stimulate higher levels of awareness regarding the need to develop
departmental and organizational compliance programs which address adherence to legal/ethical
issues. It will also assist advanced practice nurses in taking on a more active role within
institutional settings regarding legal/ethical dilemmas in practice.
TIME FRAME:
This is a three-semester hour course. This course is allotted 8 weeks of time. Students must
complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the 8-week period.
The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which
you notify me that your text book(s) have arrived and you are ready to begin your studies.
Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of time are permitted, unless
the student has good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be
awarded 3 semester hours of credit.
Law and Ethics for Clinicians. By Jacqulyn Kay Hall, BSN, ME d, JD.
Jackhal Books, Amarillo Texas. 2002. ISBN #: 1888856009
EXAMINATIONS:
There are two examinations for this course, a mid-term exam and a final exam. The midterm
examination must be taken by the end of the 4th week in the course. The final examination must
be taken by the end of the 8th week in the course.
Both examinations are programmed and are located in the classroom for this course. The
examinations are “open book” objective type. Students will have 3 days to complete their exam,
once they access it from the classroom. To access the exams, you must send me an e-mail at
dominick@canyoncollege.edu and request to have access to the
exam. I will then program your access in. You will receive an e-mail back from me telling you
that you are now authorized to go ahead and access your exam. To access, you will come into the
classroom, click on testing, and click on the exam you are taking. You will need your User ID
and PASS WORD to access the exam. The exam will appear on your screen. Once you access the exam,
you have 72 hours to submit your answers. The program provides me the date and exact time that
you accessed the exam. The program also notifies me of the exact date and time that you submit
your answers. Thus, the program is timing you. When you are ready, go back into the classroom
and click in your responses and then click submit. I will receive a copy of your exam and your
score.
GRADING:
The grading scale for this course is as follows:
90 - 100%
80 - 89%
70 - 79%
Below 70%
=
=
=
=
A
B
C
Fail
COMMUNICATION:
You are encouraged to communicate with your instructor. Your instructor is available as a
teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. Primarily,
communication is through e-mail. However, I am also available for conversation by telephone if
you would like. Our classroom for this course has a “chat” room. I am also very willing to meet
with you one-on-one in the chat room at your request. From time to time, depending on how many
students are enrolled in this course at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group
chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such chat sessions are scheduled.
Please keep my e-mail address handy so that you can contact me. I prefer you to use
dominick@canyoncollege.edu If during your time in this course
you change your e-mail address, please be sure to notify me right away.
WRITTEN ASSIGNEMENTS:
There is one written assignment for this course. Students will research legal and ethical issues
related to advanced directives and present a final paper to the instructor. Detailed directions
for the written assignment are provided to the student upon enrollment.
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR:
Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D, MBA, RN,CS, FACHE, is Dean of Nursing and Alternative Health Care at
Canyon College, and is professor of many of the nursing and health care related Certificate
Programs offered by the Canyon College. He holds a BSN degree, a Masters in Business
Administration, a Masters In Health Science Education, and PhDs in Nursing Administration and
Management. He is a Registered Nurse and a Certified and Licensed Adult Nurse Practitioner. He
has held positions as Associate Administrator Patient Care, Chief Operating Officer, and
Administrator in acute care. He has also held positions with several national health care
consulting firms and has conducted many administrative consulting projects. He is also a
Certified Specialist in Legal Nurse Consulting and continues to consult on medical malpractice
cases across the country.
Dr. Flarey is currently the Editor-in-Chief of a journal in Healthcare Law, Ethics &
Regulation. He lectures extensively across the country on management and clinical issues in
health care, as well as law and ethics. He is certified in Nursing Administration Advanced by
the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and is a Fellow in the American College of Health Care
Executives.
He is the co-author/editor of 7 texts books in health care, and has authored over 60 articles
in peer-reviewed journals.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The objectives for this course are:
Understand the most pressing legal and ethical issues for practicing clinical personnel
today
Understand the tenants of the law as related to issues of health care delivery
Understand the legal rights of clients receiving health care
Understand the responsibility of nurses for legally sound clinical practice
Understand the compliance needs of a nursing service department
Understand the role of the nurse manager and nurse executive in insuring legally sound
policies and procedures in patient care
Understand the theories of law and ethics as related to health care delivery
Understand the methodologies used to deal effectively with ethical dilemmas in practice
Understand the need to educate and train staff on legal and ethical compliance in care
delivery
Understand the imperatives of advanced practice nurses in administrative practice to
advocate for the legal rights of clients
Understand the imperatives of advanced practice nurses in administrative practice to
advocate for the ethical delivery of health care
Understand the role of the nurse manager and nurse executive in bring legal and ethical
issues to the forefront of corporate consciousness
Understand the most pressing issues related to law affecting employment and human resource
management
Understand the constructs of state and federal laws and mandates
