Population Needs: Ethics and Risk Management

Delivering safe and competent psychotherapy in many different healthcare settings can present unique ethical and risk management implications. Nurse psychotherapists must consider these unique implications as they practice within the required standards of practice, legislation, and laws relevant to psychotherapy. To maintain the autonomy and dignity of all persons, the nurse psychotherapist practices from a lens that includes social justice, integrity, and collegial support. This type of ethical practice demonstrates excellence in professional psychotherapeutic practice. To uphold this standard, nurses must work to analyze ethical dilemmas and manage legal issues as they arise. To do this, nurses must actively participate in the process of ethical decision-making and receive supervisory or consultative support when needed. Nurses should safeguard the clients, practitioners, and the profession from both potential ethical and legal challenges by practicing within their scope of practice and by continuously attaining new clinical skills and knowledge. This chapter will cover ethical and legal concerns applicable to psychotherapy in nursing followed by case examples to illustrate ethical decision-making and legal implications.