Teaching About Legal and

Ethical Issues
Introduction

• It has been came to the attention of the authorities that a growing

number of students are submitting plagiarized for their
assignments and various projects. The issue grows everyday as it
still remains unaddressed. In the following project, the various
aspects of plagiarism and its solutions will be addressed.
Addressing an issue: Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is a both legal and ethical issue that requires

addressing. This is considered as one of the serious acts of
academic dishonesty (Klocko, 2014).
• A significant number of students are either knowingly or
unknowingly submitting plagiarized contents
• A lot of the students do not even realize how big of an offence this
is
• A lot of students are also unaware of proper referencing
techniques
Solving the issue: Plagiarism

• Students should be taught about referencing, citation and

appropriate ways of giving credit to original author (Pitt, 2012)
• There should be serious consequences of plagiarism so that
students can realize the gravity
• All assignments and projects should be submitted through Turnitin
or a similar software to detect plagiarism right away.
Solving the issue: Plagiarism

• If a unreasonable percentage of plagiarism is found:

• At first the student should be asked to resubmit the paper
• The should a system in place that can detect if one student is reapeated
commiting the same act
• Repeated plagiarizers should be subject to harsh punishment
Role of nurse educators

• Inspiring
• Providing training
• Implementing a research based learning process
• To plan succession of leadership
• To build an environment of mutual respect and trust
• To teach about the ethical and legal issues surrounding the
profession (Meyer, 2008)
Role of nurse educators

• Diversity in workplace is very important and so is upholding the

rights of everyone of the faculty members, staff and students.
• The educators must inform everyone about their rights and the
rights of others
• Class, seminars and conferences should be organized in order to
inform them about the ethical and legal issues and rights to avoid
any unwanted situations
Role of nurse educators

• The students must be taught and informed about the seriousness

of plagiarism in academic domains.
• The students must know how to cite others’ work and how to write
a research paper
• A strong moral sense must created among the students which is
very cruicial in the profession (Sankaranarayanan, 2008)
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act

• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 is a federal law

which ensures that no entity, foreign or domestic, can access an
individual’s educational information with prior consent from the
individual (Hlavac, 2015).
• In the medical environment where recruiters and educators often
interact with each other it is highly important that every one is
aware of this law.
Rights ensured by FERPA

• Inspecting and reviewing students’ own educational records

• Requesting amendments of educational records
• Providing consent to the institution to disclose personally
identifiable data from their records
• Complaining to US department of Education in case of violation
Americans for Disabilities Act 1990

• Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 is one of the civil rights laws
(Robertson, 2012)
• It prohibits any kind of discrimination on the basis of disability
• Any kind of violation is a serious legal offence
• Bullying a disabled person mentally, physically or emotionally is
also a violation (Killam, 2013).
Clinical Evaluation

• Students preserve the right to have frequent evaluation

• The educators are responsible for providing time to time
evaluation reports either orally or in written form
• Supervisors assume the duty of monitoring the evaluation process
and make sure everything is in order
Plan for continuous improvement

• Conducting frequent performance review

• Including a short interview to evaluate to the nurse’s knowledge
about recent developments in medical science and law
• Being vigilant about the workplace environment to spot any issues
right away
• Condusting frequent awareness programs
• Encouraging nurses to be well versed in the developments of
medical science and law by promoting those who are
Reference

• Killam, L. A., & Heerschap, C. (2013) Challenges to student learning in the clinical setting: A
qualitative descriptive study. Nurse Education Today, 33(6), 684–691.
• Klocko, M. N. (2014). Academic dishonesty in schools of nursing: A literature review. Journal of
Nursing Education, 53(3), 121–125.
• Pitt, V., Powis, D., Levett-Jones, T., & Hunter, S. (2012). Factors influencing nursing students'
academic and clinical performance and attrition: An integrative literature review. Nurse Education
Today, 32(8), 903–913.
• Robertson, J. E. (2012). Can't we all just get along? A primer on student incivility in nursing
education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 33(1), 21–26.
Internet Resources
• Hlavac, G. C., & Easterly, E. J. (2015). FERPA primer: The basics and beyond. Retrieved from
http://www.naceweb.org/public/ferpa0808.htm

• Meyer, S., & Van Niekerk, S. (2008). Nurse educator in practice. Cape Town, South Africa: Juta.
• Sankaranarayanan, B., & Sindhu, B. (2008). Learning and teaching nursing. New Delhi: Jaypee
Brothers Medical Publishers.