Healthcare administrationCase studyHealthcare ethics

NHS-FPX4000 Assessment 1 guide: applying ethical principles

Pick one case from the Ethical Case Studies media piece and work it through the course's three-component decision model — moral awareness, moral judgment, ethical behavior — to a proposed solution in 3-5 pages, with the case itself cited and at least one peer-reviewed article applied.

Aug 11, 2026

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 11, 2026

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

On this page

Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

How do moral awareness, judgment and behavior structure the paper?

The assessment hands you the analytical machine and grades whether you actually run it: the Ethical Decision-Making Model media piece defines three components — moral awareness, moral judgment, and ethical behavior — and the instructions say to apply all three to the case you select from the Ethical Case Studies media. That means the paper's core is structured by the model, not by the case's drama: awareness is recognizing that an ethical dimension exists and naming the dilemma precisely; judgment is weighing the competing obligations and principles to reach a defensible position; behavior is what the professional should actually do, including how to communicate it. Select the case closest to your area of interest, as instructed, but select for analyzability too — a case where two legitimate principles genuinely collide (autonomy against beneficence is the classic collision) gives the judgment component something to weigh, and the assessment's own note is a gift: where the case is silent you may infer, provided every assumption is identified as one.

The factor analysis is its own scoring line, so give it its own section: what contributed to the problem — communication failures, role pressures, policy gaps, family dynamics, resource constraints — and, per the instruction's wording, explain how each factor contributed, which converts a list into an analysis. The evidence requirement is precise: at least one academic peer-reviewed journal article located yourself, cited and applied, meaning its key principles must visibly shape your analysis rather than decorate a sentence. The ethics literature on moral distress and ethical decision-making in clinical practice fits most of the case studies and is easy to apply honestly. Remember two mechanical scoring lines students drop: the selected case study itself belongs in the APA reference list, and effectiveness of communication approaches in the case is a named criterion — evaluate how the professionals in the case communicated, not just what they decided.

The solution is where the model pays off: propose the action that follows from your judgment analysis, defend it against the strongest alternative, and state its consequences for everyone you identified as involved or affected. Ground the defense in the recognized principles — autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice — because 'applying ethical principles' is the assessment's title, and a solution justified by outcome alone has skipped the course's point. At 3-5 pages the budget is tight: a paragraph of case summary, the three model components as the body, factors and communication assessed, the solution defended — and APA formatting with the case study and your journal article both on the reference page. This is the first assessment of the course, and the method you demonstrate here — model applied, assumptions flagged, principles named — is the method the later assessments assume you own.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

01
Select an ethical case strategically: closest to your interest, with a genuine collision of principles to analyze.
02
Apply all three components of the course's decision model as the paper's structure, not as vocabulary.
03
Analyze contributing factors with the how of their contribution, per the instruction's own wording.
04
Locate, cite and genuinely apply at least one peer-reviewed journal article to the case.
05
Propose a solution defended from named ethical principles, with consequences for everyone affected.

Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Develop a solution to a specific ethical dilemma faced by a health care professional by applying ethical principles. Describe the issues and a possible solution in a 3-5-page paper. Introduction Whether you are a nurse, a public health professional, a health care administrator, or in another role in the health care field, you must base your decisions on a set of ethical principles and values. Your decisions must be fair, equitable, and defensible. Each discipline has established a professional code of ethics to guide ethical behavior. In this assessment, you will practice working through an ethical dilemma as described in a case study. Your practice will help you develop a method for formulating ethical decisions. Demonstration of Proficiency By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria: Competency 1: Apply information literacy and library research skills to obtain scholarly information in the field of health care. Apply academic peer-reviewed journal articles relevant to an ethical problem or issue as evidence to support an analysis of the case. Competency 3: Apply ethical principles and academic standards to the study of health care. Summarize the facts in a case study and use the three components of an ethical decision-making model to analyze an ethical problem or issue and the factors that contributed to it. Discuss the effectiveness of the communication approaches present in a case study. Discuss the effectiveness of the approach used by a professional to deal with problems or issues involving ethical practice in a case study. Apply ethical principles to a possible solution to an ethical problem or issue described in a case study. Competency 4: Write for a specific audience, in appropriate tone and style, in accordance with Capella’s writing standards. Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics. Write following APA style for in-text citations, quotes, and references. Instructions Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. At a minimum, be sure to address each point. In addition, you are encouraged to review the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. For this assessment, develop a solution to a specific ethical dilemma faced by a health care professional. In your assessment: Access the Ethical Case Studies media piece to review the case studies you will be using for this assessment. Select the case most closely related to your area of interest and use it to complete the assessment. Note: The case study may not supply all of the information you need. In such cases, you should consider a variety of possibilities and infer potential conclusions. However, please be sure to identify any assumptions or speculations you make. Include the selected case study in your reference list, using proper APA Style and Format. Summarize the facts in a case study and use the three components of an ethical decision-making model to analyze an ethical problem or issue and the factors that contributed to it. Identify which case study you selected and briefly summarize the facts surrounding it. Identify the problem or issue that presents an ethical dilemma or challenge and describe that dilemma or challenge. Identify who is involved or affected by the ethical problem or issue. Access the Ethical Decision-Making Model media piece and use the three components of the ethical decision-making model (moral awareness, moral judgment, and ethical behavior) to analyze the ethical issues. Apply the three components outlined in the Ethical Decision-Making Model media. Analyze the factors that contributed to the ethical problem or issue identified in the case study. Describe the factors that contributed to the problem or issue and explain how they contributed. Apply academic peer-reviewed journal articles relevant to an ethical problem or issue as evidence to support an analysis of the case. In addition to the readings provided, use the Capella library to locate at least one academic peer-reviewed journal article relevant to the problem or issue that you can use to support your analysis of the situation. The How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles? library guide will help you locate appropriate references. Cite and apply key principles from the journal article as evidence to support your critical thinking and analysis of the ethical problem or issue. Review the Think Critically About Source Quality resource. Assess the credibility of the information source. Assess the relevance of the information source. Discuss the effectiveness of the communication approaches present in a case study. Describe how the health care professional in the case study communicated with others. Assess instances where the professional communicated effectively or ineffectively. Explain which communication approaches should be used and which ones should be avoided. Describe the consequences of using effective and non-effective communication approaches. Discuss the effectiveness of the approach used by a professional to deal with problems or issues involving ethical practice in a case study. Describe the actions taken in response to the ethical dilemma or issue presented in the case study. Summarize how well the professional managed professional responsibilities and priorities to resolve the problem or issue in the case. Discuss the key lessons this case provides for health care professionals. Apply ethical principles to a possible solution to an ethical problem or issue described in a case study. Describe the proposed solution. Discuss how the approach makes this professional more effective or less effective in building relationships across disciplines within his or her organization. Discuss how likely it is the proposed solution will foster professional collaboration. Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics. Apply the principles of effective composition. Determine the proper application of the rules of grammar and mechanics. Write using APA style for in-text citations, quotes, and references. Determine the proper application of APA formatting requirements and scholarly writing standards. Integrate information from outside sources into academic writing by appropriately quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, following APA style. Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like: Assessment 1 Example [PDF]. Additional Requirements Your assessment should also meet the following requirements: Length: 3–5 typed, double-spaced pages, not including the title page and reference page. Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point. APA template: Use the APA Style Paper Template [DOCX] as the paper format and use the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] for guidance. Written communication: Use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. References: Integrate information from outside sources to include at least two references (the case study and an academic peer-reviewed journal article) and three in-text citations within the paper. APA format: Follow current APA guidelines for in-text citation of outside sources in the body of your paper and also on the reference page. If you would like assistance in organizing your assessment, or if you simply have a question about your assessment, do not hesitate to ask faculty or the teaching assistants in the NHS Learner Success Lab for guidance and suggestions. 3798 You can find new Free Android Games and apps.

Turn the brief into deliverables

01
A 3-5 page APA paper on one case from the Ethical Case Studies media piece.
02
The case summarized, the dilemma and affected parties identified, and the three decision-model components applied.
03
A contributing-factors analysis and an assessment of the communication approaches in the case.
04
At least one self-located academic peer-reviewed journal article applied as evidence; the case study itself in the reference list.

Where do the factors, communication and solution sections fit?

The case and its dilemma

Identify the selected case, summarize its facts in a paragraph, name the ethical dilemma precisely, and list who is involved or affected.

The model, run in full

Apply the three components: awareness of the ethical dimension, judgment weighing the colliding principles and obligations, and the ethical behavior that follows.

Why it happened

Analyze the contributing factors — communication breakdowns, role pressures, policy gaps — explaining how each produced or sustained the dilemma, and evaluate the communication approaches used.

The evidence applied

Bring in the peer-reviewed article: its key principles cited and visibly shaping the judgment analysis, with any assumptions about the case flagged as assumptions.

The defended solution

Propose the solution, ground it in named principles (autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice), defend it against the alternative, and state consequences for each affected party.

Which ethics sources support the principle analysis?

Recommended databases

Course media pieces (Ethical Case Studies; Ethical Decision-Making Model)
Capella library
PMC / MedlinePlus

Search sequence

1.
Review the case studies media and shortlist cases where two legitimate principles genuinely collide.
2.
Study the decision-model media until the three components are usable as section structure.
3.
Search the library for one peer-reviewed article on the case's specific issue, using the course's find-peer-reviewed guide.
4.
Check the ethics reference sources for principle definitions the solution will be grounded in.

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

01
Medical Ethics
MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine · 2024
The principle vocabulary — autonomy, beneficence, justice and their working definitions — that the solution's grounding requires, from an authoritative consumer-health source.
02
The Limbic Brain, Moral Distress and Ethical Decision-Making in Nursing Practice
PMC / National Library of Medicine · 2025
A peer-reviewed treatment of ethical decision-making and moral distress in practice — a model of the kind of journal article the assessment requires you to locate and apply.
03
Informed Consent
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
The consent doctrine many of the media piece's case studies turn on — the clinical-legal specifics that keep an autonomy analysis concrete rather than abstract.

Review before submission

Common mistakes

Narrating the case instead of running the model — the three components are the required analytical structure.
Inferring facts the case omits without flagging them; the brief permits assumptions only when identified as such.
Listing contributing factors without explaining how each contributed, which is the instruction's explicit ask.
Using the journal article as decoration; its key principles must be cited and applied to the analysis.
Forgetting the two mechanical lines: the case study in the APA reference list, and communication effectiveness assessed.
Justifying the solution by outcome alone when the assessment's title demands justification from ethical principles.

Submission checklist

One case selected from the media piece, summarized, with dilemma and affected parties named.
Moral awareness, moral judgment and ethical behavior each visibly applied.
Factors analyzed with mechanisms; communication approaches evaluated for effectiveness.
Peer-reviewed article cited and applied; case study in the reference list; APA throughout.
Solution proposed, principle-grounded, defended against the strongest alternative; 3-5 pages.

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.