08 Jul Healthcare week 8
4 scholarly references
Classmates Response
In citation
Response 1:
An area of interest for a future career is hospital administration; therefore, the most relevant topic is hospital departments and allied professions. This profession includes interacting with all kinds of professions within the hospital, dentistry, pharmacy, security, and many others. Anytime an issue occurs in any of these areas, hospital and medical administrators must deal directly with the issue and solve the problems through the help of committees, boards, and potentially stakeholders. Overall, “healthcare professionals are held to the prevailing standard of care required in their profession, which include proper assessments, reassessments, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care” (Pozgar, 2016, p. 292). Due to high standards and expectations such as this, hospital administrators must be ready to assume responsibility when necessary, and work diligently to educate staff. Overall, there are many legal and ethical issues within this spectrum.
A current legal issues faced by hospital systems is HIPAA and data breaches (Becker’s Hospital Review, 2011). Due to the shift from hard copies of records to electronic record, there is a rise in the breach of personal data. Sharing electronic information between systems also increases the potential for more security breaches, directly impacting the patients served by hospitals and health systems (Becker’s Hospital Review, 2011). As a result of data breaches, lawsuits inevitably occur costing hospitals millions of dollars. One such case occurred in Maryland in 2011, and cost Cignet Health $4.3 million (Becker’s Hospital Review, 2011). While many benefits exist to using electronic sharing, there are also great risks and legal issues that can derive from it as well.
Another legal issue, and potentially the most common, is medical malpractice. When a patient feels they have been injured by their physician, they have the right to sue (Sabatino, 2017). While this may seem like a legal issues for the physician, and not the hospital, it can quickly become the hospital’s issue. Many cases like this result in a lawsuit against a hospital or health care system, who back their physician. Malpractice can include inappropriate treatments, unnecessary mistakes in surgeries, inappropriate transfers, and inappropriate discharge (Pozgar, 2016). These mistakes can directly cause or lead to the causation of personal injury in the patient, therefore resulting in legal issues. Many cases of medical malpractice are dismissed or found to be erroneous; however, as a hospital administrator there is the added pressure of protecting the image and reputation of the hospital or health care system.
There are also many ethical issues to consider as a hospital administrator. According to Larson, one of the top five ethical issues is balancing care quality and efficiency (2013). The ethical issue that lies within this category revolves around time. Patients expect efficiency as well as safety and quality care as main concerns. This is an ethically challenging area, because the best treatment may not result in expected efficiency or timeliness. Sometimes these processes take much longer. The main focus in determining treatment is the motive behind this treatment. Is the motive to speed up the patient’s discharge, or is the best appropriate treatment chosen? Hospital administrators much make the call to push their staff to work ethically, or to achieve specific results.
Another major ethical issue for hospital administrators to train their staff on is end of life decisions. This is newer than many ethical issues, and will continue to grow throughout the 21st century (Larson, 2013). The main ethical issue for hospitals is providing counseling and advice to families who ask about end of life issues. Different hospitals have different protocols for discussing this type of concern with family members (Larson, 2013). As a result, there are different reactions from families and situations that staff must be aware of. There are medical miracles that have taken place, which may cause a family to leave someone on life support. Discussing options and offering advice can be an ethical gray area due to the unknown of how a person’s condition can change, and because no family is alike in their beliefs and opinions. As a hospital administrator, one difficult area of the job is training staff to efficiently and delicately handle these situations. This means that valuable training time must take place to brief staff on expectations and ethical practices.
Genesis chapter 3 is a familiar passage about the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Eve took of the fruit and then offered it to Adam, ultimately leading to the sinful beginning of mankind. Genesis 3:24 says, “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (King James Version). This shows God’s serious response to sin, and also reminds us that man is fallen, and will make mistakes. Dr. Patrick Smith refers to this passage in his commentary about ethical decision-making in healthcare. He outlines how sometimes decisions are very difficult to make, and ultimately man is fallen and tempted to make the wrong choices (Smith, 2010). He discusses the importance of biblical knowledge and consideration in order to make ethical decisions. Christians need biblical guidance and direction in order to make ethical decisions that are ultimately founded upon God’s word. Without this guidance, we will resort to our sinful nature, and be swayed by the world’s opinions (Smith, 2010). Smith states, “Whatever decision is to be made, it should be as consistent with a Christian ethic as humanly possible given the unique features of the scenario” (2010). Deuteronomy 12:28 says, “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee forever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God” (King James Version). This serves as a reminder to Christians to know the word of God and apply it daily in life situations. We cannot follow the precepts of God if we do not know them. Therefore, we must be students of the word in order to serve God.
Response 2:
Oftentimes we have observed the exceptional level of care that nurses provide to their patients however, little thoughts are put into the people such as Nurse Managers who provide high levels of guidance to the nurses, encourage employee’s engagement and professionalism, and coordinate the hospitals daily activities. Nurse Managers in my opinion, are one of the key professions within the healthcare system. Without the presence of a nurse manager within a healthcare organization, there will be no one to oversee the frontline staff and the organization’s budget matters.
The nursing occupation is one of the most important professions in a nation’s healthcare system and without nurses and physicians; the healthcare system will not be as effective when delivering care. As such, the core mission of nursing is to provide care and nurture to the sick while being the care coordinator to healthcare patients. Equally, Nurses and Nurse Managers play exceptional positions in our healing process. For instance, as healthcare patients, we strongly rely on our Nurse(s) to provide the compassionate care that is critical to facilitate appropriate healing. Conversely, patients also greatly depend on Nurse Managers to provide guidance to the frontline nurses whilst overseeing the organization’s budget matters and creating an atmosphere that promotes professional mechanism and employee engagement. More so, nurse managers are expected to manage the daily activities within an organization. Therefore, Huber (2013) defined management as “the coordination and integration of resources through planning, organizing and controlling to accomplish specific goals and objectives” (p.1).
Furthermore, Mason, Gardner, and Outlaw (2015) defined the Code of Ethics for Nurses as, “an explicit statement of the primary goals, values, and obligations of those who enter the profession” (p.598). Moreover, both nurses and nurse managers are required to abide by the code of ethics at all times whilst trying their very best to seek out the desires of their patients. Similarly, the American nurse’s code of ethics holds nurses to a particular set of values of care that of which they should provide to their patients. Hence, it is imperative for nurses to adhere by the code of ethics as it puts frontward a series of actions and alternatives that are in the utmost welfare of a patient. Additionally, ethically speaking, the nurse’s code of ethics is a moral extent that encourages nurses to deliver healthcare services uniformly in an opportune fashion.
More so, healthcare organizations, nurses, and nurse manager’s faces ethical dilemmas and litigations on a daily basis. For instance, nurse managers experience ethical issues that of which pertain to the allocation of resources and the offering of delivering high quality care to healthcare consumers. Nurses on the other hand face ethical dilemmas on a day-to-day basis regardless of the location they are practicing. Hence, some of the ethical decisions that are made may potentially greatly impact both nurses and their patients. In addition to that, nurses also face ethical dilemmas in the sense of patient’s beliefs and the nurse’s personal beliefs. Some patients may refuse medical care and the utilization of technology interference when administering care simply because of their religious beliefs. Alternatively, nurses on the other hand may believe that a certain technological device may be beneficial to the patient’s health. As such, the nurse then begin to experience ethical dilemma as he/she has a duty to provide care to the patient while abiding to the nurses code of ethics and respecting the patient’s right to refuse medical care. Additionally, nurses and nurse managers also faces litigation as a result of ethical dilemmas. Although nurses may have abided by the nurses code of ethics while delivering care to their patient, some patients may experience the lack of patient safety and negligence. As such, some patients may consider the way a healthcare organization acknowledges their beliefs as a form of breach of contract and this may lead to litigation.
I have decided to incorporate the Bible scripture Romans 15:1 into this week’s topic. The scripture reads, “we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Biblehub, 2017). Nurse Managers are the backbone of the frontline nurses as they provide guidance to the frontline staff regarding patients’ treatment plan and treatment outcomes. Nursing managers provide great leadership to their nursing staff while implementing exceptional high quality of care for healthcare delivery. Huber (2013) posits that “leadership can be understood as the ability to inspire confidence and support among followers within an organization( p. 4). Additionally, Ewest (2015) postulates that as Christians, it is important that our Christian ethics are integrated with our workplace ethics. Therefore, we should always treat people the way we would like to be treated. Furthermore, as the demand for nursing managers continues to increase, I believe that the need for nurse managers will greatly impact the healthcare delivery system in the nearby future. As such, nurse managers will fully participate in major organizations discussions regarding the organization’s budgets, employee’s engagement, and the enchantment of patient care and healthcare delivery.
In summary, the nursing code of ethics was created in an effort to provide nurses with guidance in terms of ethical relationships, and suitable behaviors when making daily decisions. Moreover, the code allows nurses to perform self evaluation in the sense of their personal ethical practice. Overall, nurse managers plays a crucial role within an healthcare organization and they help with the coordination and implementation of the daily budget activities .Nurse managers also provides constrictive feedback to the frontline nurses while developing educational programs that will enhance the frontline knowledge, skills, and ability. Likewise, nurse managers also serves as the voice of the frontline nursing staff when superior management is making decisions that could possibly impact their frontline nursing staff. Overall, I would recommend that healthcare organization make good use of their nurse managers as they serves as advocate for both the patients and the frontline nursing staff. Nurse Managers takes the concerns of healthcare consumers to the board of directors and suggestions regarding the concerns and how it can better improve the delivery of patients care will be determined.
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