Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Write a 1250-1500 word essay addressing each of the following points/questions. Be sure to completely answer all the questions for each bullet point. There should be three main sections, one for each bullet below. Separate each section in your paper with a clear heading that allows your professor to know which bullet you are addressing in that section of your paper. Support your ideas with at least two (2) sources using citations in your essay. Make sure to cite using the APA writing style for the essay. The cover page and reference page in correct APA do not count towards the minimum word amount. Review the rubric criteria for this assignment. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
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Part 1: Describe why ethical safeguards designed for clinical research may not be feasible or appropriate for evidence-based practice or evidence-based practice implementation projects.
Part 2: Review the sectioned headed, Two Ethical Exemplars in Chapter 22 of the textbook (Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt, 2015, pages 518-519). Discuss three main ethical controversies related to implementing Evidence-Based Quality Improvement (EBQI) Initiatives. Describe how these controversies relate to the four core ethical principles. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Part 3: Identify which ethical principles may be in conflict with the concept of “patients having an ethical responsibility in improving healthcare.” Discuss how these conflicts may be resolved.
Assignment Expectations:
Length: 1250 – 1500 words
Structure: Include a title page and reference page in APA format. These do not count towards the minimum word count for this assignment. Your essay must include an introduction and a conclusion.
References: Use appropriate APA style in-text citations and references for all resources utilized to answer the questions. A minimum of two (2) scholarly sources are required for this assignment. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Ethics in the healthcare refers to a set of moral beliefs, principles as well as values that act as a guide for making choices in medical care. Thus, it entails the sense of what is wrong or right as well as the beliefs about the rights that the industry personnel owe to others. Thus, it is crucial for those responsible for providing services to the industry to make choices that are fair, just and right. In that view, this article review uses a case study involving an ethical issue in health care and identifies the issue, explains how it was addressed, the outcome and how a future leader could address such issue.
Analysis
In the case, a neurosurgeon Dr. Henry, who is in the final year of his practice, has a patient in his examination room. The patient has had paresthesia on her right leg and back pain. After the patient’s examination, the Dr. identified that the patient had a ruptured L5-S1 disk as well as degenerative changes in addition to her right leg being slightly weaker than the left leg. The Dr. explained the results to the patient and informed her that she could have surgery at the time or could wait to find out if the symptoms would resolve on their own. The patient indicated to the Dr. that they also thought they would need surgery. However, the DR had been facing a shortage of surgery cases in his practice although it was required that the practice involve meeting the surgery threshold as a surgeon. (Brody & Zientek, 2007) Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
In addition, the Doctor also felt that they were more confident they could address the patient’s problem through surgery and that would have a favorable outcome for the patient who was 58 years old and was in good health. In addition, she also had the expectation for treatment through surgery as she also had insurance that could pay for the costs. However, the Dr knew that they could explain to the patient that some patients recover without the need for the surgery as the dusk fragment could be absorbed by the body hence relieving pressure on the nerves. However, the Dr also knew that it was difficult to predict when the problem might resolve hence he told the patients that they needed surgery as the longer they waited the more would be the damage to the nerves. Thus, the doctor was caught in a dilemma when a patient asked him if he thought that she needed surgery. (Brody & Zientek, 2007) Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Issue
Ethical responsibilities in healthcare depend on the nature of decisions to be made as part of the roles played by various stakeholders. In that respect, patients and their physicians plays different roles and ethical duties are defined by four main principles. The four include autonomy that entails honoring patients rights to make own decisions. It also includes benefiance that entails helping the patient to advance their own good. Further, there is justice that entails fair treatment of like cases. Finally, there is the principle of nonmaleficence that states that there should be no harm. (Schafer, 2004) Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
In that view, the case entailed conflict of interest that is a key issue in medicine and which entails making decisions based on the four principles in seeking to serve the patients interest, doing no harm as well as allowing them to make own decisions. That is because the Dr. had the interest of achieving their practice target that was larking behind his peers as well as giving ion to the partner’s pressure to increase the number of surgeries for financial gain. On the other hand, there was the patent’s interest that could have be served by the Dr explaining to them the pros and cons of the surgery and a watchful waiting process option that did not require rushing to the surgery operation hence the patient could have appreciated that other option which they seemed not to be aware of. (Rodwin, 1993) Thus, the Dr sought to elevate his interest to the level of duty with the argument that he owed it to the practice to increase the number of surgeries. That was a mistake and an act contrary to the medical profession’s priorities as a Dr. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Issue handling
The Dr. gave into the partners’ pressure to increase the number of surgeries as a way of enhancing their income. The choice for the surgery was also based on the Dr need to increase his surgery cases as a way of increasing his rating among his peers. In that respect, the surgery was recommended to the patient without being informed of the other option that only required watchful waiting. (Brody & Zientek, 2007) Thus, the issue involved various parties including the Dr’s partner who sought to serve the institution’s interest, the patient who was in need for a effective treatment and the Dr who was directly responsible for offering the best suited solution to the patient. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Outcome
Given the choices, the patient had the surgery that was not only expensive, but also involved pain that could not have been strictly necessary to treat the problem. (Brody & Zientek, 2007) In that respect, the patients’ interest was not served in an ethical manner as it entailed an approach that sought to benefit the DR at their expense.
Dealing with the issue as a future health care leader
In managing the conflict of interest, there can be application of prohibit on activities as well as divesting the physician’s involvement in entities if the nature of activities involved is extremely likely to compromise their obligations to patients. (Schafer, 2004) Thus, although it could have been difficult to expect the Dr. to have given up the surgery as a means of avoiding recommendation of surgery that could have net been strictly necessary. However, there could be a problem of shortage of such surgeries had all Dr withdrawn from the service as a way of managing their conflict of interest. Thus, the Dr. needs to consider the patient interest, and if the partners seek to take advantage of the patient’s vulnerability, the DR should avoid the situations where they could compromise their patients’ interest. (Klaidman, 2000)
Thus, as a future leader, I would deal with the issue by ensuring that patients’ issues are addressed with their interest. That would avoid conflict with the organization and employees’ interests. In that respect, expectations on employees would be set in view that they should not push them to compromise patients’ interests. In addition, I would establish employees’ training programs to help employees including the doctors to focus on the core principle of providing value to customers. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Conclusion
In view of the analysis, the ethical issue in this case involved a conflict of interest for the Doctor. That is because the doctor is faced by a situation in which they can efficiently serve the patient’s interest but not maximize theirs of maximize benefit at the expense of the patient’s interest. In that view, the Doctor’s decision to serve their interest at expense of the patient was unethical and the outcome was high costs for the patient who also had to undergo unnecessary surgery causing pain that could have been avoided. In that view, the most efficient way of addressing the conflict of interest problem is by doctors divesting their interest from obligations that could cause patients unnecessary costs and seek to serve the patient’s interest first. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
HOW THE FOUR PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH CARE ETHICS IMPROVE PATIENT CARE
Whether your role is that of a doctor or a health care administrator, working in the field of health care is both highly rewarding and challenging. Many medical procedures and treatments have both merits and downsides, and patients have their own input and circumstances to consider. The four principles of health care ethics developed by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress in the 1985 Principles of Biomedical Ethics provide medical practitioners with guidelines to make decisions when they inevitably face complicated situations involving patients. The four principles of health care ethics are autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
THE FOUR PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH CARE ETHICS
The basic definitions of each of the four principles of health care ethics are commonly known and used often in the English language, but they take on special meaning when being utilized in a medical setting. All of these principles play a key role in ensuring optimal patient safety and care. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
1. Autonomy: In medicine, autonomy refers to the right of the patient to retain control over his or her body. A health care professional can suggest or advise, but any actions that attempt to persuade or coerce the patient into making a choice are violations of this principle. In the end, the patient must be allowed to make his or her own decisions – whether or not the medical provider believes these choices are in that patient’s best interests – independently and according to his or her personal values and beliefs. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
2. Beneficence: This principle states that health care providers must do all they can to benefit the patient in each situation. All procedures and treatments recommended must be with the intention to do the most good for the patient. To ensure beneficence, medical practitioners must develop and maintain a high level of skill and knowledge, make sure that they are trained in the most current and best medical practices, and must consider their patients’ individual circumstances; what is good for one patient will not necessary benefit another. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
3. Non-Maleficence: Non-maleficence is probably the best known of the four principles. In short, it means, “to do no harm.” This principle is intended to be the end goal for all of a practitioner’s decisions, and means that medical providers must consider whether other people or society could be harmed by a decision made, even if it is made for the benefit of an individual patient.
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4. Justice: The principle of justice states that there should be an element of fairness in all medical decisions: fairness in decisions that burden and benefit, as well as equal distribution of scarce resources and new treatments, and for medical practitioners to uphold applicable laws and legislation when making choices. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
A CLOSER LOOK: CASE STUDY
One hypothetical case study involves a patient who has an ovarian cyst that, left untreated, will result in kidney failure. An operation to remove the cyst is the best treatment, but the patient is frightened of needles and is against the surgery that would require a needle to give her anesthesia. The doctor must work with the patient to respect the fact that she dislikes needles and doesn’t want the operation (her autonomy), and needs to find a solution that would prevent her from going into kidney failure, which is in her best interest (beneficence). Although the surgery is the best choice, forcing the patient to accept the needle would be harmful to her (non-maleficence). Finally, the doctor needs to consider the impact that the patient’s choices might have on others if she starts to go into preventable kidney failure, she’ll need dialysis, which affects other people who need the same treatment (justice). So before making the final decision the doctor must consider all four principles of health care ethics, which will help the physician make the choice that will have the best possible benefits for both the patient and society. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
THE ROLE OF A HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATOR
Health care administrators plan, organize, and oversee the functions of the health care facilities at which they work, as well as the other members of the staff who work there, including doctors and nurses. Thus, they play a vital role in ensuring that patients are receiving high quality and ethical treatment. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
While health care administrators are required to have a bachelor’s degree to enter the field, a graduate degree will help set candidates apart and further advance in their career. A Master’s in Health Administration increases the knowledge and skills of people who are already working in health care administration or who are interested in entering the field. Instructors from a variety of fields under the wide umbrella of health care contribute their knowledge on health care ethics to create a practice-based program that will meet the challenges of today’s medical system head on. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Although doctors and nurses directly oversee each patient’s health, health care administrators play an important role in facilitating decisions about patient care, particularly when the situation is one that might contain moral and ethical dilemmas, such as genetic testing prior to birth or end-of-life care. As science and technology further increase the abilities of doctors and advance the field of health care, the role of health care ethics will change and only continue to increase in importance. Thus, it is vital that health care administrators be properly trained to meet the current and future challenges of ethically helping patients receive the best care. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
The responsibility of a health care professional is to promote the right and the choice of vulnerable people in the society. This is essentially promoting welfare and wellbeing of the vulnerable. Within this essay, the importance of the principles of care will show to be significant in ensuring an excellent standard of care. Issues linked with human and equality rights for vulnerable people will be looked at in connection to the importance of policy, legislations and regulation in health and social care codes of practice and standard and it will be explained why the legislation is crucial to shielding helpless individuals. Also, this essay will explain why risk assessments are essential in ensure a good quality of care. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay
Today, we live in our society and are all protected by our rights in accordance with the law. We have a right to ‘life’, ‘liberty’ and ‘security’ (Human Rights Act, 1998) We feel safe knowing that our rights are ordinarily guaranteed and we are able to challenge others when we feel our rights have been intruded on. However, vulnerable people in care might have their rights put at risk. Ethical Responsibility in Improving Healthcare Essay