NURS FPX4000 Assessment 1 : Applying Ethical Principles
Applying Ethical Principles
In the daily work, healthcare professionals frequently run into ethical dilemmas that force them to make choices based on their moral convictions and values. Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice are the four fundamental principles that are used by health care practitioners for making decision. Prima facie, a phrase coined by the English philosopher W. D. Ross, refers to the idea that a moral principle is valid unless it contradicts with another moral principle, in which case one must make a decision (Othman and Hamid 2018)
Overview of the Case Study
E.L Straight is a newly appointed head of medical practitioners and has made many new policies that seem to be improving patient care. Before his joining the hospital has been lacking many policies that affect quality. Now that he has taken charge, results were entirely satisfactory. On the other hand, famous staff surgeons who probably have been at Hopewell from years have not gotten anything to impress with clinical expertise. Almost everyone disliked him for his blunders. E.L Straight had realized his ineligibility and took an action to shatter his privilege but then he stopped for Dr Cutrite was far stronger in doing politics than his thought. Therefore, Straight leave the things aside and protect his own position. NURS FPX4000 Assessment 1: Applying Ethical Principles
It so happened that the Dr Cutrite was in operation theatre and just like before he made the foolish mistake by leaving a needle protector into the patient’s belly that he didn’t even realize at the time of surgery. He was rather put into notice by a nurse supervisor on finding missing needle protector from the surgery leftover. The patient was discharged by then and the case was presented to the Head, E.L Straight. Straight was taken aback as he could not expect this from a senior most surgeon. He immediately ordered the nurse to bring back the patient asking her for important surgical checkup. Also, he made sure if the Dr Cutrite was informed? To which the nurse supervisor responded quickly that Cutrite did not care about this at all and he had strictly ordered us to not discuss this issue anymore. As he is of view that only hurt plastic cover could do is a little discomfort and nothing else. It is all vague to make an attempt to bring patient back and highlight the issue. E.L was astonished even more because he considered it absolutely unethical.
Straight called a meeting with the Hospital chief and did not receive any wholesome suggestion. Though chief knew it was inappropriate but he could not put hospital’s reputation at stake. Straight had a habit of being mystified but now it seems he was going to face more anxious state. Therefore, Straight is met with an ethical dilemma that if he should make an attempt to correct this mistake that can create even a little discomfort for a patient or agree with other hospital members to protect its reputation (Darr et al. 2017).
NURS FPX4000 Assessment 1: Analysis of Ethical Issue in the Case Study
In this case study, the director E.L Straight is facing an ethical dilemma due to the hospital’s disagreement with the patient’s new surgery. E.L Straight is much concerned about the patient’s health as he is more inclined the removal of the plastic cap from the patient’s belly. Contrary to it the other medical personnel who are committed do not give any approval to dos o. This is making E.L Straight into the apprehension. E.L Straight respects the chief concern about the hospital’s reputation and has also given suggestions to operate it in a secretive procedure that is not making the patient know what exactly will be the cause of the operation.
The International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) were used to determine the primary outcomes, which were characteristics of the decision taken and the decision-making process. Effects on behaviour, health, and the health system were secondary outcomes. Using a random-effects model, researchers combined the results using mean differences (MDs) and risk ratios (RRs). Researchers performed a subgroup analysis of trials using the patient decision assistance both as a pre-consultation tool and during the consultation itself (Stacey et al., 2018).
This study aims to find research concentrating on ethical and legal issues in medicine care. It provides nurses and other healthcare professionals with an overview of current complaints and potential solutions to care for elderly patients. A search of the PubMed, CINAHL, and Ethic share databases was done using a methodical methodology based on Aveyard to discover the publications published on ethical and legal challenges in geriatric care ().
NURS FPX4000 Assessment 1: Use of Ethical Decision-Making Model in Analyzing the Case Study
In medical practice, the three main elements of decision-making model that are frequently used to make decisions are as follows:
- Moral Awareness
- Moral Judgement
- Ethical Behaviour
The moral awareness approach emphasizes the overall balance of a healthcare professional’s good and bad impacts. All activities are evaluated based on their effects, not on ground of underlying moral laws and principles or in light of a person’s character.
Similarly, the moral judgment says that the patient has the right to information on his or her medical situation as well as participation in the planning and delivery of care. Five steps are included in the moral judgement: (1) frame the problem, (2) describe the possibilities, (3) find a solution, (4) implement the solution, and (5) reflect on and assess the full procedure.
NURS FPX4000 Assessment 1: Applying Ethical Principles
According to the Ethical Behaviour Approach in Healthcare, one must consider a situation’s compatibility with the legislation, the patient’s responsibilities, and whether it is fair and balanced when determining if it is ethical or not (Price et al., 2019).
As per the case scenario, the ethical dilemma of E.L Straight depicts that he gives great moral awareness significance in the treatment of patients. He was also using the ethical behaviour approach to protect the patient from the discomfort because of the hospital negligence. Moreover, utilizing the moral judgement approach, he did not want patient to suffer discomfort because of plastic cover in her belly for the entire life. The ethical dilemma has left him paranoid.
Effectiveness of Communication Approaches in Case Study
Persuasive communication with the public and all members of a care team is made possible by skilled communication between healthcare professionals and their patients. According to research, a patient’s ability to comply with medical advice, self-manage a chronic medical condition, and adopt preventative health habits is strongly positively correlated with the communication abilities of a healthcare team member.
According to the case study, the nurse supervisor seems to have better expertise of communicating the issue as she immediately notices and put this into the director’s notice. Moreover E.L Straight considered communication an effective tool and explained his suggestion to the chief and committee. Disappointingly, he was not heard and his suggestion was not put to practice leaving him frustrated. It can be inferred that the E.L Straight might lack a proper communication skill that could not persuade the chief. Also, the Dr Cutrite the root cause of the problem does not seem having proper communication expertise as he did not want the nurse supervisor to highlight the issue. The role of communication is immensely important in making better and ethical decision and sticking to it later. Communication tool helps medical staff to take actions and decision confidently (Doherty 2020).
Resolving The Ethical Dilemma by Apply Ethical Principles
To overcome moral conundrums pertaining to health care, the four ethical concepts moral theory are used. It includes autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. These are frequently used in medical practice. The terms autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice all allude to the idea of treating patients equitably and without prejudice. Moreover, beneficence is defined as acting for the benefit of patients. Three of the four fundamental principles of medical ethics are involved in the ethical conundrum that E.L Straight is facing in this situation.
NURS FPX4000 Assessment 1: Applying Ethical Principles
In the current case study, the ethical dilemma of Straight rises due to the battle between the principle of nonmaleficence and justice. As he considered it the moral right of a patient to get no harm on the part of the hospital. Moreover, he knows that it is the right of a patient to get discharged after no left health issues that can trouble him or her in the future. To resolve this dilemma health NGOs like UNICEF OR WHO or any local health body can be approached. The issue can put to light as hospital personnel cannot make such unethical decision and play with the life of patient. According to ACA act, it is immoral not making patient’s care at first preference. Therefore, by highlighting such issue can make the hospital work on the ethical standards and hence reform it for future. (Morley et al 2020).
Conclusion
Health care workers can use the four principles of health care ethics to evaluate and resolve moral conundrums. In the case study, E.L. Straight must choose between upholding the patient’s medical rights to undergo fresh surgery and preserving the reputation of the hospital by obscuring such errors. He can feel good about himself as a health care director by assisting patients in finding medical care. In order to address E.L. Straight’s ethical conundrum, it is suggested that the norms of autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence be upheld.
References
Doherty, R. F. (2020). Ethical Dimensions in the Health Professions-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
In Darr, K., In Farnsworth, T. J., & In Myrtle, R. C. (2017). Cases in health services management.
Morley, J., Machado, C., Burr, C., Cowls, J., Joshi, I., Taddeo, M., & Floridi, L. (2020). The ethics of AI in health care: A mapping review. Social science & medicine (1982), 260, 113172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113172
Othman, Z., & Hamid, F. Z. A. (2018). Dealing with un (expected) ethical dilemma: Experience from the field. The Qualitative Report, 23(4), 733-741.
Podgorica, N., Flatscher-Thöni, M., Deufert, D., Siebert, U., & Ganner, M. (2021). A systematic review of ethical and legal issues in elder care. Nursing ethics, 28(6), 895–910. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020921488
Price, W. N., & Cohen, I. G. (2019). Privacy in the age of medical big data. Nature medicine, 25(1), 37-43.
Stacey, D., Légaré, F., Lewis, K., Barry, M. J., Bennett, C. L., Eden, K. B., Holmes-Rovner, M., Llewellyn-Thomas, H., Lyddiatt, A., Thomson, R., & Trevena, L. (2018). Decision aids for people facing health treatment or screening decisions. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 4(4), CD001431. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001431.pub5