Discussion 8. Ethics
My course is Ethics of Healthcare – Master of Health Administration.
a. Directly posting their own responses as answers to the questions below. Write in no more than 600 words but no less than 500 words.
- Rationing care is a way of pursuing distributive justice. Now, discuss who should receive care and who should not from your own ethical standard.
- Move to the section on domestic violence. Suppose that you will encounter this problem in your practice (you should present a narrow scenario, actual or fictitious). What administrative steps would you follow to solve the problem?
- Discuss how virtue ethical approach can help improve the overall health care system. When elaborate, use a concrete example, actual or fictitious.
b. Reply to at least one classmate in no more than 200 words but no less than 150 words.
My classmate Discussion:
- Rationing care is a way of pursuing distributive justice. Now, discuss who should receive care and who should not from your own ethical standard.
Rationing care can be an extremely difficult thing to decide. Rationing care is definitely an ethical situation that can be handled in many different ways depending on the care team and administration staff that are handling the matter. I think that several conditions need to be considered in this situation. Providing the best possible care to the most possible patients should be the principle at the center of this decision. In order to ensure you are providing the best possible care to the most possible patients finances and health status definitely need to be considered. The patients who have the best health status with the most chance for continued health in the future should be prioritized. And finances such as costs of procedures, medical supplies, and rehab or follow up should be considered if more factors are needed to make the decision. However, I believe that health status should the initial deciding factor.
2- Move to the section on domestic violence. Suppose that you will encounter this problem in your practice (you should present a narrow scenario, actual or fictitious). What administrative steps would you follow to solve the problem?
Domestic violence is a serious issue that needs to be addressed with care. Not only can it involve serious physical injury, it often involves very deep mental abuse as well. Often times domestic violence can go unnoticed because the victims of domestic violence are not willing to share the real reason for their injuries. Lack of sharing or lying about injuries can be a result of fear or denial. As health care professionals, it is our duty to help a domestic violence victim in any way that we can. Health care professionals, both clinical and non-clinical should be trained to recognize signs of domestic violence. Medical professionals should be trained on how to speak to victims of domestic violence in ways that will make the victim feel safe and allow them to open up. And the wishes of the victim should be honored as much as possible.
3.Discuss how virtue ethical approach can help improve the overall health care system. When elaborate, use a concrete example, actual or fictitious.
Practicing health care with the virtue ethical approach can lead to increased patient satisfaction. In order to practice virtue ethics, providers have to approach the patient and the care they are offering to the patient in a virtuous way; honoring integrity, education, emotion, compassion, tolerance, etc. By approaching ethics and thus health care in this way, the provider may allow patients to feel more comfortable. Focusing on the patient rather than the care, the results, or the science could lead patients to be more confident in their care and trustworthy of their medical providers. An example of practicing in this way could be a phone call made to a patient after their first chemotherapy session. In the chemo unit at the hospital I work for, our nurses call first time chemo patients the day after their first treatment to check in on them. There is no obligation to do this, however a phone call from the RN that the patient made a connection with during a very scary event could have a significant impact on the patient’s mood and trust in our chemotherapy team. This in turn could lead to a better patient experience and even a better outcome for the patient who is more likely to be compliant with their treatment plan.