Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care
The nursing profession is grounded on evidence-based practice to ensure safety ad quality care. Malpractice or medical errors lead to morbidity and mortality, and thus their prevention is integral. They also significantly affect the organization, staff, and the healthcare system. These errors may also lead to lawsuits leading to various consequences such as loss of practicing licenses, heavy fines, and serving a jail term. When errors, sentinel events, or near-misses occur, healthcare leaders lay strategies to ensure the errors do not occur in the future. This essay analyzes a sentinel event from an administrator’s perspective and provides corrective strategies to prevent the event’s recurrence. Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care
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Role of the APN
Advanced practice nurses often serve as nurse administrators of wards, departments, and units. Nurse administrators are accountable for activities and actions in their area of jurisdiction. They are also responsible for patient safety, healthcare quality, and staff welfare (Warshawsky, 2019). Standards of care are the reasonable and acceptable degrees of care to a patient delivered by a healthcare provider and are based on reasonable care expectations (Ray-Barruel et al., 2019). They are dependent on circumstances, and analysis of each event determines the specific expected standards of care. In this case study, the individuals who violated care are the nurse, nurse administrator, and physician. The nurse provided initial patient care, but there is no evidence of patient follow-up. Nurses are obligated to follow-up patients and communicate effectively to ensure other nurses continue with the care. IV lines require periodic assessment for infection and tissue injury (Ray-Barruel et al., 2019)Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care .
There is no mention of follow-up care hence nurse malpractice. Necrosis is a chronic condition that develops slowly, and it could have been diagnosed during its development and before it worsened. The nursing administrators also contributed to the event through understaffing. Nurse administrators assess patient and staff needs and remedy, an intervention which was missed in this situation (Harrington & Edelman, 2018)Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care . After being informed of the infiltration, the physician provided no care or patient assessment. There is no evidence of care provided; hence the physician was negligent. The medical records show acknowledgment but show no record of interventions.
Risk Management Steps Before
A significant role of nurse administrators is preventing adverse healthcare events. Ensuring adequate staffing is the first relevant intervention. Nursing staff shortage is a global health problem, and nursing administrators best understand their staffing needs and should lay strategies to meet them (Rosenberg, 2019)Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care . Inadequate staff increases the existing staff’s workload burden, leading to staff burnout, high turnover rates, and increased medical errors. Thus, administrators should lat strategies to ensure staff adequacy and that existing staff are not overworked.
Another intervention is creating an effective adverse event reporting and healthcare communication system (Müller et al., 2018). Handing-over reports should emphasize patient management interventions to prevent adverse events. Many medical errors and malpractices result from poor communication. Under-reported incidences are also not taken seriously, making it difficult to take corrective actions, leading to complications and adverse events (Müller et al., 2018). Effective communication and reporting systems ensure prompt corrective actions preventing complications and associated consequences. Electronic health systems are good communication technologies, and the incidence reports are good reporting tools that can be used in healthcare institutions. Current technology includes smartphone apps that interlink all healthcare providers increase quick access to healthcare information, promoting swift corrective actions. The nurse administrator should ensure such evidence-based, relevant, and effective strategies are implemented to prevent adverse events. Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care
Risk Management Steps After
After the event has occurred, immediate management includes reviewing the relevant policies and taking relevant disciplinary measures according to the healthcare policies. A root cause analysis helps determine the factors contributing to the events. Corrective actions primarily require the reformulation of policies affecting various care aspects. The next step is educating staff on existing healthcare policies on reporting and effective healthcare education. Education sensitizes staff on the current situation and increases their knowledge, promoting responsible behavior, thus ensuring patient safety (Lawati et al., 2018). It also promotes a culture of safety in an organization.
A patient and primary care provider education policy will ensure patients and their caregivers understand the care and care interventions (Wittink & Oosterhaven, 2018). Their involvement in care significantly improves self-care efficacy and promotes their collaboration. They also provide information that helps prevent medical errors. For example, primary care providers can report unconscious patient medication and food allergies, thus preventing adverse events. The last step is reporting the event to the relevant healthcare organizations such as the joint commissions and the agency for healthcare research and quality (AHRQ). Reporting serves as an archive for healthcare data and helps prevent similar incidences by planning and implementing preventive actions at a national level (Lawati et al., 2018)Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care .
Conclusion
Adverse events in healthcare are often associated with negligence and poor communication, as seen above. These events have various effects on the individual, healthcare provider, and healthcare institution. Nurse administrators are accountable for adverse effects affecting nurses and patients, and they take preventive actions to prevent these events and reduce morbidity and mortality. Staff training, patient and primary care provider policies, effective communication and reporting technologies, and reporting to relevant healthcare bodies are important measures in preventing adverse events before and after taking place. Healthcare leaders should leverage healthcare technologies and evidence-based practices to improve patient safety and promote quality care delivery. Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care
References
Harrington, C., & Edelman, T. S. (2018). Failure to meet nurse staffing standards: A litigation case study of a large US nursing home chain. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 55, 0046958018788686. https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958018788686
Lawati, M. H. A., Dennis, S., Short, S. D., & Abdulhadi, N. N. (2018). Patient safety and safety culture in primary health care: a systematic review. BMC Family Practice, 19(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-018-0793-7
Müller, M., Jürgens, J., Redaèlli, M., Klingberg, K., Hautz, W. E., & Stock, S. (2018). Impact of the communication and patient hand-off tool SBAR on patient safety: a systematic review. BMJ Open, 8(8), e022202. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022202
Rosenberg, K. (2019). RN shortages negatively impact patient safety. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 119(3), 51. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000554040.98991.23
Warshawsky, N. E. (2019). Nursing leadership: state of the science. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(5), 229-230. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000742
Wittink, H., & Oosterhaven, J. (2018). Patient education and health literacy. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 38, 120-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msksp.2018.06.004 Analyzing Ethical-Legal Principles And Dilemmas Related To Health Care
