Seeking Help from a Long- Facility - Term Paper Example

Ethical code of conduct for long-term-care facility Introduction of the bioethics in healthcare facility In the healthcare facility, bioethics is related to the ethical dilemmas encountered by the professionals, administrators, management and policy makers for carrying out the business activities with fairness. Additionally, the organizations have to make sure that the healthcare experts, policy-makers, lawyers and professionals exercise their responsibilities in an extremely ethically acceptable manner (Foglia et al., 2009; Rowe & Moodley, 2013). However, the ethical issues vary across the institutions but there are some basic principles of ethics which are common in them and are recognized by the scholars on global level (Pozgar, 2011). It has been stated by Ignancia and Taylor (2013) and Zydziunaitel et al. (2010) that the ethical code of conduct provides a set of declarations and guidelines for addressing various issues such as abortion, fair resources allocation, protecting a patient’s autonomy, euthanasia, clinical ethics, cloning, technologies used in reproduction matters and the clinical trials related to animals and human subjects. Long-term care facility is defined as a place or institution like skilled nursing facility and nursing home which provides the healthcare services to individuals who lack the capability of managing their routine or specialized activities within the community (Gabel, 2011). According to Morrison (2009), the long-term care can be provided in the community, in a range of facilities or at home. There are various organizations which are offering long-term care to the old people and individuals with disabilities or chronic illnesses (Gabel, 2011). When seeking help from a long-term facility, it is crucial for the institutions to make sure that they perform their work within the ethical boundaries. Even the management, professionals and administrators have to develop a code of conduct which declares the work related policies and procedures. Hence, there are many ethical issues which are faced by the long-term care facilities and the members of the institutions have to assure compliance with the mandatory professional rules and regulations. Responsibilities of the management and professional staff Initially, the healthcare organizations created ethics committees to make sure that the clinical ethical issues are properly addressed and their root causes are completely eliminated from the facilities. With the advent of time, the scholars realized that the ethical model has to be modified and they developed an Integrated Ethics framework which deals with the complete range of ethical dilemmas in the healthcare (Morrison & Furlong, 2013). The main concerns are grouped into various categories which are then developed and experimented through an integrated and systematic procedure. The primary responsibilities of the management and professional staff at the long-term care facility are as follows: 1. Maintain the mission and Code of Ethics for the institution. 2. Carry out the professional activities with integrity, respect, good faith, honesty and fairness. 3. Ensure compliance with the complete range of regulations and laws pertaining to the healthcare management in accordance to the respective authorities’ guidelines. 4. Avoidance of improper exploitation of the professional relationships for any personal gain. 5. Effective disclosure of financial information and other areas of conflicting interest. 6. Cease participation in the activities which impact the dignity and credibility of the healthcare facility. 7. Make sure the process exists to advice patients and others to provide them appropriate opportunities, give all rights and responsibilities related to the healthcare facilities. 8. Avoid facilitation and practices of discrimination and safeguard any policies which can cause discriminatory institutional practices. 9. Presence of a procedure for facilitation of conflict resolution which can arise when there is gap between the values of employees and physicians and patients and their families. 10. Confidentiality and patients’ privacy has to be maintained. 11. Existing processes have to be reviewed on an ongoing basis to make sure that clinical practices are within the ethical boundaries of healthcare management. 12. Create a work environment which supports ethical conduct and allows free expression of ethical concerns. 13. Provide a healthy and safe working environment to the employees. 14. Work to make the services accessible to everyone in the community (Morrison & Furlong, 2013; Pozgar, 2011). Ethical dilemmas faced by the organization The two cornerstones of the ethical practices in the long-term care facility are providing excellent patient care along with avoidance of any harmful incident (Igoumenidis & Zyga, 2011). The healthcare management and professional staff have to make sure that the business activities are conducted in an appropriate manner and every challenge has to be properly addressed. Although the ethical dilemmas modify with the passage of time but the concerned authorities have to make sure that they allocate sufficient resources for resolving them (Foglia et al., 2009). The two major ethical dilemmas faced by the long-term facility are as follows: 1. Balancing profit between patient care and charity care – As the long-term care facilities exist to meet the demands of the patients, it is vital for the management to make sure that the profit is properly allocated. The long-term care institution has to make sure that the patients are provided superior quality services without making any compromise on their services. Even it has to make valuable contribution in the society by helping the charitable organizations. This long-term care organization will be making worthwhile addition in the society by providing a facility to old people for meeting their medical requirements. The staff members will have to make sure that they conduct their duties with integrity and honesty. One important area of concern for the facility is that the employees should realize their role towards the patients by treating the old people in a respectful manner. Moreover, the personnel will have to dedicate sufficient amount of time towards each patient so that the individual feels good and is satisfied with the professionalism of the staff members. 2. Managing geriatric and pediatric patients – Since the long-term care facility will have patients who have minimum amount of decision making capacity, the management will have to make sure that they are given undue attention and care. Even the staff members have to be taught to treat such patients with utmost care and make sure that all of their requirements are effectively met. Hence, the ethical responsibility of the facility is to seek guidance from the patient’s legally authorized spokesperson. In case such person is not reachable, then the institution will have to make appropriate decision in an ethical manner. Ethical standards/Ethical code of conduct In order to make sure that the institution’s business activities are conducted in professional and ethical way, it is imperative to develop an ethical code of conduct. This framework will provide a set of rules and regulations for each member of the facility to make sure that each patient is given fair and just treatment. Also, the resources in the form of medical facilities, patient’s requirements and other aspects of the long-term facility have to be strategically allocated so that all patients are contended with the services provided to them (Ignancia & Taylor, 2013). Considering the long-term care facility scenario, following are the crucial elements of the institution’s Ethical Code of Conduct: 1. Autonomy Everyone at the facility is given rights to make decisions on their own in accordance to their designation so that they can carry out their duties efficiently. All the information about the institution will be communicated to all staff members truthfully and openly so that they feel valued. Even the employees will be willing to make meaningful contribution in enhancing the organization’s business operations. 2. Privacy and confidentiality Privacy is defined as an individual’s right for controlling the use, collection and disclosure of the personal level information along with allowing access to the relevant data and give them the right of expecting complete security of their personal information. On the other hand, confidentiality refers to the duty of the facility of holding the patients’ information in a secured way in professional way. Long-term care facility will keep all data about patients in integrated and highly secured systems so that they are not disclosed to any external person. 3. Beneficence The institution cares about others and wants to promote the goodness of the facility so that everyone gets benefited. It is the responsibility of the management and professionals to employ their skills and knowledge in assisting the patients for achieving and maintaining optimal health care services. The management will make sure that they comply with the quality standards so that there are no health hazards for the patients in the institution. 4. Professionalism All the experts working in the facility possess competent set of skills and capabilities. It is the duty of the management to make sure that every staff member is well-trained and has the ability of providing excellent quality services to the people and community as a whole. Moreover, it is people’s right to avail the range of services offered by the facility. 5. Accountability This element is related to the acceptance of all responsibilities associated with the facility’s actions and business activities. The long-term care facility has to make sure that the business procedures are in compliance with the standards, regulations, laws, principles and standards as prescribed by the relevant authorities. Every management and professional staff has to make sure that they review the institution’s work on an ongoing basis and required actions are taken to make important modifications. Implementation of the ethical values Once the ethical values are developed, the management will have to take utmost care in its implementation phase. It is imperative for the professionals to critically review every step of this ethical decision making process so that every ethical dilemma is dealt in a highly strategic manner. In order to make sure that the ethical decision making is effectively carried out, following is the framework developed recommended by Pozgar (2011): 1. Step 1 – Identification of the problem: In the preliminary phase, the main issue or challenge has to be properly identified. 2. Step 2 – Information gathering: All vital information has to be gathered from relevant sources such as factual data, rules, laws, principles, standards and legal requirements. 3. Step 3 – Clarifying the issue: Elaborate the issue more deeply so that the dilemma is clarified. The ethical aspects have to be determined to resolve the problem. 4. Step 4 – Identification of the options: Carry out surveys to determine the range of feasible options. 5. Step 5 – Assessment of options: All options have to be carefully evaluated so that the best solution is determined. 6. Step 6 – Selecting the course of actions: After critical assessment of all options, the most applicable course of action has to be finalized. 7. Step 7 – Implementing the action: Once the action plan is developed, it has to be implemented appropriately. 8. Step 8 – Evaluating outcomes: The outcomes have to be evaluated to make sure that the desired results are successfully attained. Actions to be taken for incompliance In case of violations of the code of ethics, the employees will have to pay the penalties. For instance, if they don’t fulfill their responsibilities, they will have to face the penalty such as deduction of salaries or working overtime to compensate for the loss. Moreover, if any patient gets hurt due to negligence of the staff member, then the concerned person will be given warning of termination on first mistake. On the third warning, the person will be asked to leave the facility. The management and professional staff members will have to make sure that every staff member is well aware of the ethical code of conduct and no violation will be neglected by the management team. Additionally, the honesty and integrity in the profession is the vital requirement and every employee will have to perform their job duties with utmost dedication. Thus, the management will implement the complete range of restrictions and policies for performing the work within ethical boundaries. Conclusion The long-term care facility will have to develop a unique and compelling Ethical Code of Conduct so that the patients can avail the superior quality services. It is the responsibility of every personnel in the institution to carry out their work with integrity, fairness, truthfulness and respect. Every patient has to be given individual attention so that they are satisfied and contended with the services offered to them. Moreover, the long-term care facility will have to make sure that it provides access to everyone in the community so that everyone can avail the services available for them. It has to keep proper balance between the charitable work and patient care so that everyone can get benefited. Additionally, the patients should be made assured that their information is kept confidential and they can rely on the institution for the excellent long-term care facility offered by the experts of the enterprise. References Foglia, M.B., Pearlman, R., Bottrell, M., Altemose, J. & Fox, E. (2009). Ethical challenges within Veterans Administration healthcare facilities: perspectives of managers, clinicians, patients, and ethics committee chairpersons. American Journal of Bioethics, 9(4), 28-36. Gabel, S. (2011). Ethics and values in clinical practice: Whom do they help? Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 86(5), 421-424. Ignacia, J.J. & Taylor, B.J. (2013). Ethical issues in health-care inquiry: A discussion paper. International Journal of Nursing Practice, S1, 56-61. Igoumenidis, M. & Zyga, S. (2011). Healthcare research in developing countries: Ethical issues. Health Science Journal, 5(4), 243-250. Morrison, E.E. (2009). Ethics in Health Administration: A practical approach for decision makers. 2nd ed. USA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Morrison, E.E. & Furlong, B. (2013). Healthcare Ethics. 3rd ed. USA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Pozgar, G.D. (2011). Legal aspects of healthcare administration. 11th ed. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Rowe, K. & Moodley, K. (2013). Patients as consumers of health care in South Africa: the ethical and legal implications. BMC Medical Ethics, 14(15), 1-15. Zydziunaitel, V., Suominen, T., Astedt-Kurki, P. & Lepaite, D. (2010). Ethical dilemmas concerning decision making within healthcare leadership: a systematic literature review. Medicina (Kaunas), 46(9), 595-603. Read More