Legal Issues in Quality of Care - Research Paper Example

Such an understanding is useful for the purpose of this proposed research due to the fact that the author hopes that by proving that a verifiable link exists between the level of legal representation within the industry and the level and quality of care provided, the researcher will be able to demonstrably prove that this is a key determinant within healthcare and its overall improvement and offerings to the end consumer; both within specialized fields such as secondary care and elsewhere.

Similarly, the second work of scholarship that this brief analysis has chosen to review is that of the National Academy of Sciences, “Legal Issues in Quality of Care Oversight in the United States: Recent Developments”. As such, the piece seeks to track the level of legal changes that are manifesting themselves throughout the United States while at the same time seeking to analyze how, if at all, these changes are providing for an increase or decrease in the quality of care (Jost 2003). As a means of measuring this, the authors set out to approach the issue from both a legal requirement standpoint as well as one of economic sustainability; much the same as the one which has been utilized in the first article that has been reviewed.

It is of course the intention of this author that this piece, as well as the proceeding piece, will help to draw specific levels of analysis with regards to the levels that current and past legal obligations and their subsequent implementations within the field of healthcare have affected the quality of care provided. It should be further noted that the authors of these pieces have stated that the economics of further regulation and legal obligations that the current environment necessarily portends has meant that a larger and larger percentage share of resources must be relegated to providing for the legal needs; necessarily reducing the overall level of quality of care that could be expected. 

However, as has been noted within the respective studies, this has taken place on a nominal scale and as yet something that few other studies have attempted to draw a level of inference upon.  As such, with regards to utilizing this information as a means of informing the research which is to be conducted, it is the belief of this author that the preceding pieces can and should be utilized as a means of analyzing the direct and indirect relationships that legal requirements portend for the entity in question with regards to the overall level and quality of care that is ultimately passed on to the patient/consumer.

The final piece that this literature review has analyzed is that of Saarni et al 2008 article entitled, “Ethically Problematic Treatment Decisions: A Physician Survey”.  As a means of seeking to define and analyze the second determinant of the research which will be utilized for this study, this particular piece has been chosen.  It goes without saying that the ethical considerations that physicians and healthcare providers face on a daily basis are intimately related to and bound with the end level and quality of care that the patient ultimately receives.  The authors note that such questions of ethics as related to the quality of care have been a topic that has pervaded healthcare and its analysis since the time of Hippocrates.  As such, the issue is one of primal importance both to the field, its development, and the individual patient/shareholder.  As a function of answering the underlying question of what extent these ethical concerns factor into the application of healthcare and the end level of quality care that a patient necessarily receives, the authors set out to provide and implement a survey in which they approach a very wide swath of medical doctors with an analysis of what extent their ethical decisions directly impact upon the final quality of care that is delivered.  The survey itself consisted of 40 questions, both free-response and multiple-choice (Saarni et al 2008).  These were then tallied and analyzed by the researchers and it was ultimately determined that, as hypothesized, the quality of care within the given test subjects was intimately affected by their emphasis on and delivery of quality care to the end consumer. 

Accordingly, each of these three research pieces helps to inform the reader/analyst with regards to the key determinants which guide and direct the application and administration of current healthcare quality within the given system.  Moreover, by seeking to analyze the level to which ethical and legal requirements are understood and appreciated within the industry itself, rather than merely providing an external view of the situation, the authors of these respective research pieces have been able to shed valuable light on the situation from an internal perspective.  By seeking to utilize this research and the unique internal vantage point that it reveals, it is the hope of this researcher that these pieces can and will be utilized as a means of providing to the field of literature a more fully nuanced and informed piece of research that can focus on the key ways in which quality of care can ultimately be improved upon within the given system.