Clinical Practice Guidelines and Ethical Issues - Essay Example

"Clinical Practice Guidelines and Ethical Issues" is a good example of a paper on the health system.
Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) are any rules that a provider uses when determining diagnostic tests and treatment plans for individual patients. Although CPGs can be either formal or informal, and either internal or external to the provider, they are most commonly viewed as recommendations directed to the provider by external agencies. In the Electronic Medical Record environment, they involve text messages presented in a variety of ways.

Clinical Practice Guidelines are by nature created a priori. It is literally impossible to predict all the situations in which they will be applied. If practice guidelines were all-knowing, then computers could practice medicine all by themselves. As this is not the case, absolute flexibility and compromise are imperative when critical information is communicated to clinicians. The template approach appears to be sufficiently flexible, but it does not encourage a provider to change his or her habits or to help improve the guideline. The agent technology, coupled with Concept Processing, will dramatically foster habit change and improve compliance. Yet, it will free physicians to practice their art in the best way they know-how.

Recent Ethical Issues are controversial to Healthcare Policies. Findings

Ethical issues in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the face of a diversity of religious views and a culture that was significantly disunited on important issues such as the morality of abortion and euthanasia, an appeal to reason offered the promise of securing a deeper unity behind the apparent plurality of moral visions.

The Republican landslide in the 1994 Congressional elections augurs the demise of sweeping, national legislative efforts to reform the American health-care system by guaranteeing universal access to a standard benefits package and instituting mechanisms to control the nation's swollen health-care budget. (1) Yet there is no end in sight to the furiously paced restructuring of the health-care industry, in which formerly autonomous health-care institutions affiliate with one another in order to provide a full spectrum of health care and compete for the business of third-party payers. (2) This note addresses the following challenges posed by such restructuring: (1) ethical issues generated by the shift from fee-for-service medicine to managed care, and (2) the newly revised Ethical and Religious Directives for Health Care Facilities promulgated by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, in particular, the principle of cooperation as applied to two case studies.

Healthcare depends on Technology

Technology this 10 letter word influences the healthcare sector. If we talk bout healthcare we must talk about advanced medical technology. It is so true in a way that how life is influenced by diseases and disability same way healthcare is influenced by advanced medical technology.

In the article, the author pointed out four different technologies of the healthcare sector.

1. Therapeutic Technology
2. Compensatory Technology
3. Assistive Technology and
4. Universal Technology

Therapeutic focus more on individual and also it will lead to the eradication of disability and handicap. Compensatory focuses on providing new abilities to the disabled and make them feel like they are able. This leads to a self-satisfied and self-dependant lifestyle of the disabled. Assistive leads the disabled to a more sophisticated environment where not all the disabled join. Universal focuses more on society, not on individuals.  

Here the author listed out the priorities of these Advanced Medical Technologies. Started with Therapeutic followed by Universal, Compensatory, and finally Assistive. He also sorted these technologies based o accessibility. In this case, he concluded with the following order.  Therapeutic, Compensatory, Assistive, and Universal.

Here I want to focus on the cost of these Advanced Medical Technologies. When we talk about costs we should consider the average middle-class person’s point of view since they are the majority. If I order the preferred technologies based on cost and focusing on individuals, I would start with Compensatory the reason is all these new ability equipment are less expensive compared to all other technologies. Everyone can afford to go for it and also they would eel likable.  Secondly, Assistive though it will lead to a sophisticated lifestyle of disabled, not all can afford to go for it because of the cost. Example appliances for dressing, toileting, and bathing, remote control for doors, windows, and light switches, etc... are needed for those who are living alone are with less caretaking environment. If caretakers are there to assist, the role of these devices will be minimized. Finally Therapeutic, the reason why I sort this to the last is this really needs floods of money to make the disabled really able. This focuses on a permanent solution for the disability and also is very expensive compare to all others. This works in 2 situations 1) if the disabled are seriously in critical condition and somehow wants to lead a normal lifestyle          2) if he really affords to go for it with extensive financial background. Here I didn’t include the fourth one which is Universal the reason is it focuses more on society and to an individual and also its least accessible.