Maintaining Ethics in Decision-Making Process - Essay Example

? Juggling the Law, Ethics and Intuition: An Investigation into Decision Making In Health Professional’s Treating Traumatically Injured Jehovah’s Witnesses Name: Institution: 1.0 Research Methodology A research is basically an investigation into a specific matter that is of interest to the public, a company or an individual. It entails gathering of facts from the field, data analysis as well as its presentation in a way that will be useful to the concerned individuals (Martin and Pierce, 1994). Basically, a research is done with a view to having new perspective to a given subject matter or developing existing ones. Depending on the requirements of the research, methodology can be given either qualitative or quantitative approach. Qualitative approach looks at why a certain trend is taking place (Minichiello, Aroni, Timewell, and Alexander, 1995). It explains reasons as to why a certain behavioural pattern is taking a certain shape, and the forces behind that particular trend. Quantitative research on the other hand looks at the magnitude of a specific phenomenon. It is a deductive process that estimates the quantities of the items involved in the study. It measures the extent to which the involved items in the research affect or are affected by other variables in the study. Most scientific research demands for both types of research methodologies as there may be the need to measure the extent to which the variables involved affect each other and the level of relevance for each (Mould, 1998). An investigation into decision making in health professional’s treating traumatically injured Jehovah’s Witnesses will demand for a qualitative approach to the investigation. This research involves explanation as to why a healthcare professional needs to take care of the patients’ interests in regard to their cultural and other beliefs. This may not be explained quantitatively as the data will be given a detailed explanation other than providing statistical overview. When a health professional is dealing with a patient, there are decisions that must be made, some of which may be against the beliefs of the patient. The main objective of this professional will be to ensure that the life of the patient is saved at all cost (Grbich, 1999). To have a full insight into the stages that are involved in this process of making decision during treatment, a qualitative method will be the most appropriate approach. French, Reynolds and Swain, (2001) assert that qualitative research into a topic provides a detailed knowledge into the subject matter, especially when it involves question of why a certain activity or action has taken place in a certain manner. 2.0 Annotated Bibliography Menezes MA., 2010. Life on the front line: exploring personal and professional Impacts on healthcare professionals working with fetal anomaly. Ph D Thesis, The University of Melbourne. Web. 9th January, 2012. In this article, the author explains that currently, health professionals are able to conduct both antenatal screening for pregnant women. This process may reveal certain anomalies in the foetus. In case such a professional detects such a case in a patient, then the professional must strive to rescue such a patient because such anomalies may be fatal if not treated in time. The concerned health professional must therefore make a quick decision on how to approach the issue in order to save the patients life. The main objective of the health expert is to save the life of the patient at all cost, irrespective of beliefs of either the health expert or the patient. Journal of Emergency Primary Healthcare: An International e-Journal of Prehospital Care Research, Education, Clinical Practice, Policy and Service Delivery. Web. 9th January, 2012. This article talks about the management of mass casualty events through adoption of grander scale. Most health experts are faced with very many cases of emergency that require urgent attention. This may demand that they go beyond their normal daily activity. This may be stressing, but as a professional, it is expected of the expert to deliver quality service every time he/she is called upon for such duty. Some of the cases may require a surge response. In such a case, this particular expert may need act swiftly to prevent possible death. At times the decision may not take into consideration, thoughts of the patient. Prehospital Emergency Care: Impact of an Emergency Department Closure on the Local Emergency Medical Services System. Web. 9th January, 2012. The author of this article talks about patients’ safety in emergency medical services. According to the article, it is vital for a health professional to identify threats to the patient’s safety, and subsequently develop measures that would alleviate the threats. There are environmental factors that may heighten the threats of the patient, such as the beliefs. A health expert should know how to approach such issues in order to ensure that the life of the patient is out of danger. This requires clinical judgment on the side of the professional. He / she may then communicate to the patient reasons why there is need to conduct the intended action. Journal of Paramedic Practice: Prehospital management of paediatric supracondylar fractures. Web. 9th January, 2012. Vol. 3, issue 12, 2nd Dec, 2011. This article explains that supracondylar humeral fracture is a regular to patients who are traumatized. As a health expert, it is very important to ensure that traumatized patient is taken care of with appropriate attention. It is very important to address the source of the trauma first before starting the treatment process. A traumatized patient may not respond to treatment at a desired rate. For this reason therefore it is important to appropriately communicate with the patient and address issues that are of concern to him/her. Trauma may be caused by physical injuries, like a broken limb. The process involved in treating such a case may be the worry of such a patient. In such a case, it is important to assure the patient that the process will be done in the most humane way. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine: Responses, Relief, and Recovery. Web. 9th January, 2012. Vol. 1, issue. 3, 2011. The author of this article states that damages need appropriate and timely response. According to this article, it is very important to address the current damage in order to prevent other damages that may arise from the initial damage. There should be a deliberate effort to counter all or a portion of the desired needs in an attempt to relieve, rescue, recover or rehabilitate the conditions of the patient. There should be a clearly defined strategy and objective before the commencement of the rescue strategy. This will help ensure that the medical practitioner understands the expectations of his duties. 3.0 The selection Process in Obtaining Appropriate Sample To obtain appropriate sample for this research, the researcher would consider conducting a stratified random sampling among the faithful of Jehovah Witness. The researcher would consider sampling a population of 150 individuals who are Jehovah Witness faithful within a reasonable geographical area. To ensure that the data collected is free from bias, the researcher intends to include in the sample, individuals of varying ages and level of belief to this denomination. Both genders will be given an equal opportunity to contribute towards this discussion. To fully understand the basis of their doctrines, especially on treatment matters, the researcher will allocate 20% of the total sample population to the leaders of this church. 4.0 Ethical Considerations of the Project Research demands a lot of ethical issues on the side of the researcher. Inasmuch as the research should be as legitimate as possible and the sources of information made available to the ultimate user of the report, there must be a concerted effort to maintain professionalism when compiling this report. One of the most important issues that should be considered is the confidentiality of the sources (DePoy and Gitlin, 2005). Some individuals always accept to divulge certain information on condition that the source will not be revealed. If this is the agreement then the researcher has the moral obligation to protect the source of this information. It is also very important for the researcher to appreciate what other researchers have done in case they find relevance in using them in their own research. It is unethical to reproduce work of another person and claim ownership to it. Any form of plagiarism in a research would render the whole report irrelevant (Campbell and Machin, 1999). The objective of research is to generate new ideas with an aim of developing a particular field. Reproducing an already done report is therefore one of the most unethical move by any researcher. The researcher must produce quality work that reflects professionalism in his field. There should be a sign that the research was done by an individual who is a health professional and understands the needs for the research. Every profession has its own parameter when it comes to conducting research. Health experts are expected to produce a report that is sensitive both to the patients and other fellow practitioners. In this particular case, the researcher must consider the fact that the main objective of any patient going to the hospital is to get treatment, irrespective of their beliefs. The report should therefore provide a report on how best this can be achieved while still respecting some of these restrictive beliefs (Bouma, 2004). A researcher must avoid at all costs, any form of personal bias. A researcher who has a formed opinion about the subject at hand may not produce a true image in the report (Balch and Stengler, 2004). For this reason, there should be an attempt to eliminate any formed opinion before commencing the research. This is a scientific research. Consequently, the researcher should produce a quality work, taking into consideration, the scientific methods of data analysis and presentation. This will make the report relevant to this field. 5.0. The Project Proposal The anticipation is that the project would run for one month within which the researcher expects to gather and analyze data and afterwards write a report. This will require financial resources in order to conduct the research properly. The researcher will need to travel from one location to another, within the predetermined area collecting the data. This involves incurring travel expenses. Data presentation must be done in a professional manner. This will need materials which come at a cost. When properly financed, this project will be a success. The project will require a sum of 160 US dollars. References Balch, J. & Stengler, M. (2004). Prescription for natural cures. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Bouma, G. D. (2004). The research process (5th ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Campbell, M., & Machin, D. (1999). Medical statistics: A commonsense approach (3rd ed.). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons. . DePoy, E., & Gitlin, L. N. (2005). Introduction to research: Understanding and applying multiplestrategies (3rd ed.). St. Louis: Mosby. French, S., Reynolds, F., & Swain, J. (2001). Practical research: A guide for therapists (2nd ed.).London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Grbich, C. (1999). Qualitative research in health: An introduction. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin. Journal of Emergency Primary Healthcare: An International e-Journal of Prehospital Care Research, Education, Clinical Practice, Policy and Service Delivery. Web. 9th January, 2012. vol. 9, issue1, 2011. Journal of Paramedic Practice: Prehospital management of paediatric supracondylar fractures. Web. 9th January, 2012. Vol. 3, issue 12, 2nd Dec, 2011. Martin, P., & Pierce, R. (1994). Practical statistics for the health sciences. Melbourne: Nelson. Menezes MA., 2010. Life on the front line: exploring personal and professional impacts on healthcare professionals working with fetal anomaly. Ph D Thesis, The University of Melbourne. Web. 9th January, 2012. Minichiello, V., Aroni, R., Timewell, E., & Alexander, L. (1995). In-depth interviewing: Principles, techniques and analysis (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Addison Wesley-Longman. Minichiello,V., Sullivan, G., Greenwood, K., & Axford, R. (Eds.). (2004). Handbook for research methods in nursing and health science (2nd ed.). Sydney: Pearson. Mould, R. F. (1998). Introductory medical statistics (3rd Ed.). Bristol: Adam Hilger. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine: Responses, Relief, and Recovery. Web. 9th January, 2012. Vol. 1, issue. 3, 2011. Prehospital Emergency Care: Impact of an Emergency Department Closure on the Local Emergency Medical Services System. Web. 9th January, 2012. (Vol. 16, issue 1, January –March 2012) Read More