Principles of Biomedical Ethics - Essay Example

?Reflective Account Introduction This reflective account will use Gibbs Reflective Cycle (Benbow & Jordan, 2009). This 6 step cycle is a structured method, which allows students to explore their thoughts and feelings and encourages an analysis and action plan, with the aim of improving knowledge and challenging practice (Oxford Brookes University, 2009). The 2010 Quality Strategy of the Scottish Government on Health was built to meet the needs of the Scottish people. These needs included the following issues: the development and training of staff, which is compassionate and merciful; the communication capability of the employees operating in the health sector; and the need of receiving information that effectively explains their problems and methodologies of treatment. This strategy is also developed based on the need of creating significant partnership between patients, health workers and stakeholders within the field of health (Health Works: A Review of the Scottish Government's Healthy Working Lives’ Strategy, 2010). In addition, the strategy satisfies the need of a clean health care environment and continuance of health care services. It also promotes excellence in clinical medicine and health care provision. This paper seeks to use Gibbs’ reflective model to consider Scottish Government’s Quality Strategy (2010), which will help me analyze in detail on my role in providing seamless care. The paper will focus on safe effective discharge planning in writing a reflective account and consider professional, legal and ethical issues, evidence-based care, multidisciplinary team working, decision making / prioritization, care planning, effective communication skills, and implications for future practice. Description This is a reflection on my role as a health professional in charge of ensuring safe and effective discharge of patients from the hospital to their homes. This reflection is aligned with the policies established by the 2010 Quality Health Framework. The reflective framework used is the one advocated by Johns (2000); it is based on certain clues, such as description of the experience, reflection, factors that influenced my decision and other choices available that could influence my decision and lessons learnt from the experience. The role of discharge planning team involves coordinating transition of a patient from the Hospital to their homes. This is due to the fact that safe transition to their homes is an important process in the recovery of a patient. As a member of the discharge team, it is my responsibility to advise the patient on the importance of recovering in a rehabilitation facility or at home. For example, on a reflection of what happened in the past while I was on placement in Accident and Emergency Dept the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS). I was asked to recommend treatment for an old diabetic man who just finished his treatment at the hospital. As a member of the discharge team, I recommended that the patient looks for a home care so that he may effectively respond the treatment administered, this recommendation was however overruled by the family of the old man, in spite of the assertions by Geriatric professionals that the patient has the capability of a quick recovery if enrolled in a care home, as opposed to his house (Clare & Hofmeyer, 1996). Feelings On reflection, this was a very unpleasant experience that occurred in my life in my duties. It may have been both unprofessional and unethical to suggest to the old man that he attends a care home for his quick recovery, without prior consultations. It would have been prudent to have consultations made with other professionals and families members who were concerned with the health condition of the old man. This is because the process of recovery involves various stakeholders including; doctors, the patient her/himself, nurses, family members, social workers, and geriatric professionals. Through this experience, I realized the importance of communication in effective provision of medical and health care services (Riley, 2012). This is because communication is one of the guiding factors for the development of the Scottish 2010 Quality Strategy Framework. Proper communication can result in efficiency in the provision of health care. This is because it creates an aspect of collaboration based on information amongst different stakeholders involved in the health care process of a patient (Hansten, Jackson & Kenyon, 1999). Evaluation The decision to give recommendation was founded on the three goals contained in the 2010 Scottish Quality Strategy on Health. These goals included: to create an association which is advantageous to the patient, their families, and any person in charge of delivering health care services. In my own opinion, through the services of a care home, the old man would recover quickly. This is so because his health would improve and his family would have incurred less health care expenditures (Reynard, Reynolds & Stevenson, 2009). I also intended to have the person recover quickly from his condition because of the clean environment around care homes, which the environment at their home could not offer. In addition, there would be an appropriate intervention in support of the old man in case he experiences any challenges and difficulties during the recovery period. This is because in a care home, there are professional health care workers who have the capability of diagnosing health care problems and providing solutions. Another influencing factor that led to care home recommendation was the idea that care homes are professionally managed, and aged people in these institutions are properly taken care of (Hill, 2006). At the discharge planning team, there were other options that could be considered in this scenario. The first option would have been consulting other stake holders involved in the treatment of the old man and to find out the best place where he could recover (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009). During this process, his family would be the main decision-makers on the place where the old man should recover. This is because other people would prefer taking care of their patient during the recovery process (Riley, 2012). Other stake holders such as nurses, doctors, social workers, and geriatric professionals would offer professional advice. May be there would have been no conflict between discharge team and the family of the old man if we adopted this option. Through this approach, I would have learned the special needs of the patient and therefore plan his discharge based on satisfying these needs (Moorhead and Huber, 1997). On this note, this approach is an effective way of creating a good relationship between the patient, the members of his family, and the medical staff. This relationship has an effect of respecting the specific needs of the patient and therefore depicting continuity and compassion. Analysis This reflection changed my perception on the importance of working as a team and effectively communicating within the team. I learnt that in the medical arena, the contributions of every member are important. There are high chances of achieving success by implementing an idea that is discussed and agreed by members of a team (Matzo and Sherman, 2004).The 2010 Quality Strategy of Health by the Scottish government advocates for collaboration amongst health care professionals for purposes of satisfying the health needs of a patient. In addition, I learned the importance of developing a nursing care plan. This is an important step in the treatment of the patient and his subsequent recovery (Garber, Gross and Slonim, 2012). The plan can also improve the recovery process of a patient. The 2010 Scottish Quality Strategy of Health advocates for creation of such plans as it would assist in the diagnoses, treatment and recovery of a patient. Conclusion In summary, the Scottish government should initiate the registration of organizations that have the capability of further improving the skills of seamless health care professionals. This will provide health care institutions with highly skilled manpower which has the capability of efficiently and effectively providing seamless care services. A plan for effective discharge of a patient is pivotal in recovery process. Therefore, involving all the stakeholders in decision making is very important in the diagnoses, treatment and recovery of the patient. Bibliography Beauchamp, T., L. & Childress, J., f. 2009 Principles of Biomedical Ethics. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press. Benbow, W. & Jordan, G. 2009. A Handbook for Student Nurses. Devon: Reflective Press. Clare, J. M., &Hofmeyer, A. T. 1996.Towards seamless health care: aged people, their carers and discharge planning in a casemix environment. Bedford Park, S. Aust.: Flinders University of South Australia, School of Nursing. Garber, J. S., Gross, M., &Slonim, A. D. 2010.Avoiding common nursing errors . Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Hansten, R. I., Jackson, M., & Kenyon, V. 1999.Home care nursing delegation skills: a handbook for practice. Gaithersburg, Md.: Aspen Publishers. Health works a review of the Scottish Government's Healthy working lives strategy. 2010. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. Heath, I. 1998. A Seamless Service.BMJ: British Medical Journal, 317(7174), 1723-1724. Hill, J. 2006. Rheumatology nursing: a creative approach (2nd ed.). Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons. Matzo, M., & Sherman, D. W. 2004. Gerontologic palliative care nursing. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby. Moorhead, S., & Huber, D. 1997..Nursing roles: evolving or recycled?. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Oxford Brookes University, 2009. About Gibbs reflective cycle. [Online] Available: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/upgrade/a-z/reflective_gibbs.html [Accessed 8th February 2013]. Riley, J. W. 2012. Communication in nursing (7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier/Mosby. Reynard, J., Reynolds, J. And Stevenson, P. 2009. Practical Patient Safety. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The Scottish Government 2010 Communication Safe and Effective Nursing. [Online] Available http://.www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/educat/schools/excellence/ie. [Accessed 29th Apr 2012]. The Scottish Government 2010. The Healthcare Quality Stratagy for NHS Scotland. Edinburgh: The Scottish Government. Top of Form Bottom of Form Read More