What do you think the main ethical issues are in this situation? Does the ANA code of ethics help us as a guide to handle these?
Although conflicts in the work setting are inevitable sometimes, they affect healthcare delivery, resulting in challenges that could affect other entities such as the administration. In this scenario, there are potential ethical and legal implications for the various entities within the care delivery framework.
First, the medical assistant might face ethical implications for prioritizing unimportant issues over their duty to be attentive regarding a patient’s vital signs. She was supposed to report the low blood pressure observed in a patient but failed to do so; instead, she got sucked into an argument with a colleague. This is significantly challenging because it means that she had an obligation to provide the best care possible for a patient but failed to do so. A dropped blood pressure should be alarming because it means something is wrong with the patient and can be life-threatening. Therefore, legal implications include negligence for ignoring this factor in the patient. Negligence in such a case encompasses the breach of duty resulting in damage (Elzein et al., 2021). By putting the patient’s health at risk, she was negligent.
Although not engaged in the conflict, the nurse practitioner could also suffer severe consequences. Their ethical implications are failing to act on the conflicts within the work environment, thus affecting service delivery. On the other hand, their legal implication is that they can suffer the same consequences for negligence because they are expected to be responsible for recording patient data as the family nurse practitioner. Family nurse practitioners work in Liason with patients and physicians to provide support in documenting patient data (Lamb et al., 2019). Therefore, they failed to practice their duty effectively.
The medical director might be implicated ethically for the toxic work environment that jeopardizes the well-being of patients. As the director, they are responsible for overseeing and controlling the working environment; thus, they failed in this regard. Additionally, they can be legally implicated through the respondent superior, which is the general rule that an employer is accountable for negligent acts or omissions of their employees (Shenoy et al., 2021). Therefore, they are liable for the negligence committed by the medical assistant.
One strategy I would implement to prevent further episodes of potentially dangerous patient outcomes is to enhance communication between the different practitioners in the healthcare setting. Communication can help mend relationships while preventing conflicts between the interprofessional team, thus providing the best care possible (Canzona et al., 2019). Additionally, it can allow the members to work together effectively so that there are no confusions, such as when it comes to documenting patient data, and thus be better-positioned to care for the patient.
Leadership qualities I can employ for positive change is serving as a role model of junzi. This is based on Confucianism, the idea of person, which basically means presenting myself as an element of human excellence (Hu & Broome, 2020). This means that when I display certain attributes and behaviour, those under me follow my example. Secondly, I would initiate and maintain collaborations. Such a setting where there are interprofessional individuals requires a high level of collaboration so that processes run smoothly. Finally, I would show benevolence to my followers. This means creating visible benefits and outcomes for good. This way, my team can be geared towards positive change.
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