NR 506 Week 5 Ethical and Legal Implications

NR 506 Week 5 Ethical and Legal Implications

NR 506 Week 5 Ethical and Legal Implications

Conflicts are an inevitable part of any workplace environment. Conflicts in healthcare settings, especially among healthcare workers like nurses and physicians can have serious effects, both legal and ethical for the different involved stakeholders. The safety of patients and quality care are top priorities for all people working in healthcare settings (Varkey, 2021). The purpose of this paper is to analyze a scenario in a health involving conflict among different healthcare providers and the associated implications.

Medical Assistant (MA):

The medical assistant in this scenario failed on a host of principles to guarantee patient safety. These include beneficence, the duty of care, and reducing possible harm as well as ensuring that all processes within the facility confer positive aspects to the patient (Cullati et al., 2019). For instance, the MA failed in making prompt notification to the physician about the low blood pressure due to the argument that emerged. This failure has negative effects on patient safety as the practitioner allowed the conflict to impact their roles and effective working. This placed the patient in possible harm and

Nurse Practitioner (NP):

While the nurse practitioner was not the one who failed in reporting the low blood pressure levels, she or he us solely responsible for patient care. The scenario placed the NP in an ethical and legal dilemma. The NP failed to uphold ethical principle of beneficence since she has been working at this facility for only three months. Within the period she had witnesses many staff members engaging in heated conflicts, especially arguments, even in the presence of patients (Hansson et al., 2021). The case scenario does not mention if the NP had attempted to address the issues before or not. However, allowing the issues to escalate places the NP at possible legal suit and even ethical implications because of negligence and malpractice based on the outcomes or results of the situation.

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Medical Director (MD):

Medical director in the facility is responsible for ethical and legal aspects of the situation and all providers as well as the patients. The medical director failed to institute a workplace culture that respects different aspects of patient care based on principles of beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence (Varkey, 2021). Allowing conflicts in the practice among staff members negatively affects the ability of the NPs to offer quality care to patients and impede patient flow and access to better services. These aspects affect patient safety.

Practice:

The practice may be sued for negligence because of the current issue if it will cause harm to the patient. The practice should ensure that it has an organizational culture that respects patient’s values and autonomy, including effective reporting measures to address such issues. Conflicts in the practice have a negative connotation on the quality of services provided to patients.

Strategies to Prevent dangerous episodes

It is essential to develop responsive measures aimed at reducing the current conflicts in the practice that can have adverse effects on patient outcomes. The first strategy is to develop a teamwork approach to the situation and ensure that all providers have a common approach to patient care. Secondly, effective communication and incident reporting channels are essential in the facility (Hansson et al., 2021). Thirdly, the medical director should develop an organizational culture by working together with the nurse practitioner and other stakeholders that expresses values like honesty, respect, and integrity as well as cultural competency and diversity in care provision among the staff.

Leadership Qualities

Leadership is essential in this situation since the healthcare workers are conflicting possibly due to the lack of positive attributes and organizational culture. The leadership qualities required to attain positive change in the practice include empathy, listening, building teams and trust as well as caring. The leader should also value the individuals in the setting so that they appreciate their presence in the practice. As such, the leaders in the facility should apply both transformational and servant leadership models to improve the situation in the facility now.

Conclusion

Conflicts, especially arguments amongst providers, can have serious effects on patient safety in clinical practice. The scenario depicts the need for providers to develop effective interventions to reduce possible risks to patient safety emanating from such situations. leadership qualities from transformational and servant leadership models would be critical in such situations.

NR 506 Week 5 Ethical and Legal Implications References

Cullati, S., Bochatay, N., Maître, F., Laroche, T., Muller-Juge, V., Blondon, K. S., … & Nendaz,

M. R. (2019). When team conflicts threaten quality of care: a study of health care professionals’ experiences and perceptions. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes, 3(1), 43-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2018.11.003

Hansson, S. O., & Fröding, B. (2021). Ethical conflicts in patient-centered care. Clinical Ethics,

            16(2), 55-66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477750920962356

Varkey, B. (2021). Principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. Medical

            Principles and Practice, 30(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000509119

Preparing the Discussion

You are a family nurse practitioner working in an outpatient primary care office of a large hospital system. The practice has been operating for over 15 years, and many of the administrative and clinical staff were hired when the practice opened. You have been in the practice for less than 3 months. In that short amount of time, you have witnessed several of the clinical staff engaging in heated arguments with each other, sometimes in patient areas. You overhear an argument occurring today between two staff. You pick up a patient’s chart and notice a very low blood pressure that the medical assistant failed to notify you about. When you confront the MA, she states that she was going to report the vital signs to you when she became engaged in the heated argument you overheard and forgot to notify you.

Unfortunately, this pattern of behavior is not unusual in this practice. Working with staff who cannot cooperate effectively can negatively influence your ability to spend time with patients, can impede the flow of patients through the office, and could impact patient safety.

Case Study Responses:

Analyze the case study for potential issues for members of the healthcare team from office conflict. Contrast the potential effects for each member of the healthcare team based on the required readings from the week. Discuss the potential ethical and legal implications for each of the following practice members:

Medical assistant

Nurse Practitioner

Medical Director

Practice

What strategies would you implement to prevent further episodes of potentially dangerous patient outcomes?

What leadership qualities would you apply to effect positive change in the practice? Focus on the culture of the practice.

A scholarly resource must be used for EACH discussion question each week.