Establishing Professionalism in Healthcare Institutions: How Public Policies Facilitate Relationships

Introduction

Institutions are guided by moral public policies that provide principles that regulate relationships between different stakeholders in the institution. In healthcare institutions, professionalism is very critical in establishing healthy relationships between the patients and the medical staff as well as amongst the medical staff (Woods, 2014). People play different roles in a system to make the system whole; without systematic procedures and principles that establish professionalism, the system could fall into chaos. Professionalism refers to the ability to carry out a task with diligent competence and skills as expected by the set procedures and agreed upon principles (Cherkowski, Walker, & Kutsyuruba, 2015). Professionalism plays an essential role in the quality of services provided in the healthcare industry. Different healthcare institutions established different standards that promote professionalism in healthcare services. This paper will assess an ethical dilemma presenting itself as reporting a colleague's incompetence in the workplace.

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Case Scenario

In the community hospital where I am based, there is a Registered Nurse who has been on the job for two weeks, and he has freshly graduated from college. Jackson which is not his real name to guarantee his privacy has been making too many mistakes which significantly endangers the health of the patients and the reputation of the healthcare organization. Three significant incompetence situations have raised my suspicions on his skills as a registered nurse and the ability to continue serving at the hospital. Most of the patients at the hospital are old and are not keen on the services that they are provided with especially injection time, places and the quantity of the medicine. Jackson had given two patients wrong medications twice by interchanging the prescription and also has failed to provide medication on time for the inpatients when he was watching a football match for the English Premier League in the staff mess. In these instances, I have observed Jackson incompetence, and such errors are a risk to the patients and the healthcare institution reputation. However, I am in a dilemma on whether to report the two cases of incompetence. This is because Jackson can lose his job and if he keeps his job he will hate me for being a snitch. At the same time, if I stay quiet and fail to report Jackson incompetence, he will make a fatal mistake that will endanger the life of the patients.

Scenario Analysis

Evidence-based healthcare is only possible if healthcare providers can uphold professionalism and competency. Professionalism is acquired through extensive research, education, and practice which helps identify the most efficient clinical methods that are used to treat people. Research and studies help individual healthcare practitioners to get hold of better techniques and practices that promote evidence-based practice in healthcare. Following the required medical guidelines helps a healthcare organization to foster better treatment and practices that are known to improve patient safety in the course of treatment. Professionalism in Healthcare ensures only accepted procedures and treatment is administered to the patients which make it easy to assess the outcomes of every treatment approach used in a healthcare environment. Professionalism in Healthcare in the face of many treatment approaches and procedures is the only avenue that can guarantee patient safety in healthcare delivery.

Implications of Compromise to Ethics and Medical Competence

Ethics in medical practice refers to the patient and physician obligations which require the healthcare personnel to provide healthcare that upholds the patient's interest. Healthcare providers should according to the medical conduct necessary and ethics treat patients with respect and also ensure that the patient's best interests are served in their interaction (Ortmann, Barrett, Saenz, Bernheim, Dawson, Valentine, & Reis, 2016). Significant healthcare ramifications personnel compromise on ethics and medical conduct include; Poor misconduct of healthcare personnel that does not meet the necessary ethics such as wrong treatment and failure to seek consent and decisions from the patient before the implementation of a treatment plan leads to poor trust and confidence in the entire medical practice. Patients who are exploited by physicians for sexual and financial gains leads to the compromise of the existing trust in the whole of medical practice (Ortmann et al., 2016). Failure by healthcare personnel to observe the necessary standards of conduct and ethical procedures healthcare services fails to meet the needs of the patients.

Role as a Moral Agent

As a moral agent, my primary role as a registered nurse in the healthcare setting is to establish the problem using rational thinking skills and the potential solutions that will ensure that the rights of the patient and the healthcare provider are met. A moral agent has the responsibility of discerning situations in the healthcare setting and contributing in steps that can be used to promote accountability in the part of the healthcare providers (Cherkowski et al., 2015). As a moral agent, my decision after evaluating the situation and nature of the mistake done by Jackson is to ensure that the issue is addressed with immediate effect because such mistakes can have a significant negative impact on the patient and the healthcare organization reputation. Keeping quiet in such a situation of repeated incompetence and negligence on the part of Jackson could be detrimental to the health of the patient and also my oversight role since I have more experience and I have been serving in the institution longer than Jackson.

Ethical, Moral, and Legal Leadership

Ethical leadership is the ability to ensure that colleagues adhere to the set or accepted code of conduct and behavior in a profession. Moral obligations are the traits, beliefs and the nursing motivations that can help one to undertake personal duty and responsibility within the working environment. Legal aspects of leadership is ensuring that one observes the organization internal policies and laws that govern the nursing profession (Cherkowski et al., 2015). All three aspects are fundamental in making decisions in ethical dilemma situations. Collectively, they justify the role and response of a moral agent to an unethical situation.

Artisan Leadership Style Implication on the Ethical Dilemma

Based on my Artisan leadership temperament there is significant implication on this ethical dilemma. The action approach of my artisan temperament is a utilitarian approach which involves maximizing the overall happiness of the resulting consequences of an action. In this case, I am aware that if I report Jackson to the head nurse, he might lose his job or face severe punishment which will be sad for him. Besides, if I decide to keep quiet, I would be endangering the lives of the patients who expect the best services and safety in the conduct of nurses. As such, my leadership style is a significant barrier in this case and makes it difficult to do what is right even when it is evident (Marquis & Huston, 2017).

Motivation to take a Stand based on Organization's Values, Mission and Vision

Patient safety and care quality is the primary measure of value for the community healthcare center. I share the same healthcare value with the healthcare organization in maximizing the patient safety and care quality which will be critical in my stand to report Jackson patient mismanagement and negligence which puts patient's health and safety at risk. I believe that healthcare organizations and personnel have a primary role in ensuring patient safety and providing high-quality care possible. Despite the negative consequences of my actions on Jackson future practice, my fundamental duty is to the patient and the healthcare organization positive reputation.

Conclusion

Healthcare consumer satisfaction in healthcare is an essential quality to assess the level of professionalism in healthcare. Professionalism increases patient's confidence in the healthcare systems and procedures which translate to the satisfaction of the healthcare services consumers. Professionalism guarantees less operational and treatment mistakes which enhance the safety concern of the patients and can also worsen the conditions of the patients. Services that do not meet the needs of the patients are considered as poor services which lead to the negative medical review by patients and other healthcare consumers. In healthcare situations where ethics and medical conduct boundaries are not observed patients are exploited by greedy and selfish healthcare personnel. Healthcare personnel who compromise with the ethics of healthcare practice. It is crucial to maintain the right attitude and objectivity when faced by an ethical dilemma to ensure that the patients' needs and rights are protected.

References

Cherkowski, S., Walker, K. D., & Kutsyuruba, B. (2015). Principals' Moral Agency and Ethical Decision-Making: Toward a Transformational Ethics. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 10(5), n5. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1138586.pdf

Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2017). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application (9th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Ortmann, L. W., Barrett, D. H., Saenz, C., Bernheim, R. G., Dawson, A., Valentine, J. A., & Reis, A. (2016). Public health ethics: global cases, practice, and context. In Public Health Ethics: Cases Spanning the Globe (pp. 3-35). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-23847-0_1

Woods, M. (2014). Beyond moral distress preserving the ethical integrity of nurses. Nursing Ethics, 21(2), 127-128.