Imposters in Healthcare Essay Example

There are the imposters in healthcare, who have been known to take part in medical practices not qualified for. In this case, they take advantage of faulty regulatory procedures to take part as medical practitioners. They treat the patients who are thus vulnerable to any side effects associated with the unprofessional nature of the health imposters who attend to them when they visit the medical premises. It is a dangerous undertaking since the lives of the patients are at high risks of being adversely affected by the actions of the medical practitioners. The health imposters can take the form of the health physicians who have been trained and hence qualified to practice only specialized treatments in particular areas, only to breach the order and start attending the patients with ill health conditions in which they are not trained in. The patients will tend to believe that since the physician is at the hospital, he/she has the capability and potential to attend to any of their ill health conditions, which might not be case in the real life situation since the medical practitioners are, only specialized in particular areas and not the general treatment of patients with diverse health issues. Another form of healthcare imposter can be the entirely unqualified individual pretending to be a health expert, thus attending to the needs of the patients. In this case, they might have been working close to the real and valid healthcare practitioners only to acquire certain procedures observed from their matters as they attend to the patients. In this case, the healthcare imposter at hand might then go ahead and carry on the activities of treating the patients with various health problems. Below are the real-life healthcare imposters as well as the ways in which the health facilities can identify and prevent them.

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First, there is an imposter doctor who managed to treat three thousand patients. It was a young American man from Georgia, and went to United Kingdom in 2007. He could then start training as a locum doctor, to act as a substitute when all the regular doctors are not in service. He then dropped out during his foundation year, and started working with NHS some few years later, forging the emails from General Medical Council and stating that he was well trained to work. He could the be discovered in 2013, bringing about his suspension (Smith & Walshe, 2011). He did not stop at that, instead, he stole the identity of another medic and looked for work from another NHS. It is there where he worked in transplant, surgery, cardiology, and cancer treatment units. Having worked for two years, he transferred to Kent where an Identity card document was to be created to him. However, the system showed that one had been issued in the name of a doctor with a different photo. He was jailed for six years. He made use of both the right and wrong treatment procedures in attending the patients. It is because he was well conversant with the nature of the illnesses and conditions being undergone by the patients. He could diagnose them and, in most cases, the patients would recover from their illnesses.

Secondly, there was a fake surgeon who could perform amputations. He was named Christian Eberhard. His invalidity was discovered having operated one hundred and ninety times. He cheated the German health service that he had qualified from Oxford university, although he wrote his degree certificate using a fountain pen. In real sense, he had spent only ten months as a hospital worker in Germany, where he had come from a banking profession. Having succeeded in convincing the German medical authorities, he then spent two years training surgery techniques, where he was promoted as an assistant surgical doctor (Murray et al, 2011). He could operate liver, lungs, and spinal cords, alongside performing amputations. He could also prescribe a concoction of vaccines to patients whom he had administered treatments. In such cases case, the vaccines prescribed could treat specific ailments amongst the patients.

Besides, there was a doctor in adult psychiatry who had two identities. He was born in Nigeria and was named Florence Olaye. Failing the basic English tests required to work for NHS, which forced her to acquire the second identity called Florence Gberevbie. She was desperate to work in United Kingdom as a doctor, hence using a fake passport with different dates of birth, as well as false documents from Home office to get a job in hospital. She worked for five months as an adult psychiatrist under NHS, where she could then be exposed in 2008 having applied for a job in South London and Maudsley NHS. It is because of the discrepancies noted in her documents; she was then jailed in 2011.

Additionally, there was an unqualified chemist who worked as a GP for thirty years. He was located in Bradford. It was discovered that he had arrived in Britain in 1961 from Pakistan, with a fake medical degree and a hospital reference from Pakistani. They were enough documents to fool the General Medical Council (Buchbinder, 2012). He was exposed by a family member, making him get jailed for five years.

There was also an incident involving a prison doctor who prescribed larger doses of opiates. He was named Oluwadamilola Opemuyi and he mananged to treat ninety-one patients before being exposed (Smith & Walshe, 2011). She committed herself to work in a mental hospital following the completion of her music, technology, and public relations degree. After being told to first complete five years in medical school, she got frustrated. She, instead, stole the identity of a fully qualified GP named Oluwadamilola Adeyo from Manchester University. She also used a false passport, driving license, and marriage certificate. She could then be sent to work in prisons as a doctor, located in diverse places. She was expelled having prescribed a large dosage of opiate to an inmate. She still found work at Essex and also in a health facility in Liverpool. Her true identity was discovered in a pharmacy where she had tried filing two prescriptions for herself, making her get arrested.

The healthcare imposters can be prevented though a variety of ways. One of them is the establishment of a robust medical regulatory framework. It is because the faulty regulatory framework of the healthcare sector makes the imposters have the opportunity to operate. It is aimed at ensuring that only the qualified individuals in different medical fields are the ones attending to the needs of patients of diverse needs. In this case, there can be excellent management of medical practitioners' websites where there is the need to upload the list of certified medical practitioners periodically, followed by the details of their operations. Such could help in tracking down those practitioners who have not been certified by the authorities to operate. The healthcare imposters will then lack the advantage to either operate in public health institutions, sell drugs to the public as pharmacists, establish their private hospitals, or even attend the patients in the treatment of conditions not specialized in (Smith & Walshe, 2011)Bottom of Form. The result is a rampantly spread community of qualified healthcare practitioners who practice their profession quite effectively.

Besides, there can be the establishment of great security check systems in medical premises and institutions to verify the validity of the medical practitioners operating in them. In this case, the medical practitioners will be entirely trusted having been checked after certain periods. They can thus have the confidence to enter the medical treatment facilities such as the hospitals and dispensaries. The security checks which can adequately cater for the identification and validation of the healthcare practitioners include the use of an electronic system where the all the bio data of the certified and employed healthcare providers are fitted in. Their job specializations are also fitted in, including their qualifications, license documents, as well as their registration numbers. An electronic sign in and out equipment are also availed in the entry points which ratifies that the person is the real medical practitioner of the institution. In this case, the effects of the uneducated healthcare imposters are eliminated from entering the medical institutions to practice their malice.

Moreover, the effects of the healthcare imposters can be eliminated through the establishment of electronic security units within hospitals, where the healthcare practitioners' information is entered into the system. The doctors are then required to avail their qualifications, that facilitate the referrals by a central authority of patients to specific practitioners based on their health conditions. In this regard, due discipline to one's job specifications are encouraged to avoid a healthcare practitioner from breaching the order and attending patients with health conditions in which they are not qualified to handle.

Conclusion

There is the importance of the healthcare facilities in knowing the way to spot the healthcare imposters. One of them is that it aids in the in the elimination of fraudsters in the healthcare fraternity (Murray et al, 2011). In this case, there shall be the efficient offsetting of the cases of a healthcare practitioner who are not certified in attending the patients. It will result in the attendance of the problems of the patients by only the qualified individuals, thus leading to the offering of the right medications. The patients will in the long run have their issues well sorted while encountering no health problems related to poor diagnoses and treatment of the health conditions. All the patients will have positive comments regarding the efficiency of the services being offered by the healthcare providers in different medical institutions.

Besides, there shall be a lot of trust in the healthcare providers. It is because of the reality existing in the minds of the individuals with experiences on the treatment capabilities of the healthcare providers. They will in turn continue to offer their services to the public quite efficiently, leading to the forging of an effective coexistence of the genuine healthcare providers and the general public in its entirety.

References

Buchbinder, S. B. (2012). Introduction to health care management. Burlington, Mass: Jones et Bartlett Learning.

Murray, T. L., Philipsen, N. C., Brice, E., Harvin, L., Hinds, D., & Warren-Dorsey, R. (2011). Health Care Fraud: Stopping Nurse Imposters. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 7(9), 753-760.Bottom of Form

Smith, J., & Walshe, K. (2011). Healthcare management. Berkshire, England: Open University Press.