Administrative Ethics Paper Essay

In the health care setting for administrators there is an ongoing occurrence of ethical issues implicit in daily activities. A health care administrator we have assignments to the business as well as to ourselves to help the customers and our coworkers who accommodated and checked the patients within the company. The information technology system is growing rapidly this is an ethical issue for the administrators that always shows itself within the company and that is the confidentiality of data. Confidentiality information is private, facts about another person, company, etc. in a health care setting confidentiality is patients’ medical information stored into a system by the company. When working in the healthcare fields there are some rules concerning confidentiality, and they are; know the facts, have decision-making skills that control confidential data, and have some ethical alertness. The significance of developing ethical alertness is being able to handle confidential data, boosted education, and conversations regarding these problems should happen within the company to give pessimistic opinions of the coworkers and this could assist them to get through the conversation, conservative views, and moral instruction, this could take along groundbreaking ways for coworkers and other to efficiently to reply hard data, and this potentially could come into view. As an administrator, we are avowed in by morals to value the confidentiality of data we intake, and use for the company. Confidentiality data can have but is not restricted to, staff private data and recompense records. The issue and impact on the population that affects most will be explained in this case study; this will be the scenery for the moral examination of problems an administrator linked to revealing confidential data regarding a worker. We have a nurse name Michelle, who is the leading nurse at a hospital with 250 beds. Michelle has worked in the administration field for three years and thinks highly of herself compared to the other coworkers in the company. When it came to decision making Michelle always found a way to disagree. Michelle  acknowledges that the company is unstable from general duties of the company price extracting and also includes employee reduction. Michelle acknowledged that the gross was high that it usually is, and this could cause hardship in the working environment that will also consist of workers not certified and obligatory overtime. Michelle thinks these problems were due because of the altering attitude of the hospital managerial team. We have Nurse Jackie, who is the second head nurse; she has worked in the nursing field for a few years. She is mothers who use to stay-at-home and take care of her family (husband, and daughters). When Jackie’s children got older Jackie wanted to go back to work. Jackie’s husband realized with his paycheck and her paycheck combined they would not have enough funds to support their daughters for college and their tuition increases every year. A position at the hospital opened for her to apply for and Jackie’s husband thought that would be a superior idea for Jackie to apply for it because it could assist him and her on helping their daughters with college. Jackie got hired, although her nursing knowledge has not been streamlined. Jackie thought that because she was not a permanent staff worker there that they would not ask her to do much so she took on more hours. The administrator for nursing name is Karen; she is also associates with Michelle. These two ladies have had issue regarding quality of care. Michelle began drama regarding supple workers pool nurses to work on the medical units to Karen’s attention, without an acceptable answer. Karen’s workers were arbitrarily assigned in various parts of the hospital, which made it hard for Karen to monitor her staff. Karen’s view of Michelle is her certainty that the nurses ought to have awareness in every aspect of medicine, whereas Karen think this is idealistic considering they go in various assorted areas. Jackie began to see work as a stressful environment; she did not get to make friends with any coworkers because they were constantly moving around to different departments. She gave out medication to patients who did not recognize her. When Jackie had a question she would ask the physician, and they would not answer her so she would ask Karen for help. Work for Jackie was becoming unbearable, but her husband did not care he was happy to see the paychecks coming in and wanted her to keep working overtime because it was helping his and her savings big time. Jackie felt trapped because she wanted to lessen her hours at work, but her husband wanted her to do more hours so in result  Jackie began to taking drugs, she knew this could affect her job, but she needed to do this to decrease her stress. Jackie’s changes were not noticed for a while until she was told to work in the surgical area for a few weeks to assist an employee who was leaving for vacation. A pharmacist noticed a difference in giving out medication for example, a rare rise in narcotics and errors of signatures on the medication paperwork. The pharmacist took the problem to Michelle and Michelle did some investigating. Jackie was found guilty and Michelle went to Jackie’s boss who is Karen. Karen and Michelle talked to Jackie, Jackie admitted her wrongdoing, Karen resolute was for Jackie to go to a rehabilitation center and recover from this and when she does she could come back and work for the company. Karen also chose to not tell the state board of Registered Professional Nurses. After these events occurred Michelle chose to have a meeting with the nurse manager of surgical unit, human resources director, and the chair of the nursing ethics committee to decide rather she needs to be more should have happened in a situation like this. Jackie does have the right to confidentiality, but Michelle thought this could be a good staff conversation. Karen believed total opposite; she believed this would break Jackie’s confidentiality. The problem at the meeting was confidentiality and the nurses having incompatible opinions of confidentiality and the impression on others. Michelle believed that the way Jackie had act failed her position because patients were not treated correctly and other staff actions had been effect by Jackie’s duties so Michelle believed that meeting need to be held. Michelle believed the patient’s pain was impaired, and Jackie’s unwillingness harmed the patients. This was essential to her to demonstrate that the company was devoted to suitable action in giving a precautious workplace of knowledgeable workers/patients. Examinations of moral questions have an organized procedure to decide and choose the best result a problem occurs when there are moral questions with various results. When a problem does not occur there are no moral problems. A great moral result is reliant on good problem recognition and detail meetings. There are many ethical reasons to maintain confidentiality, and some are; protect private data that will consist of respecting others, maintaining sureness, which raises open discussion. We all have the power and guidance to have accountability to exercise in a steadily moral way. References 1. Badzek, L., Mitchell, K., Marra, S., Bower, M., and (Dec.31 1998): Administrative Ethics and Confidentiality/Privacy issues Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol 3, No.3 Retrieved September 29, 2012 www.nursingworld.org 2. Confidentiality in Health Care Health Care Professionals Must Learn the Rules of Confidentiality Sept. 29, 2012 Kathy Quan 3. HIPPA- Overview www.ufl.edu Copyright  © 2005 |University of Florida Retrieved September 29, 2012 Administrative Ethics Paper Essay In to world of healthcare, one thing has become very clear when talking about what is ethical and unethical, and that is if it is unethical it is almost always illegal. When discussing the topic of ethics you cannot leave out behavior. In most cases an individual’s behavioral patterns usually determines their level of ethical thought process. In the text is says this about behavior, â€Å"People’s behavior must match their set of values. It is not enough to believe that patient confidentiality is important if one then freely discusses a patient’s personal information with a coworker or a friend†(Fremgen, 2009). Patient Privacy is the issue at hand and one of the most important laws that we have governing healthcare profession today. According to the American Medical News Journal, patient health information was not being protected or secured to the highest level of standards in the eyes of the AMA (American Medical Association). In order to help improve tha t the AMA approved new policies that will provide a better blanket of security for the medical records of the individuals participating in any medical research (Aston, 1999). See more: Experiment on polytropic process Essay Supporting Facts The AMA wants to ensure that any entity in the United States that conducts research on human subjects are gaining proper consent for the research study, and that the consents are not being misused by others. These signed consents are permission slips for researchers to use medical information only for research purposes. The new policies focus on the confidentiality of the patient’s information that is obtained for the sake of medical research, and should not be shared for any other reason then what was originally intended. These policies also focus on accountability of many organizations and schools who conduct research to be ethical in their dealings with human  subjects. Good ethics means good intent and integrity. In terms of research any typing of alterations or fraudulent acts does in display good intent. This was the case with the NIH (National Institute of Health) and NCI (National Cancer Institute) who was accused by the author of the article of not living up to thei r mission statement. The mission statement of the NIH says† Science in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to extend health life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability†(Lanfranchi, 2008). It also included a goal which states â€Å"to exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science† (Lanfranchi, 2008). These goals and mission statements from the outside look great however, it was later discover that fraudulent acts were done because of the pressure the NIH was placing on the researchers. This is a good example of unethical acts in research it start out with good intentions but ended in unethical acts will eventually turn into a legal issue. Ethical and Legal Issues In the article, the issues that were discussed were mainly ethical issues that could potentially turn into major legal issues. One of the issues mentioned was the fact that the IRB’s should have been more concerned with patient health information staying confidential. Though this is important, their main concern was the safety and wellbeing of research participants. The AMA developed recommendations that addressed both the informed consent issue and the confidentiality issue. Another issue was that the U.S. would only be allow a short time frame of 18mths to make stricter privacy laws and after that point federal laws would take over. Aside from the AMA’s recommendations AIVIA is a supporter of the idea that the United States should have the ability to pass stricter privacy laws (Aston,1999). According to research, the AIVIA ( All Indians Village Industries Association) is a board of 18 advisors that consist of distinguished scientist and leaders in public life founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1934(www.mgiri.org). Managerial Responsibilities The article did not discuss any managerial responsibilities in terms of the  issues the AMA were trying to fix. In this case however, the AMA held their ground on the issues and stated that fairness should be across the board. They strongly urged that any time changes are being made to the research study that a new consent must be signed by the participants (Aston, 1999). Solutions The AMA task force is concerned with the improvement of the confidentiality and to joined forces with the IRB’s to create accountability for private research (Aston, 1999). The AMA came up with eight solutions/recommendations for the issues with informed consent and confidentiality and they are as follows: The first solution is to advocate where possible, informed consent should be obtained before personally identifiable health information is used for any purpose. If informed consent is not possible then the information must be stripped for the data and the entity accountable must determine that patient consent is not needed. The second solution states that the AMA urges the government to consider adding to the Common Rule Standards and require researchers to waive/ modify patient consent for the sue of personally identifiable health information only when other protection is in place. The third solution is to lobby for creation of a system in which research projects that fall outside the IRB process would be subject to review by local confidentiality assurance boards. The fourth solution is to make sure that teaching institutions involved in research receive personnel and resources to protect the individuals involved in the research study. The fifth solution states to continue to push for federal laws that provide a continuous layer of patient privacy protection that allows states to pass stronger measures. The sixth solution suggests to develop models of state confidentiality legislation to promote consistency The seventh solution states to continue to push to prohibit the sale and exchange of anyone’s personal identifiable health information. The eighth and final solution suggests to support voluntary of adherence to all IRB’s to the Common Rule Standards regardless of the institutions source of funding (Aston, 1999). References Aston, G., (1999). American Medical News. Delegates firm up privacy policy. Vol.42 (26). Pp.1-3. Fremgen, B, F., (2009). Medical Law and Ethics third ed. Ch.11 Ethical and Bioethical Issues in Medicine. Lanfranchi, A., (2008). Issues in Law and Medicine. The federal Government and Academic Texts as Barriers to informed Consent. Vol. 24 (1) pp. 61-69. Retrieved from http:// www.mgiri.org/about-institute. Administrative Ethics Paper Essay Administration ethics are becoming a very important subject. Administrative individuals are faced with a variety of ethical issues such as confidentiality. This paper will discuss confidentiality and patient privacy and its impact on the population that it affects most, arguments or facts that support a proposed solution, the ethical and legal issues in reference to confidentiality. It will also address the managerial responsibilities related to administrative ethical issues as well as any proposed solutions. The administration in any organization has responsibilities to self, to the organization, the clientele served and the employees who provide the services at the organization, so it is important to be aware of ethical issues because they are embedded in the everyday activities (The American Nurses Association, Inc, 2013). Confidentiality Confidential information includes facts that are secret, private or intimate that should not be shared unless it is approved. When dealing confidentiality in this day in time, information systems are becoming high tech and more effective within the health care field as well as an increased involvement of third parties who share the decision process have created some problems in reference to patient confidentiality and the ability to release private information to the appropriate individuals. Confidentiality has a major impact on the administration due to the fact that jobs are at stake when a patient’s privacy has been violated. The population that is affected the most by this is everyone within the administration, meaning the physician as well as the employees. The physician may not disclose any medical information revealed by a patient or discovered by a physician in connection with the treatment of the patient (American Medical Association, 1995-2013). This is important because when patients feel they can trust their physician, he or she can have a better chance being diagnosed appropriately and treated effectively. Without trust, the physician will receive partial information and it will make it difficult to treat patient. Arguments/Facts In reference to confidentiality, something has to be done to incorporate a more efficient way of distributing patient information. Some arguments include requiring ethical awareness, knowledge and decision-making skills as well as having several discussions about different ways to improve, retrospective analysis and ethical education (American Nurses Association, Inc 2013). By doing this the administration will have a more profound idea of what it takes to make sure that they can come up with innovative ways to answer difficult questions in regards to confidentiality. A big question that is often asked when dealing with confidentiality is under what circumstances is confidential information to be released. The fact still remains that any patient information that is released has to be approved or consented by the patient. Policies and regulations should be in place so that the employees comprehend what is appropriate and what is not. Ethical and Legal Issues The administration of any organization is possibly faced with many ethical and legal issues. For example, an employee works for a facility and he is in the office alone and a business calls in for some information regarding communicable diseases. The employee has not received any direct orders or any information from his manager to release information as such to anyone, but the company insists that the information will not be shared. The employee has to make an ethical and legal decision because he realizes that he is releasing patient information without consent and he could possibly lose his job if the information is released. The ethical and legal issues reported for confidentiality include whether or not administration should legitimately violate the confidentiality of an individual, for example, if it is to protect a vulnerable patient, or send confidential information to a third party for a more accurate diagnosis. Some legal issues reported include whether or not to release information to a third party in reference to a communicable disease to attempt to improve or cure diseases (NCBI, 1994). There are many rules and regulations that each state requires and they have to be followed. Managerial Responsibilities Managers have an important duty in understanding and realizing how ethical issues affect’s his or her staff. Managers need to be aware of the many different issues that arise as well as the best possible solutions to solve them. For example, if an employee works for a facility that begins to be more concerned with costs instead of quality and he or she has strong beliefs that it is very important to give the best service possible, this would be difficult for the employee, especially if the mission includes quality is of importance. This could call for high turnover, unacceptable working conditions and unlicensed personnel. With these types of issues, managers need to be there for their staff, so that they can direct them in the proper direction in reference to how to handle certain situations. Managers could take classes as well as employees so that everyone was aware of ethical issues and had a decision making process as how to approach them as they occurred. In this case, the employee should have discussed her feelings about the change to her manager and allowed him or her to make a decision on how to improve or change the decision to focus on cost in lieu of quality. Proposed Solutions Improving confidentiality is definitely an ongoing process due to many different challenges such as there are many different ways to make the process better. Gathering information and facts in reference to confidentiality, promoting training classes as well as keeping up with the rules and regulations in the appropriate states are all ways to help improve the issues with patient confidentiality. Another proposed solution is understanding conflict and reasons to maintain confidentiality. Issues are bound to arise in reference to confidential information and how it was handled; therefore the managers as well as the staff need to have extensive training in regards to confidentiality and how important it is to maintain it. . Conclusion In the conclusion, administration issues in regards to ethics are becoming a very important subject. Working to understand confidentiality and its impact on the population that it affects most, arguments or facts that support a proposed solution, the ethical and legal issues in reference to confidentiality as well as addressing the managerial responsibilities related to administrative ethical issues and any proposed solutions is a very productive and effective way to begin maintain confidentiality. Administrative Ethics Paper Essay Biomedical ethical issues are seen frequently in the news and are in constant scrutiny. The demand for social responsibility is high and available resources are limited. Health care leaders are faced with numerous administrative issues regarding patient privacy, research, confidentiality, and terminal illness. Much debate has surrounded medical spending on the terminally ill, such as the cost and allocation of resources toward end-of-life care. Choosing between prolonged life and quality of life are two difficult decisions to make. Nonetheless, it is difficult to base one’s opinion until cancer has taken over one’s life. A close look at administrative issues surrounding end-of-life care will demonstrate the impact on a population, ethical, and legal implications, potential solutions to the problem, and managerial responsibilities. The Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) is a part of the United States territory because it’s establishment of commonwealth in political union and is home to approximately 44,000 people (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012). Because of the increase in chronic diseases and lack of available resources, several residents are referred to go off the island to seek health care in Guam and Hawaii (Doty, 2012). However, the medical referral program has a crucial problem with financing because of the large amount already owed (Doty, 2012). Although a budget of $2. 5 million is allotted for health care expenses for the medical referral program, it only covers half of the costs incurred in 2011 (Doty, 2012). Therefore, officials viewed rationing of medical services necessary to keep costs at bay. Among the rationing of medical services is the allocation of resources to terminally ill patients. According to Doty (2012), a medical provider states, â€Å"As a community, we must address the reality of spending precious resources on end-stage patients who will die within a short amount of time with or without medical treatment. † The method of triage rationing raises ethical concerns because patients are treated as if they were soldiers out on a battlefield where only those with a higher chance of survival are saved. Although unspoken, the practice of rationing services is common in the NMI. The population is negatively impacted by the health care crisis and the lack of hospice care. Family members of ailing patients are seen holding signs requesting for donations so their loved one may receive off-island treatment (Doty, 2012, para. 33). Cost and allocation of resources are clearly administrative issues that need ethical evaluation. A senior administrator of the NMI seems lost at finding a solution and reminisces of the time when people accepted their fate and lived on the principle, â€Å"we live and die on our islands† (Doty, 2012). The ethical and legal implications of rationing health services have many facets. Generosity and independence are among the ethical principles associated with allocating health resources; however, that is not the case when resources are scarce and funding is limited. As demonstrated in the NMI, mainly the poor and middle class are subjected to health care rationing. Aside from the poor, people most affected by health care rationing are the elderly and disabled persons (Peters, 1995). It is unethical of those with tremendous discretionary power to favor the prestigious over the poor or disabled. However, rationing based on the ability to pay already exists and is completely legal, such as rationing care of Medicaid patients or rationing by insurance companies (Fremgen, 2009). Although some people may believe rationing health care is unethical, it is economically inevitable as the demand for scarce health care resources increase. Therefore, it requires ethical consideration when allocating health resources. According to the article, the proposed solution is a policy on medical care rationing (Doty, 2012). However, some politicians claim the unnamed policy is already put into practice. Furthermore, the administration proposes a tighter budget for the 2012 fiscal year but does not elaborate on how it will be accomplished (Doty, 2012). The manager of the medical referral services suggested to administration that the program be suspended and only used for emergency cases (Doty, 2012). However, no action has been taken to suspend the program. Another suggested solution is to place high emphasis on prevention and primary care to avoid excessive referrals during critical stages. Furthermore, hospice care is not available to everyone on the NMI, which if made an option, may minimize the health crisis by decreasing the demand of health care resources. Nonetheless, evaluating the effectiveness of treatment and cost is essential in allocating resources. Managers are responsible for implementing cost/benefit analysis to best use the institution’s resources. Peters (1995) states, â€Å"Cost-effectiveness calculations have the appeal of incorporating outcomes research, patient preferences, and expected costs into a rational and potentially sophisticated scheme for maximizing health care outcomes from the available resources. † However, cost/benefit analysis alone should not be the primary basis for allocating resources. Managers must also ensure health resources are distributed equitably. Nevertheless, a solid solution has not yet to develop as the situation worsens in the NMI. A leader’s responsibility and accountability for appropriately rationing healthcare is tremendous. Because resources are limited, leaders must diligently follow eligibility criteria that satisfy legal and social standards. However, the approach is not easy and frequent subject of debate. Some consider health resource allocation is necessary but others find it morally repugnant. Therefore, the manager’s responsibility toward allocation decisions requires evaluation of distributive justice principles for ethical dilemmas. For example, need, equity, contribution, ability to pay, patient effort, and merit are principles useful in determining resources allocation (Armstrong, 1998). Each patient situation has unique circumstances that require healthcare leaders to view subjectively. Nonetheless, leader’s responsibility is to set clear guidelines for allocating resources so health care providers can remain advocates for their patients. Allocation of medical services in poverty stricken NMI indeed has ethical and legal implications with no easy solution. The population is in dire need of distributive justice. Administrators are at a loss with the health care crisis of financial burden and limited resources. Nonetheless, health care leaders must fulfill their obligations to their organization and community by using ethical principles to guide them in making difficult decisions. Nevertheless, perhaps proposed solutions turned into policy may minimize the need for off-island medical referrals. Administrative issues surrounding end-of-life care demonstrated the impact on a population, ethical, and legal implications, potential solutions to the problem, and managerial responsibilities. Administration indeed has tremendous social responsibility.