Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare
Patient Information
Whether paper or electronic, good clinical records need to facilitate the continuity of care and should increase communication among healthcare professionals (Mathioudakis et al., 2016). Such records can be audited to ensure the quality of healthcare services provided. They should also be available to patients and relevant healthcare practitioners for future reference. Consequently, such medical records need to be as extensive as possible, incorporating such important details as the patient’s medical demography, examination scope, reasons for the present visit, positive exam findings, diagnosis, medication administration, and treatment details. Do you need urgent assignment help ? Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com.
Ethics and Patient Information
The scenario chosen is on Season 2, Episode 11 of the medical TV show New Amsterdam. In this episode, Goodwin, the medical director, introduces a new policy that prohibits screens in patients’ rooms. The doctors get furious because they need these screens to document patients’ information and obtain relevant information about the patients. The main argument for this policy was to facilitate the emotional and personal connection between patients and medical practitioners since screens are said to have lessened clinical interactions. The ethical dilemma involves directly defying the medical director by electronically documenting patient records, enhancing the ease and accuracy of the information, and choosing to use other means like paper records.
The stakeholders involved are the doctors, patients, and their families. The medical record enables healthcare practitioners to offer the most appropriate patient services (Stanford & Connor, 2019). Through electronic medical records, clinicians are now able to conveniently document patient information in a more organized manner. The ethical principle of beneficence requires the physician to act for the patient’s benefit and prevent harm. This would require the physician in this scenario to consider the best strategy that will not harm the patient. This could mean using EMR for documentation while proving to maintain the physician-patient interaction, hence defying the authority but ensuring patient safety.
References
Mathioudakis, A., Rousalova, I., Gagnat, A. A., Saad, N., & Hardavella, G. (2016). How to keep good clinical records. Breathe, 12(4), 369-373.
Stanford, C. C. & Connor, V. J. (2019) 2nd edition. Chapter 6: Accountability – The Medical Record, p 90-106, In Ethics for health professionals. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wrjv3-mFAhltPizlTcX8mj5xr_eiHQxb/view?usp=sharing
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Question
In our discussion this week, instead of viewing an ethical dilemma selected for our discussion, you will be asked to locate an episode of a popular medical show. This segment illustrates an ethical dilemma relating to medical records, EMRs, or medical technologies. If you do not have access to medical shows or would prefer, you can select a newspaper article that describes the ethical dilemma or a scene from a popular movie showing the ethical dilemma.
In your initial post, you will describe the scenario selected and apply the below questions to your scenario, starting with the first question:
I’ll guide us through. We will discuss the questions as a group, starting with the first question:
Describe your chosen scenario in detail. What are the ethical dilemmas presented in this scenario?
Who are the stakeholders? Remember to consider individuals, families, communities, and organizations in your answer.
What would your recommendations be to address the ethical dilemmas that you have identified? Consider and include each applicable component below in your response:
Ethical principles
Ethical theories
PYTHON principle
Six-step process (Doherty & Purtilo) for ethical decision-making
Federal or state laws which may apply