The waters become murky, however, when one takes into account the amount of resources allocated to providing some services or procedures to certain patients. In Plato’s argument, he asserts that essentially, healthcare should be served in a manner that reflects the interests of the greater good. At what point does the greater good become more important than an individual though? Dr. Craig Wax asserts that in Plato’s society “physicians responded to the needs of the state by devoting resources to the workers, in the process ignoring the elderly, very young, critically ill, and those who were considered genetically inferior. Such practices can lead to vile immorality and atrocities.” By all accounts, empathy is one of the most important qualities in a humane society.
The issue of giving mental health patient rights is a rather controversial one, as often the right of the patient to refuse certain treatment or care may result in serious health consequences for the patient and can be seen as neglect of the healthcare provider. According to researchers and healthcare providers, when a mental health patient is admitted to a healthcare facility, he/she may lose certain abilities, most notably: * The ability to schedule time; * The ability to choose and control his/her activities; * Ability to manage financial and legal affairs; * Ability to make important decisions (Cady, 2010, p. 117). The abilities, mentioned above, are important for decision making and may result in serious health consequences for the patient, so leading health professionals and researchers distinguish between the forms of mental disorders and the extentto which they affect people, differentiating between competent and incompetent patients. According to Buchanan (2004), legal competence requires the following capacities, most notably: * To reason and deliberate; * Hold appropriate goals and values; * Appreciate one’s circumstances; * Understand
The biggest area for quality improvement in the scenario will focus on improvement for the patient. Areas that are lacking and can use improvement for this aspect are: systems that affect the patient, patient safety, and coordination of care. In the scenario listed patients are not being brought down on time for their therapies which in turn is affecting their quality of care by not receiving the utmost care. This could be due to a lack of communication between staff in the facility and could be improved with better provisions or more staff in place. Patient satisfaction is also being compromised due to these issues affecting therapy.
Figure shows patient confused A patient with various illnesses would have many diagnosis and treatments to go through with which other than confusing the patients, it will also increase their treatment timeline. Due to too many opinions by the professionals, it takes a longer time to come to a conclusion thus resulting in late treatment, which is dangerous as the actual problem of the patient may be ignored and thus deteriorate. Another challenge is that patients think they know about their body thoroughly and thus prefers going to medical practitioners that are specializes in the area of interest rather than approaching the multi-disciplinary team as they find it hard to trust the medical practitioners there. There are challenges not only faced by the patients but as well as the medical practitioners in the multi-disciplinary team. The first is that the members in the team have problem working together, as they have different characters and may have attitude problems as well.
Among the many challenges facing health care in the United State today is the role of language and cultural barriers in health communication that affects healthcare access and quality. High levels of immigration over the last several decades have increased the foreign-born population, majority being from Hispanic and Asian. Successful communication between healthcare providers and their patients from different cultural backgrounds depends on developing awareness of the cultural values of patients. This paper will focus on the most dominant immigration cultures in America; Asian and Hispanic and American Indians. In Asian cultures language and the ways they communicate differ from American ways and can lead to dissatisfaction of care if poorly understood.
“Patient-Family” Centered Care versus “Disease-Based” Approach to Health Care Medicine faces several critical and conflicting challenges. The tremendous and changing cultural diversity of our population requires physicians to develop new skills in communication and negotiation with their patients. But managed care constraints, litigation, and growing regulatory pressures have compromised communication and trust between physicians and patients. This, along with the surge in technologic development, has driven the medical system even further toward a “disease-based” approach to health care that views individuals as “cases” and undervalues the sociocultural and humanistic aspects of patient care. The results are a diminishing faith in the medical establishment and the rise of alternative medical philosophies and practices.
Position Statement Cultural Cultural Competency Defining Cultural Competence Health care providers may experience challenges stemming from cultural differences when treating patients of various ethnicities, and these challenges may lead to suboptimal patient care. Current data shows that despite substantial advances in the overall health of Americans, health disparities persist among US racial and ethnic groups. A recent editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that miscommunications due to language barriers with Spanish, the most common non-English language spoken in the US, lead to substandard health care. For many individuals with limited English proficiency, inability to communicate in English is the primary barrier to accessing health information and services. Elimination of health disparities must be placed at the forefront of the country’s health priorities.
To meet the requirements of our future healthcare, APNs must utilize their educational background and skills to lead other professionals creating a team-oriented culture. Conflict is inevitable in healthcare, hence, APNs have a variety of opportunities to use ADR in healthcare settings and avoid litigation, which would lead to high-cost conflict resolution. Gerardi & Fontaine (2007) emphasize that true collaboration and healthy work environments start with engagement towards relationships and interactions with others. Understanding each other revitalizes our spirit of patient care and improves how we communicate, negotiate, and how we resolve our differences (Gerardi & Fontaine, 2007). By forming a collaborative practice with strong relationships, APNs will improve future work environments and patient
The purpose of this paper is to discuss that as a patient’s life deteriorates care is no longer able to improve a patient’s quality of life but their projected outcome is thought to be a continued degeneration. It is further considered to be in the best interest of the patient and their family to terminate active care. Also, ethical issues need to be addressed concerning what is right for the patient and how making decisions on withdrawing care affects nursing. As stated in Hickey and Montgomery (2009) “with the continued growth of technology, it is difficult to determine if the patient ‘truly benefits’ from such advances”. “Truly benefits” will be used to mean the patient will, in time, have an improved quality of life (Hickey and Montgomery, 2009).
Dangers of Ineffective Communication Successful client health care is dependent on effective communication between both the client and health care professionals and amongst health care professionals. Care is client-centered and therefore individual; however, some generalities exist that affect the quality of care. Clear, concise communication is one such element. Effective communication between the client and the health care providers (HCPs) is important for everyone involved. If the client initially provides incomplete information to the HCPs, this could cause unnecessary diagnostic tests, or the exclusion of a necessary test, which could further contribute to a worsening of the client’s health status.