Assignment task:
Revisiting Ms. Smith from Module
Mrs. Smith moved to the assisted living facility two weeks ago after a week-long hospitalization for a stroke. She is a very pleasant 74-year-old woman with a past medical history of high blood pressure and diabetes. When asked, she does not recall what medications that she is taking, but provides a list from her purse, that has the names of 12 medications on it. It is unclear if this list is of her home medications (prior to hospitalization) or what she was discharged from the hospital on. The case manager notes that the patient hasn't left her room much since moving in two weeks ago, but notices that when she does leave her room to go to the cafeteria, that she always uses the handrail on the wall to get around. The patient's son came to visit her 2 days ago and the two of them ate lunch in the cafeteria together. The son stopped by the case managers desk on the way out and mentioned that his mother seemed to be having a difficult time eating and he wasn't sure if it was b/c one of her teeth was hurting or if it's just a function of the recent stroke. Otherwise, she has no complaints and is doing well with the transition to the assisted living facility.
Current Scenario for Module:
You are recent graduate working in your first job as a healthcare professional at the assisted living facility where Mrs. Smith (the patient from Module 1) resides. Your employer meets with you on a weekly basis to review your productivity. In the past four meetings, your employer has indicated that you are falling below their expectation for productivity. Your employer has made a few recommendations on how you can increase your productivity including decreasing time spent on checking the accuracy of your work, distributing some of your patient care tasks to a non-healthcare provider, and streamlining services you provide to patients. Although Mrs. Smith's mobility, oral intake and level of chronic disease have continued to improve slowly with close monitoring, you worry specifically about her declining if you carry out the suggestions provided by your supervisor. Your employer has indicated that assessment of your productivity will weigh heavily in the outcome of your upcoming 6-month performance review including if your employment contract will continue. You are concerned about the outcome of your performance review given the significance of your student loans and your reliance on your employer for your own personal healthcare benefits. You seek advice from two of your co-workers that have been working with this employer for the past two years. Both of your co-workers report they had also received negative feedback regarding their productivity when they initially started their employment; however, they indicate following the advice provided by the employer (i.e. distributing some of their patient care duties to non-healthcare staff personnel, short-cutting language services for patient's whose primary language is not English and cutting back on the recommended plan of care for patients, including not engaging/cooperating with family members as part of the patient care plan) in order to meet the expected demand. You are convinced that there must be a better, more efficient wat to meet the demand expectations of your employer while maintaining top-notch care.
For this scenario:
1. Identify the ethical problem(s) involved for this scenario, be specific.
2. Identify the implications for culturally competent care involved for this scenario, be specific.
3. Identify the stakeholders for this scenario.
4. Identify a minimum of three options of how to address the ethical dilemma, be sure to consider a wide range of options, even options you might not choose. Consider and explore how your interprofessional team could be a viable option.
5. Identify the ethical implications of each option you have identified, be sure to tie back to key concepts of ethical practice such as autonomy, scope of practice, beneficence, and justice.
6. Identify the option that you believe best resolves conflicts and "honors principles" of ethical practice, provide a rationale for the decision.