NHS-FPX4000_Assessment 3-1 Social Applying Ethical Principles

Applying Ethical Principles

Health care professionals face multiple issues including, complex ones that require sound decisions. Successful application of ethical principles makes nurses, physicians, and health leaders responsive to patient demands and issues within the clinical environment. The Missing Needle Protector provides insights into one of the serious mistakes that require leaders to apply ethical behavior, moral judgment, and moral awareness. While Hopewell Hospital made notable improvements in the last two years, a single mistake is enough to destroy reputation and jeopardize the brand financial success.

Review of the Scenario

The Missing Needle Protector highlights one of the sensitive issues that could affect a brand reputation. New programs developed by the director of clinical services allowed Hopewell Hospital to make significant progress in improving quality and safety of care. However, the facility failed to address key issues such as avoiding exposing patients to adverse care outcomes associated with a physically and mentally declining staff (Capella University, n.d). Cutrite, a general surgeon with declining capabilities continued to perform a full range of procedures. The surgical team left a plastic needle protector from a disposable syringe in Mrs. Jameson’s belly. The operating room supervisor claimed that the red-pink color of the protector made it impossible to detect it in a wound. The dilemma involves making a decision whether to return the patient into surgery to look for the needle cover or let hear leave with the object. The director of clinical services has a difficult time seeking informed opinion on the right course of action.

Ethical Issues in the Case Studies

The Missing Needle Protector highlights serious concerns that raise questions about the safety and quality of care. One concern is the likelihood of the surgical team acting negligently by failing to have accurate and complete assessment of items in the surgical pack after the surgery. Discrepancy revealed after reconciling records at the end of the week showed the need for the director of clinical services to ensure that only competent surgeons handle patients. The scrub nurse failure to think about the protective sheath at the conclusion of the surgery also portray gaps in oversight, training, and safety culture. Thus, the ethical issue revolves around the absence of robust risk assessment structures, triggered by the presence of a mentally and physically declining surgeon. Failure to exclude Cutrite from the operation is among the factors that led to the team failing to notice the missing needle protector from the surgical pack.

Ethical Decision-Making Model to Address the Situation

Moral awareness, ethical behavior, and moral judgment determine individual ability to make informed decisions when facing a dilemma. Moral awareness makes everyone regardless of their position aware of the implications of negligence and ineffective handling of clinical procedures (Borhani et al., 2021). This way, moral awareness makes everyone alert to identify and intercept errors and near misses throughout the care process. For moral judgment, members of the care team including, the scrub nurse, surgeon, and operating room supervisor understand the implications of wrong decisions.

The team remains extra vigilant in confirming instruments used during the surgery to detect and respond to anomalies on time. Allowing Cutrite to continue handling sensitive procedures despite physical and mental decline raises questions about the level of moral awareness and moral judgment. However, the director’s commitment to understanding the issue and making an informed decision portray a high level of moral awareness and judgment. Ethical behavior encourages the care team to fulfill a patient’s best interests. Including Cutrite in the surgical team was a wrong decision. However, the operating room supervisor and the scrub nurse’s honesty capture their commitment to upholding ethical behaviors to achieve the best outcomes.

Communication Approaches in the Scenario

Effective communication is a foundation for optimizing care outcomes. In the Missing Needle Protector, the director of clinical services understood the value of active listening and honesty to understand events within the clinical environment. The approach helps leaders create an open environment that encourages members of the care team to explain adverse events, their causes, and interventions appropriate to enhance quality and safety of patient care (Leggett & Price, 2020). Transparency is another vital consideration that allows health leaders to synthesize accurate and complete information on events leading to an error. Individuals are confident sharing their experiences for an in-depth conclusion about gaps and improvements necessary in the clinical environment (Legget & Price, 2020). The director’s decision to engage parties affected by the issue including the chief of surgery demonstrate effective communication focused on understanding the implications of leaving the protector in the patient’s belly. However, failure to engage Cutrite due to power issues raises questions about the level of interdisciplinary collaboration. In this case, it is challenging to make informed conclusions by neglecting input from parties that had direct contribution to the error.

Addressing the Issue

The Missing Needle Protector captures one of the adverse outcomes that jeopardize the quality and safety of patient care. Successful surgery requires extra vigilance and commitment by everyone in the surgical team to minimize the risk of undesirable results (Bakhtiari et al., 2020). However, including professionals with mentally and physically decline capabilities in the team raises questions about the organization’s safety culture. The director of clinical services acted competently by seeking accurate and adequate details about the event, causes, and the best solution to safeguard the patient’s interests. The move to engage the operating room supervisor and the scrub nurse demonstrated the leader’s commitment to avoiding similar situations in the future. In this case, the two guided the director on specific details of the case and including severity and implications on the patient’s health and well-being. Further, the director consulted the chief of surgery, which made it easier to make an informed decision on the right course of action.

With affirmation of no life-threatening consequences from leaving the protector, the director would conclude about avoiding an earlier intention of bringing the patient back into the surgery room. Addressing an ethical issue calls for complete awareness about a situation (Raus et al., 2018). Health leaders ask the right questions including hypothetical ones for in-depth understanding of the scenario, causes, and the right course of action. The leader also engages experienced professionals to share views on the implications of making a decision. From the director’s follow-up and conversations, it is evident that he understood the need for Hopewell Hospital to demonstrate commitment to protecting patients from emotional, physical, and psychological harm. Similarly, objective and honest discussions allow parties to collaborate in highlighting the issue and identifying the best solution

Conclusion

Ethical dilemmas test health care professionals’ ability to uphold moral awareness, moral judgment, and ethical behavior in challenging situations. The Missing Needle Protector provides insights into the need for effective communication and problem solving abilities to protect patients from adverse health outcomes. The care team upholds honesty, transparency, and objectivity to make informed decisions on the right pathways to addressing an ethical dilemma. However, failure to engage everyone due to organizational politics limit leaders from making meaningful progress towards designing and implementing sustainable solutions for enhancing quality and safety of patient care.