Healthcare Ethics Case Study Analysis

This assignment analyzes a healthcare ethics case study set in Australia. It examines key ethical principles including quality care provision, critical decision-making in patient treatment, and the responsibility of nurses to administer medication and treat life-threatening conditions effectively. The analysis delves into how these principles are applied (or potentially violated) in the given scenario, highlighting the importance of ethical considerations in healthcare practice.

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HEALTH CARE ETHICS CASE STUDY
Healthcare practitioners re meant to live by a certain specific moral code during their working
hours. However, the overall objective and goal for these ethics is to encourage patient safety and
quality healthcare provision from the practitioners (Steinbock et al, 2013). In other words, the
ethical code of ethics are used as a guidance for the doctors, nurses and other members of the
healthcare sector who practice and provide health care services, in making sound and valuable
decision regarding the patients’ healthcare condition (Cherry et al, 2016). There are a number of
health care ethics that have always been implemented in the healthcare sector in Australia. The
country ought to protect its citizens and ensure practitioners’ capability to provide the best
services to the patients. In this assignment, I will focus on discussing the ethics that are directly
related to the case study in question. Some of the ethics include:
Quality Care Provision
Generally, the main role and responsibility for every nurse is to provide quality and upgraded
health care services to their patients. This responsibility involves implementing or conducting
other different activities or rather responsibilities like, administering drugs, making regular
observations and checkups, cleaning the patients’ beddings and changing them, taking body
measurements and being involved in conversations with the patients with the aim of offering
support and company among other duties (Timmins et al, 2017). The registered nurses are often
in charge of other nurses whereby they should ensure that all these duties are carried out
effectively and efficiently (Hay et al, 2017). Quality care provision can be providing when nurses
are well trained and are completely aware of their roles and responsibilities. This means that they
know what to do, when to do it and where to do it. Every nurse should rather ensure that their
duties are performed on time and with utmost perfection to encourage patient recovery and
health condition improvement. To add to that, it is important for the nurses to provide quality
services to the patients simply because the service is directly related or connected to saving
human life (Holloway et al, 2016). The nurses are basically the ones to determine whether the
patients’ health condition improves or worsens. The nurses are in charge of taking care of the
patients before they are admitted into the hospital and after they are admitted till they recover
completely.
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In this case study, the nurse in charge of all other nurses is intending to toss the patient aside
after being restrained. The patient, Sam is obviously very physical in such a way that he poses as
a threat to himself, other patients, and the hospital staff. Sam’s condition is making him become
physical by pulling out his IV Cannula and verbally hurling insults to Camilla the attending
nurse. This has made it difficult for the nurse to make her regular checkups and make body
observations including readings with that kind of behavior. However, the Julia has decided to
have Sam restrained and put aside for them to attend to other patients and leave Sam restrained.
Julia thinks that Sam is wasting time for them all and therefore orders Camilla to leave Sam
alone without being calmed and safe. This basically shows that Julia has no intention of
attending to Sam any time soon. The nurses in charge of such situations should basically ensure
that all the patients are safe, attended to and that their health condition is improving. Julia should
focus on ensuring that Sam is safe, observations are made and medication given to him to calm
his nerves among other things.
Critical thinking and decision making process
It is crucial for every nurse to have the ability to think critically and make sound and effective
decision concerning a patient’s condition and health. A nurse should be able to think critically
when it comes to giving instructions that relate to patient recover and healthcare. This means that
a nurse is responsible for a patient’s medication choices and treatment methods. Therefore, the
nurse should ensure that their choices and decisions are focused on ensuring patient safety,
environmental safety and health condition improvement of the patient themselves (McLean,
2016). In this case study, the nurse in charge, Julia indicated that she may have though critically
by instructing that Sam should be constrained. On the other hand, she has decided to shift their
efforts and focus to other patients by claiming that Sam is a danger to the nurses, himself, and
other patients and therefore should be left alone. The nurse thought critically by making the
decision to protect and keep other patients safe as well as the hospital staff. However, by not
attending to Sam’s condition, which is their sole responsibility (provision of health care service
and save live) was a responsibility and decision that was not critically made.
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Treatment and medication provision for life threatening conditions
Basically, the nurses are responsible for administering medications and treating the patients
according to doctor’s prescriptions. The nurses are supposed to do this by ensuring that regular
observations, checkups, and body measurements are made to ensure health improvement (Purtilo
et al, 2015). In the case of a serious illness, the nurses should ensure that the patients are all well
attended to and treated according to their condition or rather with the aim of curing or reducing
their pain or effects and symptoms of the respective illness (Milligan et al, 2016). This is done by
ensuring that they are given total or more attention than other normal health conditions in order
to save their lives. However, in the case study, the nurse in charge, Julia ordered for Sam, the
patient to be restrained and attention to be focused on other patients despite the fact that Sam’s
condition was listed as one of the emergency case. This meant that his condition would soon to
death or any other serious effects if not treated and attended to immediately. In this case, nurse
did not adhere to the ethical aspects that relates to ensuring patient recovery and treatment. Also
the hospital failed to provide adequate staff for the patients which means that some patients
would lack effective and efficient primary care which may basically lead to health condition
deterioration.
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REFERENCES
Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management.
Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hay, M., Mercer, A. M., Lichtwark, I., Tran, S., Hodgson, W. C., Aretz, H. T., ... & Gorman, D.
(2017). Selecting for a sustainable workforce to meet the future healthcare needs of
rural communities in Australia. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 22(2), 533-
551.
Holloway, I., & Galvin, K. (2016). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley
& Sons.
McLean, S. A. (Ed.). (2016). First do no harm: Law, ethics and healthcare. Routledge.
Milligan, E., & Jones, J. (2016). Rethinking Autonomy and Consent in Healthcare Ethics.
In Bioethics-Medical, Ethical and Legal Perspectives. InTech.
Purtilo, R. B., & Doherty, R. F. (2015). Ethical dimensions in the health professions. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Steinbock, B., London, A. J., & Arras, J. (Eds.). (2013). Ethical issues in modern medicine:
Contemporary readings in bioethics. McGraw-Hill.
Timmins, F., Caldeira, S., Murphy, M., Pujol, N., Sheaf, G., Weathers, E., ... & Flanagan, B.
(2017). The Role of the Healthcare Chaplain: A Literature Review. Journal of Health
Care Chaplaincy, 1-20.
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