Health and Human Service Management; Issues and Problems

This paper discusses the challenges and dilemmas faced by managers in health and human services when solving issues. It also highlights the importance of considering multiple theoretical perspectives, ethical and legal considerations, and confidentiality between patients and health providers.

Running Head: MANAGERS 1
Health and Human Service Management; Issues and Problems
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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When managing health and human services, managers are bound to suffer a lot of
challenges and dilemmas when solving issues (Ulrich et al., 2010). This is particular in cases
when one’s decision may contravene personal beliefs of individuals or self, ethics or laws.
Sometimes what is lawful is not ethical and what is ethical is not always lawful. For that reason,
managers in health have to apply critical thinking and decision making skills introduce a balance
of the two. This paper is going to generally consider aspects that are important while making
decision making.
As a health / human service manager, it is important to look at things from multiple
theoretical perspectives. Depending on the manager’s background, experience, specialty or
profession, he or she will have different points of view on how to respond to matters arising in
health. From a study by Berends and Crinall (2014), health and human service organizations are
complex in responding to issues that require a well-defined plan or flexible response. Some of
the perspectives that much consideration is put on the resources (budget and financial
management), future goals and directions (strategic plan) and service delivery.
The multiple points of view help in providing services presently while still arranging the
institution to survive and grow better in future. Factors of great importance that ought to be
considered by health and service managers are abstracted from various perspectives. The
maximum productivity of selected items of program actors (clients and staff) and the resources at
hand and how the services are managed the and delivered depends on consideration of these
perspectives: sufficient funding, a helpful workplace culture, positivity in leadership, and strong
budgeting that leads to efficient resource allocation (Berends & Crinall, 2014). A successful
management plan does not consider some factors and leave the others. It is all inclusive and it
carefully lay its concerns to wholesome organization growth.
Health Care mangers are often faced with ethical situations that regard to the limitation of
resources, effectiveness of cost, quality of care, competences, and administrative needs to yield
profit margins. It is important also reason ethically when balancing the rights of patients and
employee (Bruning & Baghurst, 2013). For example, a dangerous virus like the Solunum virus
(zombie) in hospital wards is an ethical issue because it endangers the life of the nurses in the
emergency department and they are held up by the code of ethics that requires them to provide
care to clients and report to duty (Stanley, 2012).. The law is equally an important consideration

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in health and human service management. When service managers make some uninformed
decisions that break the law, for example, infringing the rights of patients or staff, they might be
charged with legal misconduct and even jailed or fined.
Sometimes, managers make decisions that are contrary to their own beliefs (Otara, 2011).
Managers are people like any other and are from different social-cultural backgrounds. However,
taking leadership roles within an organization come with new standards of practice that at times
will not consider personal beliefs regarding some issues. For example, Catholics believe that sex
should be natural and use of condoms or other family planning techniques are immoral. If a
manger is a catholic, he is sometimes torn between following his beliefs towards the use of
contraceptives for the clients that seek medical care in that facility especially when family
planning is one of the organizational framework.
One particular issue that is important to me is confidentiality between patients and health
providers because it is a conflicting issue between ethics and law (Koocher, 2017). Under
mandatory reporting laws for example, the nurse or the physician is mandated by the law to
report a case of sexual assault of a child (Lo, 2012; US Department of Health and Human
Services, 2009). However, sometimes, the child may plead with the provider (s) not to report the
matter to governmental authorities especially is the perpetrator of the assault is close relative.
The codes of ethics require that the relationship between health providers and their clients be
purely confidential in all cases, but the law requires the bleach of confidentiality against the
patient’ wish. The nurse may choose to discuss the matter with the healthcare team and that
involves the manager. In this case the manager is faced with an ethical-law dilemma not knowing
how to act. One theoretical perceptive to consider is the risk of the child being homeless, or
lacking support from her family should the culprit (father/uncle/guardian) be jailed.
As the manager, I should look at multiple perceptive with the child as the centre of care
to decide whether to break the confidentiality or not. If the child is vulnerable to further abuse in
the future from the same party, it is ethical to break the confidentiality and allow the law to take
its course as the abuse could also risk the life of the child (DeWit, 2013). That health manger will
also look for an alternative way to support the child should the offender be the breadwinner in
the family. This include, involving the government and relatives in the care of the child.

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References
Berends, L., & Crinall, K. (2014). Managers’ perspectives on what matters in health and human
services management. Practice Reflexions, 1(1), 1-15. Retrieved 5th October 2018 from
http://www.acwa.org.au/resources/Practice_Reflexions_2014_Managers'_Perspectives_o
n_What_Matters.pdf
Bruning, P., & Baghurst, T. (2013). Improving Ethical Decision Making in Health Care
Leadership. Bus Eco J, 4, e101. doi:10.4172/2151-6219.1000e101
DeWit, S. C., & O'Neill, P. A. (2013). Fundamental concepts and skills for nursing. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Koocher, G. P. (2017) Necessary Secrets: Ethical Dilemmas Involving Confidentiality. Retrieved
5th October 2018 from http://www.continuingedcourses.net/active/courses/course094.php
Lo, B. (2012). Resolving ethical dilemmas: a guide for clinicians. Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins.
Otara, A. (2011). Perception: A guide for managers and leaders. Journal of Management and
Strategy, 2(3), 21.
Stanley, D., 2012. The nurses’ role in the prevention of Solanum infection: dealing with a
zombie epidemic. Journal of clinical nursing, 21(11‐12), pp.1606-1613. doi
:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03920.x
Ulrich, C. M., Taylor, C., Soeken, K., O’Donnell, P., Farrar, A., Danis, M., & Grady, C. (2010).
Everyday ethics: ethical issues and stress in nursing practice. Journal of advanced
nursing, 66(11), 2510-2519.
US Department of Health and Human Services. (2009). Mandatory reporters of child abuse and
neglect. Child Welfare Information Gateway. Retrieved 5th October 2018 from: www.
childwelfare. gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/manda. cfm. Accessed.

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