Professional Practice Issues in Podiatry: A Case Study Analysis

This case study examines the ethical dilemmas encountered by Mark, a podiatrist, focusing on two key professional practice issues: maintaining appropriate boundaries with patients and navigating social media interactions. The analysis highlights how these issues can impact the perception of healthcare professionals as trusted figures. The first issue involves Mark's friend being reprimanded for attending a patient's celebration, illustrating the importance of maintaining a therapeutic relationship and avoiding conflicts of interest. The second issue concerns Mark's acceptance of friend requests from patients on social media, which blurs professional boundaries and could compromise patient trust. The case study underscores the need for healthcare professionals to adhere to ethical guidelines and maintain clear boundaries to uphold their trustworthiness and effectiveness in patient care. Desklib offers a variety of solved assignments and past papers for students to further explore such topics.

Running head: HEALTHCARE SYSTEM ASSIGNMENT
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF MARK THE PODIATRIST
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1HEALTHCARE SYSTEM ASSIGNMENT
Healthcare profession is determined as the Noble profession, however, while working
with patients, several guidelines and regulations tie these professionals and hinder them to
connect to the society. Few such incidents are witnessed in this case of Mark, the podiatrist that
could impact the image of healthcare professionals and affect their trustworthiness.
The first incidence was observed when Mark’s friend was reprimanded at work
because she attended the celebration of her patient, whom she cared for and developed a
good rapport. The Australian nursing and midwifery guideline hinders healthcare physicians to
develop connections with patients beyond their work place as it could violate the regulations of
therapeutic relationship. This would hamper the care ability of the healthcare professional
and if the patient revisited the care facility, it becomes difficult for the professionals to
implement harsh but important medical interventions on the patient. Therefore, it could
decrease their effectiveness and their trustworthy in the care facility.
The second scenario was associated to mark accepting few clients friend request on
social media. Social media is the platform where every individual could post or write facts and
situations associated to their life and considered to be personal. Hence, it does not belong to the
professionals work life and hence, while posting any comment or accepting any friend request
the healthcare professional should observe to which extent this step will violate the care
standard. As it is the nurse’s responsibility to maintain boundaries and restrict the care and
connection to the healthcare facility, mark should not receive any friend request and also
should reject friend request of old patients as well. Further, observing healthcare professionals
personal and emotional sides could change the perspective of patients about them and hence, the
professionals should refrain themselves to connect to their patients beyond the boundaries of
healthcare facility.