PLEASE READ THE CASE STUDY CAREFULLY AND USE THE INFORMATION FROM THE CASE STUDY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS 1,2 AND 3. PLEASE BE CLEAR AND DETAILED. THANK YOU. NOTE THAT QUESTION NUMBER ONE HAS 1a,1b,1C AND 1d
CASE STUDY
You are a family nurse practitioner working in an outpatient primary care office of a large hospital
system. The practice has been operating for over 15 years, and many of the administrative and
clinical staff were hired when the practice opened. You have been in the practice for less than 3
months. In that short amount of time, you have witnessed several of the clinical staff engaging in heated arguments with each other, sometimes in patient areas. You overhear an
argument occurring today between two staff. You pick up a patient\\\’s chart and notice a very low
blood pressure that the medical assistant failed to notify you about. When you confront the MA,
she states that she was going to report the vital signs to you when she became engaged in the
heated argument you overheard and forgot to notify you.
Unfortunately, this pattern of behavior is not unusual in this practice. Working with staff who
cannot cooperate effectively can negatively influence your ability to spend time with patients, can
impede the flow of patients through the office, and could impact patient safety.
QUESTION ONE
Using the information from the case study, Analyze the case study for potential issues for members of the healthcare team from office
conflict. Contrast the potential effects for each member of the healthcare team based upon
the required readings from the week. Discuss the potential ethical and legal implications for
each of the following 4 practice members listed below
1a. Medical assistant
1b. Nurse Practitioner
1c. Medical Director
1d. Practice
QUESTION 2
What strategies would you implement to prevent further episodes of potentially dangerous patient outcomes?
QUESTION 3
What leadership qualities would you apply to effect positive change in the practice? Focus on the culture of the practice.
NOTE THAT A scholarly resource must be used for EACH discussion question
Ethical and Legal Implications
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Instructor’s Name
Date
Ethical and Legal Implications
Introduction
Workplace conflict often happens in health care settings and can sometimes have a negative influence on patient outcomes. Handling and resolving workplace conflict is one of the biggest challenges employees are facing (Aniefiok et al., 2018). A healthcare setting is a diverse workplace where people have different personalities, beliefs, values, and principles, hence, the conflict. In the case study, the staff in the health facility are in constant conflict with one another. This paper will use the case study to answer all the questions required for the completion of this assignment.
- Discuss the potential ethical and legal implications for each of the following 4 practice members listed below
1a. Medical assistant
In the case study, the physician assistant did not accomplish her responsibility because she failed to report a very low blood pressure experienced by one of the patients. The medical assistant did not adhere to the first tenets in the AAMA Code of Ethics, which requires medical assistants to render service with full respect for the dignity of humanity (AAMA, 2022). It means that the professional should perform tasks giving priority to the life and rights of the patient. The medical assistant did not consider life first before dealing with the conflict, hence, risking the patient’s life. The medical assistant risks being sued for negligence based on the patient’s outcome.
1b. Nurse Practitioner
Based on the events of the case study, the Nurse practitioner is not directly involved in the negligence but is still responsible to ensure positive outcomes. The nurse practitioner is legally and ethically bound in the event because he has worked in this facility for about three months and done nothing even though he has been witnessing several of these conflicts (Williamson, 2018). Therefore, the nurse practitioner has failed to articulate ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence.
1c. Medical Director
In the case study, the Medical director has failed because he could not identify and resolve the ongoing conflict among staff, a habit that has become the culture of that organization. The medical director disregarded the ethical principles of non-maleficence and beneficence (Williamson, 2018). The director should ensure beneficence and non-maleficence by ensuring everything is well. The medical director could be accursed for professional liability, regulatory compliance, and other relevant issues legal issues.
1d. Practice
The case study scenario tells a lot regarding the medical practice within the facility. Certain ethical principles governing medical practice were not met. For instance, the ethical principle of beneficence was not achieved. It requires health professionals to make decisions that only bring benefits to the patient (Williamson, 2018). In the case study, the activities of the medical assistant did not bring any benefit to the patient. Those involved in the care would be liable for negligence if the patient was harmed.
- What strategies would you implement to prevent further episodes of potentially dangerous patient outcomes?
It is high time to end the conflicts between healthcare providers to prevent any possible damage that might be worse than those experienced before. The first step to addressing this issue is to determine the root cause of the problem. Determining the root cause of the problem is usually the first step to addressing any kind of problem (Boyd, 2022). The second step is to establish effective policies and procedures that will eliminate conflict. These may be educating care providers about effective communication, conflict resolution, interpersonal skills, and the dangers of conflict. Unnecessary conflict may also be penalized (Boyd, 2022). Other strategies include encouraging effective communication, and collaboration.
- What leadership qualities would you apply to effect positive change in the practice? Focus on the culture of the practice.
As a leader, it would be important to lead by example by not getting involved in a meaningless argument and following the correct channel to solve conflicts. It would also be important to establish clear rules and regulations to guide conflict resolution (Boyd, 2022). Furthermore, it is important to take any form of conflict seriously and find a solution before things escalate to an unwanted extent.
Conclusion
Workplace conflict should be solved immediately in healthcare to avoid putting patients at risk. The case study provides a clear scenario of how workplace conflict can lead to negative patient outcomes. Everyone in the healthcare setting is responsible to ensure civility. Leaders should be able to solve such issues effectively.
References
Aniefiok, A. G., Vongsinsirikul, S., Suwandee, S., & Jabutay, F. (2018, May). The impacts of workplace conflict on employees’s contextual performance and employee’s commitment: A case study of private Universities in Thailand. In 2018 5th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR) (pp. 355-359). IEEE. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8391221
AAMA. (2022). Overview. https://www.aama-ntl.org/about/overview
Boyd, K. (2022). Examining and Exploring Social Constructs, Conflict Management Style, and Workplace Conflict Among Workers in the United States. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1993/
Williamson, M. (2018). This is who we are: Promoting professional behaviors and civility in nursing education. Building Healthy Academic Communities Journal, 2(1), 14-24. https://doi.org/10.18061/bhac.v2i1.6355