Just like any other organizational system nowadays, the healthcare system continues to become more complicated, with an increase in the responsibilities that healthcare professionals have to adjust regarding the complexity of patient health needs. Nurses are one of the healthcare professionals that have found themselves in the adjustment of responsibilities in the healthcare system. The current healthcare system requires healthcare professionals to develop and understand critical decision-making skills. Decision-making skills are crucial in healthcare delivery. The skills help healthcare providers to inquire on the innumerable clinical related activities and make coherent decisions that are capable of enhancing the safety of the patient and preventing harm to patients. When one considers a conventional healthcare system, the routines are availed for the healthcare providers to follow and comply with. Also, the traditional settings involve managers, supervisors, and heads of departments giving directions, with clinicians not required to ask questions but only to comply (Lunney, 2009). However, the current requirements in medical practice provide the healthcare providers the ability to apply critical thinking to effectively and objectively evaluate procedures and actions for sound decision making. By taking the current healthcare system into account, this paper evaluates sound decision making for healthcare providers in a critical situation by exploring the scenario surround Mike, a lab technician at a healthcare facility. The paper also provides possible approaches that can be used to improve healthcare professionals' decision-making process.
The scenario involves Mike, who was working in a healthcare institution as the institution’s a lab technician. His supervisor had repeatedly warned Mike for reporting late to work and was facing possible termination if he clocked late at his station. Although Mike had left home 20 minutes early than his usual departing time, he found himself running late because of delays cause by an accident that occurred on his route. As Mike walked into the healthcare facility, he noticed a spill on the floor in one of the lobbies. Having less time to clock in, Mike remained in the dilemma of going to report and address the spillage or rushing to clock in before being late. The job was important to Mike, and he was not ready to lose it as he was the breadwinner from his wife, a newborn. Mike considered the option of going to report the spillage would risk losing his job, then decided not to report and rush to his supervisor to clock in. Mike's decision not to report the spillage was also based on the fact that responding to the spillage was not part of his job description and assumed the spillage will still be cleaned.
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The outcomes of failing to report the spillage include the risk of slips and falls. With the floor being used by patients and other hospital staff, spills on the floor will create a high-risk factor of falling, which might end up causing severe injuries or even death. According to CDC, pollutants on the floor, such as grease, and water, among other fluids that can make the walking surface slippery, are the primary source of STF instances in healthcare facilities (CDC, 2012). Another consequence of failing to report the spillage is that in case the patient falls, it will result in additional healthcare costs since the patient will have to stay longer at the healthcare facility. The hospital will also have to pay for damages to the patient or hospital staff for the negligent act. In case the healthcare facility staff falls and gets injured, the hospital will have to cope with the reduction in productivity or hire another staff to replace the injured one, which will be costly (CDC, 2012). In the situation that a patient gets hurt or dies in the process, the hospital clients will lose confidence and trust in the facility's ability to keep the patients safe and taking care of their healthcare needs. In Mike's scenario, a female patient fell and was admitted due to fractured hip and intense pain. Despite the hospital trying its best to take care of the patient, the patient was still disappointed with the safety offered by the hospital, indicating that she had lost faith in the ability of the healthcare facility to provide care by preventing such incidents from occurring. Conversely, Mike who had failed to inform the supervisor about the spillage that morning suffered from guilt, and was also in a dilemma of acknowledging to his supervisor of his knowledge about the spillage and failure to report it.
The failure of Mike to report the spillage had several impacts indicating the healthcare facility's inability to offer a safe environment for both staff and patients. The hospital compromised the safety of the patients by not having adequate safety precautions mechanisms capable of averting such incidents. Lack of safety mechanisms exposed patients and staff to the risk of falling, which in the case scenario one female patient sustained a hip fracture when she slipped in the spillage and fell. The injury sustained by the patient meant that the hospital was likely to face the risk of legal action for damages since it was under their negligence that caused the patient to fall and injured. Another consequence of failure to spillage that caused the patient to fall is the increased workload on other departments of the hospital. The fractured hip injury requires specialized attention. Therefore, other departments, such as radiological diagnostics, anesthesia, and surgical operation department, will be needed to fully participate in caring for the patient both before and after undergoing surgery. Besides the costs that the hospital will have to incur in treating and caring for the injured patient, the hospital facility could also lose income as the number of the patient might reduce as a result of losing trust and confidence in the hospital ability to deliver effective healthcare (CDC, 2012). Lastly, by Mike failing to address the spillage also risks healthcare facility staff to falls, which could need to injuries that would disable them to work effectively. The injured staff could also cause a decline in productivity due to lost working days, and the hospital would incur high costs of worker compensation claims.
To handle the circumstances surrounding Mike’s negligence and avoid such incidents to repeat with other staff members, the manager would have to create an environment that encourages critical thinking among healthcare providers. The best environment that promotes critical thinking would enable staff members to have enough time to make crucial decisions by reflecting on the security of the patients and other individuals in the hospital facility without fear of punishment. It also encourages staff to evaluate various perspectives and ask questions before settling to a solution for any problem they encounter at the workplace (Karen & Peggy, 2014). Therefore, the manager would have to create a culture that encourages open communication between employees and supervisors. Open communication would be based on the collective and shared responsibility of all employees in the institution in ensuring the safety and health of patients (Papathanasiou, Kleisiaris, Fradelos, Kakou, & Kourkouta, 2014). A written housekeeping program should also be developed and provided to employees, which will help in ensuring the consistency and quality of the housekeeping program (CDC, 2012). The housekeeping program should highlight details such as immediate contacts to the department of housekeeping, and how floor signs and barriers are used and stored, which allow other employees to handle such situations without difficulty.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC). (2012). Slip, trip, and fall prevention for healthcare workers . Available at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2011-123/pdfs/2011-123.pdf
Karen, L., & Peggy, W. (2014). Developing critical thinking skills in undergraduate nursing students: The potential for strategic management simulations. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice , 4(9): 155-164.
Lunney, M. (2009). Critical thinking to achieve positive health outcomes . Aimes, IA: Nanda International.
Papathanasiou, I. V., Kleisiaris, C. F., Fradelos, E. C., Kakou, K., & Kourkouta, L. (2014). Critical thinking: the development of an essential skill for nursing students. Acta informatica medica: AIM: journal of the Society for Medical Informatics of Bosnia & Herzegovina: canopies Drustva za medicinsku informatiku BiH , 22(4), 283–286. https://doi.org/10.5455/aim.2014.22.283-286
