Healthcare professionals and other related practitioners often face ethical and legal issues in their daily endeavors in healthcare facilities (Harris, 2014). It is prudent to institute educational programs and policies that improve the awareness of healthcare professionals about the impending legal issues and ethical issues. Apparently, legal issues concerning patient data and welfare are prominent in healthcare and can reduce the ability of healthcare organizations to achieve their stipulated goals (Lyles et al., 2017). On the other hand, ethical problems arise from interaction with patients, other healthcare professionals, families, and caregivers. Undesirable interactions can also lead to the emergence of legal issues. In this regard, this paper elucidates an effective education program that can aid in averting ethical and legal problems.
The education program will be an ethical instruction program, which will be guided by clear goals to improve its practicability at the healthcare center. First, the education program is geared towards the establishment of confidence for healthcare professionals to practice ethics in major assessments and decisions. Healthcare professionals can make many varied decisions at work. Nevertheless, the decisions made must be ethical, providing beneficence to each patient at the facility.
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Furthermore, the lack of an ethical approach to patient-related decisions can be a detriment to the quality of services that are envisioned in healthcare. The education program will allow healthcare personnel to practice evidence-based approach in their work. Evidence-based interventions can avoid the incidence of legal issues that may cost the healthcare center (Harris, 2014). The last goal of the education program will be to educate individuals of the essential ethical principles that can facilitate good operations in the future, and avoid past mistakes.
First, the education program highly emphasizes on the creation of knowledge regarding ethical principles. The education of ethical problems can solve some stringent problems, including the violation of patient autonomy. In some cases, moral drawbacks can cause healthcare professionals to act against the interests of the patients (Harris, 2014). For example, geriatric patients are incapable of making sound treatment decisions without the assistance of caregivers or family. Consequently, pediatric patients face a similar predicament as geriatric patients in the provision of oriented care. The ethical education allows professionals to be aware of this phenomenon, and provide quality care for each patient. Additionally, ethical education prevents inequality at the healthcare facility (Harris, 2014).
Markedly, the contemporary market for healthcare is faced with innate diversity, which healthcare personnel should be made aware of in their practice. Evidently, most of the legal issues that healthcare facilities experience are related to the existence of diversity. The education program can serve as an essential avenue for practitioners to avoid conflicts arising from the diversity of patients. Other reputable results of the education program include the elimination of conflicts of interest within the healthcare system. The problem has become prevalent in the modern age of medical discoveries and mass manufacture of pharmaceuticals.
As an assistant healthcare manager, the education mentioned above program is appropriate for the home health agency. First, the education program is socially acceptable, as it enhances the welfare of patients that visit the home health agency. The clear guidelines that the education model provides contribute to the development of a new internal culture that emphasizes ethical competency. Moreover, the education program improves the quality of care and eliminates the legal exposure that the healthcare agency may face. Healthcare personnel act as reliable resources of promoting legal competence of the healthcare entity.
Legal exposure can be a liability to the home healthcare agency, whose reputation must be maintained to allow more patients to embrace the services provided in the agency. For example, a compromise of patient data can cost the healthcare organization their reputation (Lyles et al., 2017). Patient data is sensitive, and patients can lose faith in the undertakings of a healthcare facility that jeopardizes their confidentiality. The bottom line is that the education program can preserve patient loyalty, by safeguarding their confidentiality. The third reason why the education model is suitable is that ethical education provides incentives for healthcare personnel to achieve self-regulation at work. Self-regulation ensures that every subsequent action arising from an ethical decision making is worthwhile, and does not expose the hospital to legal liabilities (Harris, 2014). Moreover, self-regulation ensures that as a manager, unnecessary follow-ups to mend employee behavior are minimized. In the long run, the ethical concerns of the healthcare personnel improve the internal efficiency of employees to award quality care.
Additionally, the education model reduces the moral complexity of actions that nurses take in actuating evidence-based practices. The capacity of the education model is good, as it covers the major aspects that cause legal and ethical liabilities in healthcare facilities. The increased confidence in making ethical decisions also allows patient advocacy to take place, and the overall nature of services provided becomes exceptional (Harris, 2014). Healthcare practitioners can get amicable education on strategies to respond to substandard practices at work, and ensure that harm does not occur on patients. In a nutshell, the education program is suitable because it leads to the improvement of the clinical environment for both healthcare personnel and patients. In the long term, malpractices are eliminated, and patients gain the quality of care that they need.
References
Harris, D. M. (2014). Contemporary issues in healthcare law & ethics . Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press
Lyles, C. R., Fruchterman, J., Youdelman, M., & Schillinger, D. (2017). Legal, Practical, and Ethical Considerations for Making Online Patient Portals Accessible for All. American Journal of Public Health , 107(10), 1608–1611. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303933
