Description of the Event
The event in question revolves around a surgical procedure that was undertaken on one of the patients at Bright Road Health System referred to as Mrs. Smith. According to the information gathered, the surgical procedure was conducted in an environment that did not match the set-out cleanliness standards. The chief surgeon, involved in the case, takes note of the fact that staff training was inadequate on matters of having a clean environment where the surgical procedures would be undertaken. Peleg & Hooper (2010) take note of the fact that working in an environment that is not sterile exposes patients to a high risk of infections taking into account the vulnerabilities that a patient is likely to encounter. In the case of Mrs. Smith, it was clear that the surgeon worked in an environment that could not have been categorized as being clean or sterile leading to exposure to infection.
The case also reflects on the fact that the staff at the health care facility failed to take up their duty to care as part of the overall approach through which to ensure that they create a safe environment for the individual patients. Responsibility to care reflects on to set out legal standards within which staff members in a given health care facility are expected to adhere to standards of reasonable care when dealing with individual patients (Mitchell et al., 2017). In this case, the handling of Mrs. Smith did not adhere to the standards of reasonable care as have been provided leading to a situation where it became much more comfortable for her to find herself exposed to a life-threatening staph infection. This would suggest that the health care facility presented some form of negligence in dealing with Mrs. Smith.
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Assessment of the Case
Ethical
The case reflects on several fundamental moral principles that define some of the critical aspects that determine the general expectations and projects, as inscribed within the standards of the law. The first principle relating to this case is justice. The principle of justice reflects on the element of fairness in all medical decisions in a bid to ensuring that the patients get the best possible care (Niven, Leigh, & Stelfox, 2016). One of the key aspects to note from this case is that the handling of Mrs. Smith did not adhere to the laid out principle of justice taking into account that she encountered a life-threatening staph infection from an unrelated medical procedure. The other fundamental principle that relates to the case is non-maleficence. Non-maleficence reflects on the principle of "to do not harm" taking into account that medical providers have a crucial mandate towards ensuring to provide care that would benefit others (Winter & Winter, 2018). In this case, the fact that the actions taken by the health providers failed to help the patient in question suggests that indeed the case may have failed in terms of its end goal.
Legal
An analysis of the case suggests that indeed the events, presented in the case, bring out a wide array of legal implications for the health institution. The institution had a principal responsibility towards building on its duty to care as a way of ensuring the safety of the patients. However, this was not the case considering that Mrs. Smith’s surgical procedure was undertaken in an environment that cannot be categorized as being safe. That exposes the facility to legal liability touching on the fact that it was not in any position to enhance its duty to care.
On the other hand, the fact that the staff at the institution did not have the necessary training to allow them to prepare the best possible environments for surgical procedures suggests negligence. Training of staff remains as one of the critical responsibilities for management in health care facilities as a way of ensuring that they improve on the area of patient safety (Gavine, MacGillivray, Renfrew, Siebelt, Haggi, & McFadden, 2016). In this case, the health facility showed negligence taking into account that it failed in its bid towards the training of its staff members. The result that this had on the care services provided is that it exposed patients to a high risk of infections, which can be seen from the case of Mrs. Smith, who was involved in a surgical procedure.
Nature of the Healthcare Workers and Organization
The healthcare workers are affiliated to the organization based on the employment contracts; thus, meaning that the decisions or actions that they undertake reflect on the position of the health institution. Mortensen (2018) argues that workers in health care facilities have a crucial role towards upholding standards and policies set out within their respective health care institutions, which seek to define how workers would be expected to handle individual patients. In this case, the health organization would be held liable for the individual actions of the employees taking into account that the workers act as agents for the organization. The result of this is that exposes the organizations to a high probability of being held legally liable while seeking to ensure that the facility understands its role in ensuring that it delivers on the best possible outcomes in terms of health care service provision.
Recommendations
In a bid to avoiding such occurrences in future, the management at Bright Road Health System should embark on training and development programs that would help in ensuring that the individual workers understand their roles in the delivery of best possible care. Through the training and education programs, the staff would be in a better position allowing them to define how they ought to engage in cleaning of the surfaces used for a wide array of medical procedures. The second recommendation for Bright Road Health System would be adopting policies that reflect more on the need for having to create defined roles for the individual workers. The main challenge, as has been noted from the case, is the fact that Bright Road Health System does not have defined roles for its workers. By adopting effective policies, the health facility would find itself in a much more viable position allowing to deliver on the best possible health outcomes.
How the facility should handle employees found liable
The facility should suspend employees found liable for negligence pending further investigations into the matter. The investigations would seek to ensure that the management has a clear understanding of who may have failed in terms of his or her duty to deliver the best quality of care to the patients. After the investigations have been conducted and all staff questioned over the matter, it will be much easier for the management to make an informed decision on whether to relieve some of the employees of their duties or whether to retain them after they have gone for further training on matters of patient safety.
References
Gavine, A., MacGillivray, S., Renfrew, M. J., Siebelt, L., Haggi, H., & McFadden, A. (2016). Education and training of healthcare staff in the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to work effectively with breastfeeding women: a systematic review. International breastfeeding journal , 12 (1), 6.
Mitchell, C., Ploem, C., Chico, V., Ormondroyd, E., Hall, A., Wallace, S., ... & Taylor, J. C. (2017). Exploring the potential duty of care in clinical genomics under UK law. Medical law international , 17 (3), 158-182.
Mortensen, N. (2018). Williams review of gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare. BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online) , 361 .
Niven, D. J., Leigh, J. P., & Stelfox, H. T. (2016, September). Ethical considerations in the de-adoption of ineffective or harmful aspects of healthcare. In Healthcare management forum (Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 214-217). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Peleg, A. Y., & Hooper, D. C. (2010). Hospital-acquired infections due to gram-negative bacteria. New England Journal of Medicine , 362 (19), 1804-1813.
Winter, S. F., & Winter, S. F. (2018). Human dignity as a leading principle in public health ethics: a multi-case analysis of 21st-century German health policy decisions. International journal of health policy and management , 7 (3), 210.
