A Senior Administrator for Hope Clinic, Essay Example

As a senior administrator for Hope Clinic, I am tasked with the responsibility, along with my team to create a formal Ethics Policy in which will be the guide for dealing with potential infractions and dilemmas. Within a healthcare facility, many individual cases are seen in which ethics comes into play in several issues. That is why it is essential that Hope Clinic have an Ethics Policy in place, which will cover many important issues, as well as different scenarios that may arise in which best practices will be used in avoiding problematic issues. Our facility at the Hope Clinic is a safe haven for women and others that provides the surrounding community with multiple services. This includes providing individuals with services such as education, screening, therapy, and counseling.

In the first scenario, a 28-year-old female comes to the clinic wanting to speak with a social worker. She is inquiring about a shelter because she has recently become homeless. Nothing else is known about her health history, but after the initial routine screening, the nurses find is pregnant and tested positive for narcotics. The young woman contests she does not have a drug problem, but she is inquiring about shelter because she recently found out she was pregnant. She does not want help for her drug problem, but as a healthcare professional, we have an obligation to report her to social services. In proceeding with this information, the policy that is best implemented coincides with several real life examples in which mothers are routinely prescreened for drugs when pregnant. It places the healthcare professional and the patient in an adverse relationship.

The policy used in handling this situation is the suggest that in order to receive help from the clinic, they must follow the guidelines, in which pregnant women that test positive for drugs must take part in a substance abuse treatment. This is the best policy, because we do not want to scare women away from seeking help, but we also do not want to put the mother and the unborn child (ren) at risks from the mothers drug use. While some make the decision in reporting her to social services, research suggest that it does not quell the mother from continuing her drug use, and it potentially keep the mother from seeking help. The staff must create a culture in which fosters ethical decision making, and ethical administrative and clinical practices. The staff will communicate the commitment of the organization to the ethical decision making through its value and mission statement, which coincides with the code of ethics. More importantly, to pregnant women, and others, the staff will promote the decision making that provides the appropriate use of power while balancing societal, organizational, and individual issues. The overall ethical decision in creating this policy in which we will provide shelter to women in such situations, with the obligation to take part in substance abuse treatment. The clinic is to not overriding the women’s autonomy, but providing priority access to treatment that could be beneficial to her and her baby, while also providing the needed services the clinic offers.

The second scenario deals with a 20-year-old female that has problems in her relationship.  At a young age, her uncle molested her on a number of occasions. This is her first time discussing he abuse, but she cannot tell her family.  In response to this scenario, as a healthcare professional we must protect the privacy rights of the individual, in which ethically we value confidentiality, although it will conflict with other values. Since the individual is over the age of 18, and the abuse has long stopped, the problem is determining how it fits into the letter of the law. Laws that make it mandatory to report child abuse to officials bind us like other professionals. However, for older individuals, it depends on what is required, if the abuse happened within three years, then we must report if the person was a minor, or still being abused. If there is reason to believe that the individual is molesting other children, then we must report to CPS. Even though the person does not give consent, if the laws requires legal reporting we must do so. If both the mandate and legal doors are closed, then we must follow the permission of the individual, and provide counseling for the individual. The staff will follow this protocol in which follows the law, and then the consent of the individual. While some may have differing opinions on what should be reported and not, we must abide by the law, and if they option is not available provide counseling to the individual. This is taken because child abuse is a serious problem, and serious mental issue that impacts the victims throughout their lives. We have obligations to report abuse of any kind.

The last scenario involves a 31 year-old man that has a chronic polysubstance abuse problem. He admitted to having an open criminal court case from his drug use. He agreed to be admitted to out outpatient drug rehab, so he would not be terminated from his job. However, through outpatient rehab, he has had several relapses, and now faced with insisting on inpatient rehab or discharge the patient. Although it conflicts with ethical principles, if the patient is not compliant with the requests of the clinic, then clinic will be forced to involuntary discharge. The ethical decision-making consists of breaching the practitioners’ duties of doing no harm and respecting the patient’s wishes, but balance the interests of those with the larger society and community, future patients, staff, and other patients. The policy would be to get the patient to be compliant with the request, and if not make the decision to try to continue to treat, but if the patient is still having positive drug tests, then they must be involuntarily discharged. The staff must agree to this policy, and make the decision in which puts the best interest of the clinic and the patients. While many may disagree with the policy to continue treatment, we must take into account of repeated attempts to treat the patient, and how it impacts the larger community, and the rest of the clinic. The justification in taking this ethical policy is to abide by the do no harm principle, and autonomy. However, we must also considers those principles of other patients that are impacted by the non-compliant individual. Therefore, we must do either what is right in the situation, provide another chance of treatment, and if the individual still fails then suggest in-patient again, or involuntary discharge.