Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion
Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion
The integration of health information technology and management into mainstream healthcare was spurred on by the rampant human errors that were being committed by healthcare professionals. These were causing thousands of preventable deaths every year in the United States and the rest of the world (Palatnik, 2016)Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion. When nurse informatics came into being, nurse informaticists who are specialist nurses became the custodians of the patient data that is now stored in these electronic systems such as the electronic health record or EHR systems. However, there are legislative policies and also ethical principles that they still need to abide by as they guard and protect the integrity of patient data. This is the theme of this paper with reference to a case scenario in the ER.
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Complying with Policy and Maintaining Ethical Conduct
The scenario given describes a situation in which the organization for which the nurse informaticist is working does not meet regulatory standards or the national benchmark for quality care. According to the dashboard metrics revealed by the EHR system, the time that a patient at the facility takes in the ER between arrival with cardiac symptoms and entering the cardiac catheterization lab does not meet regulatory threshold. What this means is that there is a quality gap that requires to be addressed. Specifically, reporting of such shortcomings truthfully to regulatory bodies such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance is very important. Both policy and ethics demand that the nurse informaticist abide by the law and ethical considerations in doing so Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion.
In particular, the nurse informaticist should respect the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act or PSQIA (Singh & Sittig, 2016). This policy requires that as a nurse informaticist, one need to safeguard patient safety as well as the quality of care delivered at all times. Thus when the manager approaches the nurse informaticist and asks them to falsify the reports to regulatory bodies to save face, the nurse informaticist should hold their ground and remain true to the policy and ethics. Instead of falsifying the accounts from the EHR dashboard, they should respond to the manager that their professionalism and licensure does not allow them to falsify records and that it would be illegal. Ethically, this would violate nonmaleficence and fidelity (Campbell, 2017; Haswell, 2019; Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt)Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion. I would therefore obey the policy and ethical requirements if I were the nurse informaticist in this scenario.
Solution to Address the Problem
The solution to address the above problem of non-conformity to the timing from admission to the ER to being taken to the catheter lab is evidence-based practice (EBP). This means conducting a clinical inquiry on the best sequence of events that saves time and finding the scholarly literature that supports the same (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt). Only the intervention with the strongest evidence supporting it would be taken and implemented. The reason for recommending this solution is that EBP is the gold standard for nursing and medical practice at present around the world. In other words, it is what is described as best practice while interventions that are falsified and without scholarly evidence backing them are called common practice Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion.
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Conclusion
Ethics and policy are some of the most important guiding lights to nursing practice. When the nurse informaticist is confronted by a scenario like the above in which the unit manager is asking them to violate ethical principles and legislative policy, professionalism demands that they stand their ground.
References
Campbell, L. (2017). Kant, autonomy and bioethics. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 3(3), 381–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemep.2017.05.008
Haswell, N. (2019). The four ethical principles and their application in aesthetic practice. Journal of Aesthetic Nursing, 8(4), 177-179. https://doi.org/10.12968/joan.2019.8.4.177
Melnyk, B.M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2019). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice, 4th ed. Wolters Kluwer.
Palatnik, A. (2016). To err is human. Nursing Critical Care, 11(5), 4. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.CCN.0000490961.44977.8d
Singh, H., & Sittig, D.F. (2016). Measuring and improving patient safety through health information technology: The Health IT Safety Framework. BMJ Quality & Safety, 25(4), 226–232. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004486 Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion
Week 11: Policy and Ethics
Recall that national policy can have very local interpretation or implementation. For budgetary, staffing, or other reasons, your institution may interpret directives or respond to challenges from directives in highly specific, situational ways.
These can create ethical questions for the nurse informaticist, who may receive directives at odds with the intentions of policy and the intentions for EHR implementation. This week, you analyze how decision making, policy, and ethics may intersect.
Learning Objectives
Students will: Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion
• Analyze the effect of policies on ethical decision making for nurse informaticists
• Justify solutions related to ethical decision making for nurse informaticists
Required readings:
FowlerMarshaDianeMar_2015_GuidetotheCodeofEthicsforNurseswithInter.PDF
The Future of Informatics Program Transcript.pdf
Discussion: Ethics and Standards
As a nurse informaticist, you may be at the forefront of managing patient data, institutional data, and other record-keeping that has reporting requirements. The reporting of accurate and truthful information is critical to policy compliance, and may affect funding, safety ratings, or other crucial measures. In this Discussion, you analyze one such example where informatics and ethics overlap.
To Prepare Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion
For this Discussion, consider the following scenario:
Imagine that you are a nurse informaticist in an ER department. The manager informs you that the duration from when a patient arrives in the ER reporting cardiac-related symptoms to being seen in the cardiac catheterization lab is above the national standard. She asks if there is a way to “adjust” the report to make the time look better before the next review.
• Review the resources and reflect on the actions you would take and the decision you would make to meet standards in an ethical manner as it relates to the scenario provided.
• Think about what your response to the manager might be.
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By Day 3 of Week 11
Post a response that explains how you would comply with policy and maintain ethical nursing practice in the scenario above. Be specific and provide examples. Next, recommend a solution to address the problem described in the scenario. Justify why you would recommend this solution. Ethical Principles And Legislative Policy Discussion