Nowadays, working in the medical sphere is rather complicated and challenging. Its interference with such components as the law requires the medical staff to have a clear understanding of its complexity. Nowadays, medical law is viewed as an irreplaceable aspect of the healthcare, as it ensures the compliance of the actions of medical personnel and patients with the commonly accepted legal practices and principles (Gabel, 2011). Overall, it could be said it helps to establish trusting relationships between doctors, nurses, and patients while avoiding subjectivity in decision-making and prejudice (Gabel, 2011).
In the context of this paper, I was hired as a top health administrator. In this case, I had training in personal and inter-employee conduct. Well Care Hospital in Happy Town wants to enhance its level of medical compliance and underline the significance of legal aspects in the development of the hospital. Consequently, the primary goal of this paper is to emphasize the gravity of professional conduct in the medical institution, find the ramifications of medical conduct and ethics, determine the matters to prove the presence of medical negligence, and depict the duties of healthcare governing board to minimize the levels of medical non-compliance.
My Profession and Importance of Professional Conduct
As it was mentioned earlier, the medical sphere has a vehement connection with law, and any violations might not only damage the image of the medical institution but also might question the sufficiency of healthcare legislation. As a top administrator of Well Care Hospital, I cannot underrate the significance of professional conduct. Nowadays, it is believed that doctors and nurses are the critical actors of the hospital’s value chain, as the quality of the delivered service and patient satisfaction pertain to their level of professionalism (Cavers, 2014). Building a rapport with the customers is critical since it enhances the company’s reputation and brand image in a positive way. In this case, professional conduct is the aspect that determines the standards of communication and quality of the healthcare, and focusing on its pivotal role is important while being a top administrator.
As a top administrator, I have to set and ensure that the developed medical standards are communicated and met by different levels of subordination. Furthermore, creating favorable conditions for employment and development will have a beneficial impact on the quality of the provided care and increase the degree of compliance with the medical standards (Aiken et al., 2012). Overall, it could be said that patient safety, satisfaction, and superiority of the healthcare are critical components of the success of the medical institution (Aiken et al., 2012). In this case, paying substantial attention to professional conduct supports these practices, and this matter makes it highly important to my duties.
The Major Ramifications of Compromising Medical Conduct and Ethics
Alternatively, it remains evident that the gravity of a combination of the medical conduct and ethics cannot be underestimated. These matters are highly important to the medical sphere, as doctors and nurses are responsible for one’s life and health. Due to its high involvement of the hospitals and other medical institutions in the living of the individuals, any misconduct that damages patient’s health is punishable by the law and involves high costs for settling a lawsuit and the main ramifications of compromising medical conduct and ethics can have an adverse impact on the profitability of the hospital. In this case, Corporate Negligence Doctrine is one of the essential legislative documents in healthcare, and it states that the management of the hospital is responsible for offering only high-quality care to its patients (Bal & Brenner, 2014). Meanwhile, the medical institution is responsible for the actions of its staff, and any misconduct has to be monitored at individual and organizational levels.
In this case, any medical malpractice damages not only the reputation of the employee but questions the ability of the organization to comply with the medical conduct and ethics. In this case, understanding ramifications of medical conduct and ethics contributes to avoiding these legal issues while underlining the importance of ethics in medical practice.
Aspects to Prove Medical Negligence
Simultaneously, it is vital to see the problem from a dissimilar angle by determining the matters that can indicate and prove the presence of medical negligence. From a plaintiff’s points of view, this process consists out of four major elements such as a duty of care, breach of duty, damage or injury, and analysis of potential causes and reasons (Bryden & Storey, 2011). In the first place, duty can be defined as an obligation, which both defendant and plaintiff tend to have during the lawsuit.
Atkin, who underlined that the physicians and nurses had to offer high-quality care to foresee injuries and minimize lethality among the patients introduced this term in the past. (Bryden & Storey, 2011). In this case, meeting these obligations is compared with the skills, competences, and knowledge of ethics among average physicians. In turn, the breach of duty implies that the actions of the professional may be discovered as unreasonable and be associated with misconduct (Bryden & Storey, 2011). The occurrence of any malpractice has to be proven by facts and testimonies.
Lastly, the presence of injury and its causes are the last matters to underline the presence of negligence. In this case, injury can be referred to as an actual harm caused by the actions of the doctor while leading to psychological or physical inconveniences (Bryden & Storey, 2011). In turn, causation can be regarded as an investigation, which determines the actual reasons for the occurrence of a particular harm or physical damage. Nonetheless, it is one of the most difficult elements to be proved, as it is extremely difficult to link a defined trauma to the certain actions of the physician (Bryden & Storey, 2011). Having a clear understanding of these matters will help me find a consensus between the conflicting parties and apply relevant prevention strategies.
The Healthcare Governing Board and Medical Non-Compliance
Despite the importance of a top administrator and his/her profound knowledge of the managerial practices and ethical issues, one cannot underestimate the significance of the healthcare governing board in decreasing the levels of non-compliance. Consequently, the Well Care Hospital’s manifesto clearly determines the principle duties of the board. In this case, they are related but not limited to providing favorable conditions for the career development of the medical personnel, developing and communicating standards and policies to comply with ethics and laws, improving the financial planning, budgeting, and focusing on the compliance of the physicians and nurses with the organizational Code of Conduct and regulations.
In spite of having an extended coverage of these duties, the management of Well Care Hospital and I, a top administrator, have to prioritize the patient as a central actor in building trusting relationships while paying vehement attention that the hospital tends to aim at the maximization of its profits and works at its full capacity. It could be said that appointing skillful managerial staff will help minimize a gap between the employees and authorities and will assist in communicating the company’s vision and mission statement across the organization.
References
Aiken, L., Sermeus, W., Heede, H., Sloane, D., Busse, R., McKee, M.,…Kutney-Lee, A. (2012). Patient safety, satisfaction, and quality of hospital care: Cross sectional surveys of nurses and patients in 12 countries in Europe and the United States. British Medical Journal, 1(1), 344-370.
Bal, B., & Brenner, L. (2014). Physician competence and skill part I: The role of hospital corporate liability. Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research, 472(4), 1089-1092.
Bryden, D., & Storey, I. (2011). Duty of care and medical negligence. Continuing Education in Anesthesia, Critical Care, & Plan, 11(4), 124-127.
Cavers, B. (2014). Quality of patient care and professionalism are intertwined. BC Medical Journal, 56(6), 263-268.
Gabel, S. (2011). Ethics and values in clinical practice: Whom do they help? Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 86(5), 421-424.