Reflection on Learning April 7

Running head: ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN RESOLVING PRACTICE PROBLEMS 1

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN RESOLVING PRACTICE PROBLEMS 2

Ethical Considerations in Resolving Practice Problems

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Ethical Considerations in Resolving Practice Problems

Patients with cancerous growths require constant care due to the severity of their condition and deteriorating health condition. They experience extreme pain and incapacitation and may need help with daily living activities when the disease is in advanced stages. Subsequently, the treatment processes used in the ailment, such as chemotherapy, have severe adverse reactions that affect the patients severely. Therefore, nursing staff shortage in cancer units is a significant practice problem that should be addressed promptly (Paterson et al., 2020). This essay scrutinizes how raising finances to employ additional staff members and task shifting can impact the quality of care in patients with cancerous growths. It looks at the ethical implications of the research-based intervention and how the issue can be addressed. The need for recruiting more oncological nurses to deal with the demands on patients suffering from cancer.

Potential Benefits and Harms of the Research-Based Intervention

The number of healthcare professionals available to care for cancer patients can be escalated by seeking additional funding to employ extra workers and using the task-shifting model to enhance patient care. Task shifting entails delegating healthcare institutions' tasks from the more experts nurses to the less experienced nursing staff members (Karimi-Shahanjarini et al., 2019). The process helps in giving the experienced healthcare experts nurses the chance to handle more complex roles. For instance, the primary medical functions and procedures will be delegated to the newly hired workers. On the other hand, the highly skilled individuals focus on dealing with clinical cases that need higher competencies to handle.

The potential benefits of using the strategy include resolving the problem of short staffing adequately. It increases the number of healthcare employees available to cater to the patients' needs suffering from cancer. Subsequently, the technique reduces the cost of accessing treatment for cancerous growths because fundamental tasks are performed by staff members whose salary scale is significantly lower (Seidman & Atun, 2017). Usually, treating the condition is quite expensive; hence, reducing the expenses would benefit the patients. Further, the availability of many professionals who can cater to the patient makes healthcare delivery more efficient. It prevents the crisis that arises when there is a shortage of essential healthcare professionals such as physicians and nurses. The harm that the intervention can cause includes patient dissatisfaction due to doubts about those caring for them, specially new grads nurses or less experienced staff. Further, the practice may pose a risk to the patient's safety and well-being because the less qualified individuals are more likely to commit medical errors that expose that patient to harm (Seidman & Atun, 2017). Also, the organizations undergo an extra cost of training employees before the task shifting process commences. Both of these are the harms of the Research-Based Intervention.

Competing Person/Profession Values

The competing professional and personal values related to task shifting include the need to deliver quality care to the patients and reduce the workload with which the healthcare workers have to grapple. Professional values require healthcare workers to disseminate quality care at all times (Seidman & Atun, 2017). On the other hand, their values necessitate them to care for their well-being by reducing their workload, which causes burnout and is detrimental to their health.

Objections that Stakeholders may raise about the Strategy and how they will be addressed

The first objection that stakeholders may raise concerning applying the strategy in caring for cancerous patients is that the quality of care in the organization will be compromised. Individuals who have cancer require specialized care; hence inadequacies in their management can be detrimental to their health (Paterson et al., 2020). Another significant objection that the stakeholders may raise is whether the strategy would be viable in the long run.

Concerns over the possibility of the quality of care reducing will be addressed by assuring the stakeholders that the less qualified personnel will be monitored closely to ensure that they perform their designated roles competently. The skilled personnel will supervise them as they perform the tasks and advise them accordingly (Paterson et al., 2020). Similarly, the strategy's long-term viability will be addressed by assuring the stakeholders that it is only a temporary solution to reduce the pressures caused by staff shortages and ensure continuity of care in the cancer units as more permanent solutions are instigated.

Conclusion

Care of patients ailing from cancerous growths is a critical process that requires adequate skills. Therefore, the interventions instigated to reduce staff shortages should be closely analyzed to deduce the harms and benefits to the patients' care. Subsequently, they should be examined to gauge whether they cause clashes between healthcare professionals' professional and personal values. Close analysis of the intervention models is necessary to address any objections that the stakeholders may have about implementing the interventions to resolve practice problems.

References

Karimi‐Shahanjarini, A., Shakibazadeh, E., Rashidian, A., Hajimiri, K., Glenton, C., Noyes, J., ... & Colvin, C. J. (2019). Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of doctor‐nurse substitution strategies in primary care: a qualitative evidence synthesis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010412.pub2

Paterson, C., Gobel, B., Gosselin, T., Haylock, P. J., Papadopoulou, C., Slusser, K., ... & Pituskin, E. (2020, April). Oncology nursing during a pandemic: critical reflections in the context of COVID-19. In Seminars in oncology nursing (p. 151028). WB Saunders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soncn.2020.151028

Seidman, G., & Atun, R. (2017). Does task shifting yield cost savings and improve efficiency for health systems? A systematic review of evidence from low-income and middle-income countries. Human resources for health, 15(1), 1-13. https://human-resources-health.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12960-017-0200-9.pdf