ASSIGNMENT

What challenges are present in the scenario, and what are some steps that can be taken to address them?

This scenario presents an ethical dilemma in which the physician collecting the data is removing important patient information from the study, which in return changes the results. Specifically, removing patients from the database who obtained poor results or ill costumes from the study. The ethical issue is that the final results will now be skewed. It seems as if in order to receive the grant money, then the results of the study have to be in favor of the patients, and by having patients involved with poor results then it lowers the chance that the physician receives the grant to continue the study. Regardless of the grant, this breaks several ethical codes. According to the ACHE codes of ethics, the physician is disregarding the duty to ensure that the process provides quality of care or service to the patient, or to establish a well existing mechanism with virtuous procedures to review, develop, and consistently implement an evidence-based clinical practice within the healthcare organization (ACHE, 2017). Long term this study could negatively impact several patients but by removing them from the study, then no one would several know the potential harm brought upon those patients. This breaks the ethics of safeguarding the individual’s rights, opportunities, responsibilities, and risks pertaining to the proper available healthcare service or treatment (ACHE, 2017).

What is the relationship between ethics and policy? Do they always match up with one another?

Both ethics and policy may coincide with each other when healthcare professionals are making decisions regarding patients. Some policies are put in place to ensure ethical behavior is being demonstrated in relation to that situation described in the policy. However, there are some instances where ethics and policy do not align. For example, there could be a policy, procedure, or protocol at a healthcare facility that does not reside within an individual’s moral views or ethical opinion. By using ethical decision making when developing policies, the healthcare organization can also establish a a code of conduct that helps dictate if an action or the consequence of it is deems to be right or wrong (ACHE, 2017).

If individual ethics do not align with organizational policy, what might be the end result?

If an individual’s ethics do not align with organizational policy, then that individual may not be a good fit to work at the organization. When an individual applies and interviews at an organization, its important that both the individual and organization share the same values. It helps with retaining that induvial long-term and meeting set goals. If the individual decides to stay, they might encounter several troublesome and stressful situations that will affect their line of work or the patient they are treating. This may also negatively impact teamwork and management in certain situations with that individual. Ultimately, it increases the potential of committing violations within the organization and potential termination of that individual. Not all policies have to align with the individual but if the majority doesn’t align with the ethical beliefs, it is best to leave or find an organization with similar views.

References

ACHE. (2017). ACHE code of ethics. American College of Healthcare Executives. Retrieved from