Assignment: Where Law and Ethics Merge—Government and Organizations
Assignment: Where Law and Ethics Merge—Government and Organizations
For your Signature Assignment, create a presentation that discusses any four legal issues or ethical concepts of your choice that you feel are particularly important to the improvement of healthcare. Explain the impact of these four concepts on nursing practice, the healthcare institution, and on the quality of patient care.
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For your presentation:
Select at least four (4) legal issues or ethical concepts that you feel influence or hinder nursing practice, healthcare institutions or quality patient outcomes.
Explain how the selected legal issues or ethical concepts impact nursing practice, the healthcare institution, and the quality of patient outcomes.
Develop a policy proposal with measures and recommendations that could positively impact nursing practice, allow healthcare institutions to thrive, and improve the quality of patient outcomes.
Detail how nursing could act or advocate to incorporate the policy proposal into practice.
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Where Law and Ethics Merge—Government and Organizations
Nurses must grapple with the complexities of legal and ethical issues to preserve health facilities and patient care. In nursing, legal and moral parameters are essential as they set up a code of conduct that instills confidence and protects practitioners and patients. The paper addresses four significant concerns related to patient confidentiality under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): informed consent, duty of care, and resource allocation, which impact patient outcomes, healthcare organizations, and nursing. Ethical and legal principles instill professional responsibility in light of ensuring quality patient care. This current study discusses those issues, proposes a policy framework, and addresses nurse advocacy efforts. Addressing these issues and promoting good ethics could help health organizations and nurses raise the bar on patient safety and satisfaction.
Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing
Patient Confidentiality (HIPAA)
Impact on Nursing Practice
Patient confidentiality cannot be compromised in nursing, especially now that HIPAA has been instituted, because the relationship between a patient and a nurse is based on trust, which protects protected information. In their progression, nurses vow to protect patients’ confidentiality in either digital or paper media. Research has documented that health caregivers who undergo training on data privacy and HIPAA compliance update their vigilance concerning accountability in the event of data breaches (Khatiwada et al., 2024). Besides adhering to legal requirements, nurses also build a good reputation in the medical field as trustworthy and save their employers from potential legal implications regarding the security of patients’ information.
Impact on Healthcare Institutions
Breach of patient confidentiality significantly impacts the public image and financial performance of healthcare institutions. A HIPAA breach may result in fines, legal consequences, and a loss of public faith in how severe the provider is about the care of patients. The study by Sage et al. (2019) established that the risk of data breach decreases, and compliance with the requirements of confidentiality increases in implementing appropriate security and education programs among employees. Moreover, even from an institutional perspective, facilities that respect HIPAA and patient confidentiality earn credibility with the community and the patients themselves. They are exceedingly cardinal points for both engagement by the patient and institutional reputation.
Impact on Patient Outcomes
Openness and trust are two of the numerous healthcare benefits realized with confidentiality as critical information is expressed by patients when they feel secure. Patients who feel confident in the security of their information ensure high satisfaction and adherence to prescribed plans of care, according to Sage et al. (2019). This provision allows more precise diagnoses and personalized treatment approaches to direct pathways toward better patient outcomes. Hence, confidentiality standards are cardinal for patient-centered care and building relationships that benefit the patient and provider.
Informed Consent
Impact on Nursing Practice
As a nurse, one has an ethical and legal obligation to inform the patients and obtain their consent before treating them. Through this provision, the patients will have an opportunity to make relevant decisions concerning their lives. It is, consequently, prudent that the nurses make the patients aware of the surgery through the explanation of possible side effects of the surgery, benefits, and other options for treatment (Harris et al., 2020). Patient education demonstrates the nurses’ pledge to patient-centered care and, at the same time, provides care for patients’ rights. Nurses who contribute to patients’ informed consent while supporting their liberty also save their institutions from legal consequences through follow-through on established protocols.
Impact on Healthcare Institutions
Standardized informed consent practices help healthcare facilities minimize legal liabilities and increase consistency. Nguyen et al. (2024) identified that standardization of resources, like interpreters and education materials, was associated with improved patient satisfaction and comprehension. Institutions should adopt practices in informed consent that minimize the legal liabilities created by patient confusion or accusations of coercion. This will create responsibility. Setting standards for open communication within informed consent practices allows for ethical conduct while at the same time building institutional trustworthiness and patient satisfaction.
Impact on Patient Outcomes
Informed consent allows every patient to be aware of care decisions. Engagement of a patient in a decision-making process about his or her care increases satisfaction and compliance with the treatment program, thereby optimizing clinical outcomes (Harris et al., 2020). Confidence will be developed in the patients by following the work protocol of health workers to reduce their fears of being treated. Getting informed permission from the patients is necessary as it helps improve their quality of life and health outcomes and offers them ethical care.
Duty of Care
Impact on Nursing Practice
Through delivering safe, professional, and caring practices, nurses carry out the promise to protect their patients. This requires continued education and incorporating the best available evidence into practice since negligence malpractice litigation may result from poor practice (Kwame & Petrucka, 2022). Nurses execute their duty of protecting their patients using the ethical principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence. Carrying out this promise offers nurses professionalism as patients develop trust in them.
Impact on Healthcare Institutions
Health facilities further ensure the patient is safe by providing resources, such as enough personnel and training to support the duty of care. Mijakoski et al. (2023) determined that institutions that fully adhered to the duty of care were characterized by less weariness among their staff and had minimal concern about patients’ safety. Health facilities that emphasize duty of care standards ensure better patient service, better and productive staff, and better-quality service.
Impact on Patient Outcomes
Only by ensuring the duty of care can improvement in patient safety and eradication of preventable errors be ensured. Studies have identified that, along with improved health outcomes, patient satisfaction significantly improves when the nurses follow the best practices and provide adequate institutional support (Kwame & Petrucka, 2022). The patients can ensure two-fold objectives- such as faster recovery and reduced readmission- if competent and trustworthy care is offered and they can actively engage in their respective treatment programs. Therefore, comprehensive duty of care improves health delivery and helps the patients.
Resource Allocation
Impact on Nursing Practice
The ethical dilemma of resource allocation for nurses is greatly exacerbated when their demand is high, and the supplies are low. While triaging care according to the availability of supplies and staff, nurses should revisit careful clinical urgency and the demands of the patients (Sperling, 2020). Efficient distribution of resources involves analytical reasoning and shows a commitment toward the fair and ethical treatment of all individuals. Suitable resource allocation for the nurses makes treating and meeting ethical demands easier.
Impact on Healthcare Institutions
The application of resource allocation standards ensures that healthcare institutions observe equity and that there is a decline in the emergence of ethical dilemmas. Barrocas et al. (2020) found that institutions with transparent rules on resource allocation had personnel and patients who said they were treated fairly and equitably with similar and equal resources. Evidence-based good practice resource allocation will guide nurses in making ethical decisions by minimizing workplace stress and inviting a well-balanced approach to patient care per institutional principles.
Impact on Patient Outcomes
Resource distribution impacts patients’ ability to determine whether they receive the required care at the right time. Fair distributive procedures with well-articulated institutional policies ensure better patient-level outcomes, as also cited by Harris et al. (2020). This is because care is delivered based on medical needs and not availability. Fair distribution of available resources plays a crucial role in yielding good health outcomes and reducing gaps in the quality of treatment, where the patient receives the medication needed. Ethical distribution of resources leads to an accurate entire healthcare system, focusing on the patient and offering equal opportunities for access to quality care.
Policy Proposal
Policy Outline
A proposed policy that deals with the most crucial ethical and legal issues in the health industry is “Ethics and Compliance Enhancement for Nursing Practice (ECENP).” This policy will restore patient confidentiality through a complete, transparent, informed consent practice, guarantee the duty of care for safe and effective practices, and set clear guidelines on resource allocation practices that ensure equity. Through the provisions in ECENP, the policy provides a uniform set of rules that will encourage proper ethical nursing practice and compliance by institutions, hence, positive results for patients.
Policy Objectives
ECENP aims to harmonize four sensitive practice areas: confidentiality, informed consent, duty of care, and resource allocation. This policy makes sense with the critical ethical principles and compliance standards since it gives precise, practical details in each area. Nurses can appropriately and reliably fulfill their ethical and professional obligations in this frame to enhance patient care.
Recommendations
The most crucial recommendations are competency evaluation for the duty of care, the obligation to train on the provisions of HIPAA, informed consent, and role-based policy ensuring resource distribution equity. Bhati et al. (2023) provide evidence of how such measures will improve the institution’s quality of care, patient trust, and compliance. With all these measures in place, health institutions will witness high levels of care and the rebuilding of the nursing ethical foundation.
Nursing Advocacy and Implementation
Nursing Advocacy Role
Nurses participating in committees, educating colleagues, and meeting with politicians may help implement ethical policies. When nurses are active regarding different issues, organizations can implement and advocate for their ethical policies more effortlessly (Abbasinia et al., 2020). The most direct effect would be the argument by nurses for narrowing the policy-practice gap to a more caring and humanitarian approach toward the provided care.
Implementation Strategy
Some of the earliest steps of policy implementation include pilot initiatives and workshops for employees. According to Stein et al. (2022), gradual introduction and frequent evaluations improved the clinical practice and adherence to policy. Additionally, the impact of the policy can be maximized, and assurance of long-term implementation in practice can be achieved through stakeholder engagement and input from the nursing staff.
Conclusion
Fundamental legal and ethical issues such as confidentiality, consent, duty of care, and resource allocation are identified to be at the base of integrity in health care and nursing practices. The overall proposed regulatory framework and the advocacy efforts of nursing support sustaining those ethical practices that promote accountability within an institutional level and high-quality patient care. Healthcare institutions should also improve patient satisfaction, ethics, and health outcomes by offering guidelines and more autonomy to the nurses to advocate for their patients. By meeting all these criteria, practitioners can establish a credible and humane healthcare system.
References
Abbasinia, M., Ahmadi, F., & Kazemnejad, A. (2020). Patient advocacy in nursing: A concept analysis. Nursing Ethics, 27(1), 141–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733019832950
Barrocas, A., Schwartz, D. B., Hasse, J. M., Seres, D. S., & Mueller, C. M. (2020). Ethical framework for nutrition support resource allocation during shortages: Lessons from COVID‐19. Nutrition in Clinical Practice, 35(4), 599–605. https://doi.org/10.1002/ncp.10500
Bhati, D., Deogade, M. S., & Kanyal, D. (2023). Improving patient outcomes through effective hospital administration: A comprehensive review. Cureus, 15(10), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.47731
Harris, K., Søfteland, E., Moi, A. L., Harthug, S., Storesund, A., Jesuthasan, S., Sevdalis, N., & Haugen, A. S. (2020). Patients’ and healthcare workers’ recommendations for a surgical patient safety checklist – a qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-4888-1
Khatiwada, P., Yang, B., Lin, J.-C., & Blobel, B. (2024). Patient-Generated Health Data (PGHD): Understanding, requirements, challenges, and existing techniques for data security and privacy. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 14(3), 282–282. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm14030282
Kwame, A., & Petrucka, P. M. (2022). Universal healthcare coverage, patients’ rights, and nurse-patient communication: a critical review of the evidence. BMC Nursing, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-022-00833-1
Mijakoski, D., Atanasovska, A., Bislimovska, D., Brborović, H., Brborović, O., Kezunović, L. C., Milošević, M., Minov, J., Önal, B., Pranjić, N., Rapas, L., Stoleski, S., Vangelova, K., Žaja, R., Bulat, P., Milovanović, A., & Karadžinska-Bislimovska, J. (2023). Associations of burnout with job demands/resources during the pandemic in health workers from Southeast European countries. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1258226
Nguyen, Q., Flora, J., Basaviah, P., Bryant, M., Hosamani, P., Westphal, J., Kugler, J., Hom, J., Chi, J., Parker, J., & DiGiammarino, A. (2024). Interpreter and limited-English proficiency patient training helps develop medical and physician assistant students’ cross-cultural communication skills. BMC Medical Education, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05173-z
Sage, W. M., Cohen, I. G., & Hoffman, A. K. (2019). Health law and ethics. Social Science Research Network. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3673357
Sperling, D. (2020). Ethical dilemmas, perceived risk, and motivation among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing Ethics, 28(1), 9–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020956376
Stein, D. J., Shoptaw, S. J., Vigo, D. V., Lund, C., Cuijpers, P., Bantjes, J., Sartorius, N., & Maj, M. (2022). Psychiatric diagnosis and treatment in the 21st century: Paradigm shifts versus incremental integration. World Psychiatry, 21(3), 393–414. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20998