Child vaccination is a widely accepted routine worldwide. However, there are ethical considerations that involve a balance between a parent’s right in allowing vaccination or their children and the benefits to public health emanating from vaccination of children. While healthcare givers are alive to the benefits of vaccination of children, they have to contend with the right of children to accept or refuse a vaccine.
It is the responsibility of health professionals to clarify to patients the merits they stand to gain from a vaccine and why it is necessary. For example, it is unethical and unreasonable to administer a vaccine to a child when they/their parents have no understanding of the vaccine. It is recommended that such health workers should explain to parents why their children a vaccine and what they stand to lose if their child does not get the jab.
The case scenario, dubbed incident 10 talks about the Smiths family and their five-year old daughter Ana. The Smith’s take their child Ana to their pediatrician to discuss whether or not to vaccinate their daughter. The Smiths’ were concerned about rising number of cases of autism in vaccinated children. They are concerned that vaccinating their child might result in autism-something they would want to avoid at all costs.
Both Ana’s mother and father have prior education/information regarding importance of child vaccination. They have also widely researched this issue through online search on blogs and other social media sites. Being a trained medical professional, Dr. Kerr listened keenly to the concerns presented to him by the Smiths ‘before giving his informed opinion/recommendation about the need to have children vaccinated.
Dr. Kerr told the Smiths’ that the consequences of not vaccinating a child are far too severe compared to vaccinating a child. According to Dr. Kerr, there is no study that directly confirms or link vaccination to autism. On the contrary, the Dr. informed the Smiths’ that there are studies that prove that there is no connection between autism spectrum disorder and vaccination.
Dr. Kerr informed the Smith family that the federal government keeps track of any and all adverse effects that may come from a vaccine. Through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, the government tracks all vaccines as well as get feedback from people about any incidence from a vaccine. The Dr. explained to the Smiths’ that growing hesitation, opposition and uncertainty about childhood vaccines has created a resurgence of cases of vaccine-preventable diseases and illnesses. In the end, despite Dr. Kerr’s efforts to educate the Smiths’ on the importance of child vaccination. The Smiths’ chose not to vaccinate their daughter.
In the case study provided, Dr. Kerr faces a big dilemma after the Smiths’ family refused to vaccinate their daughter. Dr. Kerr knows that the refusal of the Smiths’ to have their daughter Ana vaccinated based on negative rumors is bad for the child. By refusing to have their child vaccinated, the Smiths’ expose their child to dangerous diseases that are easily contained by a simple vaccination process. Refusal to vaccinate Ana exposes her to debilitating illnesses such as measles, mumps, polio, and meningitis.
Measles leads to swelling of the brain that can damage it and result in death while mumps can lead to permanent deafness. On its part, meningitis also leads to deafness and brain damage, while polio leads to permanent paralysis. These are some of the risks that the Smiths’ expose their daughter Ana by refusing to her get vaccinated. The Smiths’ are not only exposing their child to medical implications but also social implications such as exclusion and quarantine during disease outbreaks.
Ethical Decision-Making Model to Analyze the Case Study
Based on the Smith’s case study, moral judgment, moral behavior, and moral awareness are critical components of an ethical decision-making model. Concerning ethical awareness, the doctor, or any other healthcare professional faced with a similar situation must be alive to the existence of a dilemma. Regarding ethical judgment, the doctor must make the right judgments based on the situation at hand (Stenmark, et al., 2021). Ethical behavior is taking the right action to remedy the situation.
Based on the context of the Smiths’ family, it is incumbent upon Dr. Kerr to recognize that the Smiths’ family lack proper information and education regarding child vaccine. The Smiths’ are also not adequately aware of the risks they expose their daughter and other children by refusing to vaccinate Ana. The ethical behavior Dr. Kerr must adopt is to fully convince the Smiths’ to accept to have their daughter Ana vaccinated.
When she was presented with the problem, Dr. Kerr listened keenly and patiently to the Smiths’ as they narrated their dilemma. She listened all through out to how the Smiths’ arrived at the conclusion not to vaccinate their child Ana. Through active listening, Dr. Kerr was able to get the whole information from the Smiths’ and give them an informed response based on their dilemma.
Apart from keenly listening to the Smiths, Dr. Kerr also restrained herself from forcing or coercing Ana’s parent’s to get her vaccinated. This is a good professional behavior from the doctor because she knows that she has to respect a patient’s/client’s wishes and not imposing her own will on them even if she is right (Rainer et al., 2018).
Forcing or coercing the Smiths’ to have Ana vaccinated would have resulted in the exact opposite of her good intentions. For example, forceful vaccination or vaccinating Ana without her parent’s approval would have made the Smiths’ to lose faith in healthcare. Her approach of offering more information and education on child vaccine was more professional and bound to make the Smiths’ come to reason.
The principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice are key factors integral to resolving dilemmas when making decisions. Going by the case study of the Smiths’ family, Dr. Kerr clearly applied the principle of autonomy by giving the Smiths’ the opportunity to make their own decision after educating them and informing them of the consequences of not vaccinating their daughter.
Dr. Kerr also shows beneficence when she advises the Smiths to have their daughter vaccinated- her intentions are good for the patient. However, the Smiths’ action of refusing to have their daughter immunized despite having first-hand information from a qualified professional lacks beneficence as this action will harm their daughter. Concerning nonmaleficence, Dr. Kerr did not harm the patient in any way but to offer critical information that could save the life of Ana.
Healthcare professionals face situations of ethical dilemmas every day in their work. It is the responsibility of these healthcare professionals to know and understand the core principles of decision-making. Having understood the core principles of decision-making, the healthcare professionals must use them and apply them in making-critical decisions based on the conditions and situations faced by their patients/clients. The solutions offered must respect and observe the principles of autonomy, justice beneficence, and nonmaleficence.
Rainer, J., Schneider, J. K., & Lorenz, R. A. (2018). Ethical dilemmas in nursing: An integrative review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(19-20), 3446-3461.
Stenmark, C. K., Redfearn, R. A., & Kreitler, C. M. (2021). Self-efficacy and ethical decision-making. Ethics & Behavior, 31(5), 301-320.
Develop a solution to a specific ethical dilemma faced by a health care professional by applying ethical principles. Describe the issues and a possible solution in a 3-5-page paper.
Whether you are a nurse, a public health professional, a health care administrator, or in another role in the health care field, you must base your decisions on a set of ethical principles and values. Your decisions must be fair, equitable, and defensible. Each discipline has established a professional code of ethics to guide ethical behavior. In this assessment, you will practice working through an ethical dilemma as described in a case study. Your practice will help you develop a method for formulating ethical decisions.
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NHS-FPX4000 Assessment 2
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:
Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. At a minimum, be sure to address each point. In addition, you are encouraged to review the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.
For this assessment, develop a solution to a specific ethical dilemma faced by a health care professional. In your assessment:
SOCRATIC PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH https://campus.capella.edu/web/critical-thinking/b…
Create a 3-5-page annotated bibliography and summary based on your research related to best practices addressing a current health care problem or issue of interest to you.
In your professional life you will need to find credible evidence to support your decisions and your plans of action. You will want to keep abreast of best practices to help your organization adapt to the ever-changing health care environment.
Being adept at research will help you find the information you need. For this assessment, you will select and research a current health care problem or issue faced by a health care organization.
Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. At a minimum, be sure to address each point. In addition, you are encouraged to review the performance level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.
For this assessment, you will research best practices related to a current health care problem. Your selected problem or issue will be utilized again in Assessment 3. To explore your chosen topic, you should use the first two steps of the Socratic Problem-Solving Approach to aid your critical thinking.
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:
Note: Review the Applying Research Skills Scoring Guide for the grading criteria applied to this assessment.
Selecting a topic for your written assessments can be challenging, but it’s important to make a thoughtful choice.
Choose a topic area of interest to you from the topic suggestions in this media piece. You will use this topic to complete Assessments 2 and 3. Be sure to select a topic that will be manageable for a written assessment.
To explore the chosen topic, you should use the Socratic Problem-Solving Approach, focusing on the sections specifically called out in the assessment guidelines.
Consumers face barriers to healthcare access for assorted reasons. For example: due to geographic location, provider availability, transportation issues and mobility.
Potential Intervention Approaches:
online health information seeking, health care access, health information systems, consumer health information, chronic disease, health information search, health seeking behavior, rural nursing
Bhandari, N. (2014). Seeking health information online: does limited healthcare access matter? Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA (1067-5027), 21 (6), p. 1113. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.library.capella.edu/pmc/articles/PMC4215038/
Lee, K., Hoti, K., Hughes, J. D., & Emmerton, L. (2014). Dr Google and the Consumer: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Navigational Needs and Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors of Consumers with Chronic Health Conditions. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 16(12), e262. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.2196/jmir.3706
Ware, P., Bartlett, S. J., Paré, G., Symeonidis, I., Tannenbaum, C., Bartlett, G., … Ahmed, S. (2017). Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 6(1), e3. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.2196/ijmr.4447
Pratt, D. (2015). Telehealth and telemedicine. Albany Law Journal of Science & Technology. (1059-4280), 25 (3), p. 495. http://www.lexisnexis.com.library.capella.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&csi=148364&sr=TITLE(%22Telehealth+telemedicine+in+2015%22)+and+date+is+2015
In 2010, the Federal Department of Human and Health Service (DHHS) launched the Healthy People 2020 goals to include a goal to eliminate health inequality/disparity.
Healthy People 2020 defines a health disparity as “a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage.
Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity;
geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion” (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2017, p.1).
health disparities, community health assessment, community health improvement plan, strategic planning, local health departments, health inequities
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2017). Disparities. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/disparities
Shah G.H., & Sheahan J.P. (2016). Local health departments’ activities to address health disparities and inequities: Are we moving in the right direction? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2016; 13(1):44. http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/44
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2017). Triple Aim for Populations. http://www.ihi.org/Topics/TripleAim/Pages/Overview.aspx
A medication error is a preventable adverse effect of a patient taking the wrong medication or dosage, whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient. Medication errors can be a source of serious patient harm, including death.
Potential Intervention Approaches:
Keywords for Articles:
medication administration, medication errors, medication safety
Cohen, M. (2016). Medication errors (miscellaneous). Nursing. 46(2):72, February 2016. DOI: 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000476239.09094.06
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2017). Improve Core Processes for Administering Medications. http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Changes/ImproveCoreProcessesforAdministeringMedications.aspx
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2012). Table 6: Categories of Medication Error Classification. http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patient-safety-resources/resources/match/matchtab6.html
Schmidt, K., Taylor, A., & Pearson, A. (2017). Reduction of medication errors: A unique approach. Journal of Nursing Care Quality. 32(2), April/June 2017, 150–156.
Short Description:
The health care system in the United States has been the subject of much debate as experts try to determine the best way to deliver high-quality care.
In Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Institute of Medicine (2001) called for the redesign of health care delivery systems and their external environments to promote care that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable.
Potential Intervention Approaches:
Keywords for Articles:
multi-stakeholder collaboration, healthcare system redesign
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. (2001). Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US).Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
(2017). Hospitals and Health Systems. http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/index.html
Roberts, B. (2017). Relationship-based care: The institute of medicine’s core competencies in action. Creative Nursing, 05/2016, 22(2).
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The following resources can help you as you complete your research and seek out professional literature on a health care topic.
Each of the following Research Guides is written with a specific program in mind. The one for your program can provide insights about researching topics related to your field.
The following resources provide specific information about annotated bibliographies.
In your health care career, you will be confronted with many problems that dema
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