Answer

Ethical Decision Making, Justice and Trust

Organization- One Health Medical Centers

The demand for quality and patient-centered care in the healthcare systems implies that institutions have to innovate regularly. Healthcare institutions must focus on ensuring customer satisfaction through seamless access to services, a mantra adopted by One Health Medical Centers. The institution is the face of the modern practice of healthcare built on the consensus of providing total Health to clients. The founding vision of One Health recognizes the essential aspect of advancing patient-focused approaches in clinical practices. The institution’s clients enjoy customized care experience primarily focused on Health and wellbeing.

Similar to other institutions in the healthcare system whose primary focuses aim at leveraging on innovation and transformative approaches to care practices, One Health commitment to ensure customer satisfaction, safety, and prevention of diseases set the standards (One Health, 2020). The imperatives of clinical practice at One Health are pegged on its philosophy that defines the necessity of wellness based on preventive care. One Health’s foundation in healthcare is premised on advancing access to care, especially for the elderly in society, by optimizing Medicare benefits. It aims to translate the benefits of patient-centered care to enrich social services and create space through which public Health can improve life quality.

The problem

The outbreak of coronavirus presents significant challenges to the overall stability of global public Health. The impact of coronavirus has been immense to healthcare systems. Besides contributing to the loss of lives, it negatively impacts medical personnel, including exposure to the risks of contracting the virus, fatigue, and stress. Since the pandemic onset, healthcare institutions have struggled with an increased number of patients, and One Health is not isolated. One Health experiences challenges of the virus with the surge of patients, prompting measures including isolation of staff. Since staff is exposed to the virus and some have tested positive, they must remain under isolation to curb the virus’s escalation. It is an inherent challenge that most healthcare institutions are faced with a shortage of staff, and going home is not a viable option, something that has been linked to the surge of infection rates. The fact that staff at One Health are required to remain in the facility long enough to provide services implies that the risk of infections to patients and colleagues remain high. Therefore, effective measures must be adopted to ensure patients’ safety, an issue that borders ethical decision-making and trust.

Topic- Ethical decision making, justice, and trust

Ethical decision making and trust in healthcare settings border several issues, including addressing conflict or uncertainty about competing values, such as personal, professional, organizational, and societal values (Venkatapuram, 2020). Premising the outbreak of coronavirus and its impact on public Health and institutions, all clinical and non-clinical practice implementation processes must integrate ethical decisions. This implies that hospital management and staff will portray trust, fairness, and responsibility. It underpins the necessity of demonstrating respect and responsibility to reduce patients` risk exposure to the virus (Louw, 2016).

The implications of coronavirus in any healthcare facility can be detrimental unless ethical decisions, justice, and trust are put upfront. Observing the situation at One Health provides an explicit view of why staff and management must deploy the concepts. The generalities of trust in healthcare settings are premised on optimism and acceptance of patients’ vulnerability that care providers are focused on promoting their interest in terms of safety. It is a set of expectations that a doctor will do the best for the patient’s wellbeing, an element required in the case of One Health. It is the clinician’s ethical responsibility to fulfill the trust bestowed to them by patients and act accordingly to prevent escalation of the virus within an institution. In employing trustworthiness, a clinician shows the ability to protect others from risks, benevolence, and integrity. Demonstrating benevolence in the situation implies that clinicians prioritize doing well for all, putting aside selfish and profit-centered approaches to practice to ensure the protection of patients and colleagues. It implies that all decisions focus on fulfilling the ethics of practice, care for patients and other employees, promoting their wellbeing, and feel a sense of loyalty to them (Venkatapuram, 2020).

Integrity forms one of the core values defined through the lens of ethical decision making. Understanding that the spread of coronavirus within One Health can have detrimental consequences to patients and staff should inform the adoption of integrity as a fundamental attribute of ethics, which will imply adherence to values and principles acceptable and objective on protecting patients’ interests. Incorporating integrity in ethical decisions affirms exercise of sound character, demonstration of good intentions, and strong moral discipline (Chapter 7). Staff at One Health will ensure that the practice and behavior focus on reducing the risk exposure to patients through integrity.

Similarly, applying the concept of justice to the problem at One Health implies that all decisions, clinical and non-clinical, aim to promote fairness. Given that staff shortage is an inherent challenge associated with coronavirus outbreak, medical decisions may likely fail to reflect justice at some points. Fairness in decisions that burden benefit and equal distribution of staff and resources, will alleviate the impact of coronavirus in the institution. It gives all staff the voice to air their concerns and suppress bias in duty delegation, critical in preventing the virus spread. Distributive justice particularly will be crucial to address the impact of coronavirus at One Health as it allows decision outcomes such as pay, rewards, evaluations, and work assignments to reflect equality, responsibility, and accountability of individuals staff members.

Recommendations

• Reduce interactions between staff members unless it is extremely necessary. Every staff member should take personal responsibility for ensuring patients’ and colleagues’ safety through accountable actions, including self-isolation in the event of exposure.
• Align decision-making processes to personal values, preferences, and needs. It is important that management teams in the institution evaluate staff’s individual needs and whether or not they require isolation. Staffers living alone in their homes should be allowed to go home to reduce congestion in the facility.
• Create appropriate and effective channels of communication between staff members and management. This will allow the escalation of challenges and mitigate potential risks associated with fatigue, stress, and burnout.