Issues for the Health Care Professionals

Issues for the Health Care Professionals

Introduction:

There are many levels on which ethical and legal issues affect the healthcare professionals. Every healthcare professional has to face legal and ethical issues as they progress in their career path, it may be the Chief Executive officer or the Medical records clerk. All are affected. Among all different positions in the healthcare industry, I will discuss the ethical and legal issues of the Registered Nurse (RN).

Licensing:

A registered nurse will get a license to practice nursing only after passing state registration examination It is important for registered nurses to pass the state examination to ensure competency with regard to the anatomy and physiology of the body. These nurses scope of employment includes patient assessments, analyzing laboratory results, patient education, operating medical equipment such as intravenous pumps, and the administration of medications. Changes in the demand of health services and advancement of new technology has brought progressive change in the nursing profession and these changes put healthcare organization in a situation to raise their demand for Registered nurses. It also want registered nurses to work overtime. The RN is asked to stay in the hospital beyond their working schedules when patient requires extra care or when the RN scheduled for the next shift is late or for any other reason, then RN has to face all these ethical issues.

Situational Ethics:

When people believes and values changes with the circumstances, it is called situational ethics. To stay for the overtime, is completely RN’s decision. Because RN has to look its physical condition, its family welfare in taking decision that requires overtime. There may be situation that RN has children who will be waiting at home for her but she might leave her supervision to spouse and place the needs of the organization and the patient as higher value. Refusal of RN for overtime due to physical fatigue may give rise to legal issues.

Patients do not want a person who himself is too tired and exhausted that more likely to do mistakes. Many times nurses have complaints to the healthcare management s that already long day shifts are too tiring then lengthening of such services for overtime, is making the nursing job tough and also causing fall in the quality care. This means that falls in the quality care will increase the chances of medical errors and also cause patient safety in danger. RN are restricted by legal and ethical issues to refuse overtime but this argument serves in their favor that doing overtime can result in compromising situation for patients health which is not acceptable at all. Therefore many countries have mandatory banned overtime of nursing staff in hospitals. For more than a decade, a change in the