Nursing Ethical Health Care Scenarios Assignment Paper (Essay Sample)

Ethical Healthcare Scenarios
(Name)
(Institution)
Ethical Healthcare Scenarios
Scenario 1: Medical coding in a physician's practice
Being a medical code in a high-pressure cardiology doctor's office may prove to be hard if the supervisor is very focused on the greatest reimbursement to satisfy revenue projections for the practice. This may make him order for up code in the billing. This will imply that the bills must be up-coded to fulfill his orders and failure to do so may put the job at risk. According to Dobmeyer (2013), the up-code will be done with pressure concerning consideration of past earnings, assessment of the present financial conditions and results of operations. Besides, higher billing will imply a higher payment of employees. As an employee, I may be forced by my financial situation as well as the pressure from the supervisor to increase the billings.
The cash flows from the hospital’s operations and the future expectations to expand the business are also sources of pressure. Decisions of whether to up-code or not may be made by an employee with the freedom to think for himself. In the high-pressure office, the medical coder cannot get a chance to think properly and therefore he will be forced to give in to the demands of the supervisor (Eastman & Tolson, 2001). Therefore, the pressure of acquiring the maximum repayment for services will automatically lead to manipulating or falsifying documentations.
Scenario 2: Administration of patient medications in the hospital setting
Being a new graduate nurse working nights on a busy medical unit needs much caution in everything I do. However, having received a new patient for admission to the unit and medicating the patient with a narcotic injection with a higher dose than required constitutes to a mistake. Fernando (2010) notes that, with the explicit knowledge that medication errors may result to the injury of patients or even death, the clinician may choose not to report the incident due to various reasons. First, the side effects of the higher dose may harm the health of the patient, which may lead to death. If the incident is reported, the liability will befall the hospital, and legal suits may arise in the process. Again, being new in the job may ruin his reputation and lead to loss of the job in the future. Reporting the incidence will also tarnish the name of the hospital with the claims of incompetent staff handling patients. Further negative rumors may lead to the closure of the hospital and proceed lawsuits and unemployment of the hospital’s staff because there may be a need to overhaul the whole team to avoid future incidences of that sort (Maher & Hajjar, 2012).
Scenario 3: Not hiring a qualified individual because of discrimination
Discrimination of employees due to their origin, race, religion, or skin color makes them feel unappreciated and therefore not deliver their best. To eliminate discriminations in hiring, organizations should intervene through various ways. First, according to Zachary (2010), there should be a mission statement that states the organization’s stand on discrimination. All employees and staff must be encouraged to follow the mission statement and avoid discrimination. Second, the organizations should install confidential communication means to enable the employees who face cases of discrimination or any other person who witnesses such to report. Thirdly, the board of management should be made up of people from diverse religions, races, and cultures. This will ensure that no single director will favor his tribe and discriminate ano...