Ethics in the Face of Resident-to-Staff Aggression (Research Paper Sample)

Ethics in the Face of Resident-to-Staff Aggression
Aspect A: Introduction.
Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) provide long-term, high-level care to patients who are recovering from serious illnesses or injuries. They also offer specialized services for patients with dementia and other conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, which may be difficult to manage in the general environment. However, as outlined in the case study, dealing with SNF residents requires a greater level of specialization available in these facilities than in most other types of hospitals, given their fragile mental predispositions (Bolt et al., 2019). In the case study, an elderly resident sustains a verbal and physical altercation with the institution’s personnel, thus threatening the safety and security of other residents and other members of staff. Despite the institution of numerous corrective interventions, these tendencies continue unabated with grave implications on the welfare of the resident in question, other dementia patients at the SNF, and members of staff. The Commonwealth of Virginia through its long-term care ombudsman program continues to prescribe best practices for the implementation of ethical practice and the advancement of care for patients with dementia and other psychological conditions (Beltran et al., 2022). These protocols have been essential for improving the standards of care for patients irrespective of the severity of their symptoms in environments such as SNFs. Specific ethical considerations must come into play while pursuing and implementing the most appropriate courses of action for managing truancy within SNFs for the best possible long-term care outcomes.
Aspect B: Evaluation of the Ethical Principles and LTC Ombudsman Program
Ethical scholars have advanced particular principles of healthcare ethics that help practitioners in various fields streamline their operations in adherence to the proposed standards. Firstly, the principle of beneficence, which proposes that health caregivers have a responsibility to adhere to the recommended treatments and procedures that portend the most benefit to their patients, is an important consideration (Kruger, 2017). Based on this principle, healthcare givers have an ethical responsibility to apply their knowledge and specialization to determine the most appropriate intervention to manage the behavior exhibited by the SNF resident. Such interventions must be cognizant of the safety and welfare of the resident in distress, other residents, and staff at the institution. This may include providing the patient in question an opportunity to vent, actively listening to their predicament, or imparting empathy and compassion towards them (Kruger, 2017). Therefore, stakeholders in the long-term care domain have a responsibility to develop and operationalize departments that offer these services to mitigate the degeneration of these aggressive symptoms.
Secondly, the principle of Justice is also of crucial essence given its bearing towards determining ethical practices in the administration of mental health care. Proponents of the principle posit that an element of fairness must manifest in all the decisions made in the healthcare setup. As such, healthcare givers ought to ensure that their decisions align with legal and ethical requirements and that they are non-discriminatory in the provision of treatment and care to patients (Kruger, 2017). From the case study, this principle is essential, as it would influence the course of action undertaken by the SNF caregivers to guarantee the safety of all the parties involved. Long-term care institutions must ensure that their response protocols to unanticipated occurrences, such as the verbal and physical altercations sustained by the resident are handled in a fashion that guarantees fairness and non-discrimination, which may include the setting and enforcement of reasonable limits of response. Given the delicate nature of patients with mental health complications such as dementia, fair treatment remain a reasonable avenue towards containing the manifestation of adverse symptoms and is, thus of great importance.