Question

Case study 3: You work in a hospital ER and a firm belief has developed among the staff that the ER is busier and there are more violent patients when there is a full moon.  You notice that it is getting more and more difficult to staff the ER when the moon is full.   One staff member in particular refuses to work during the full moon citing “religious reasons.”  

Identify the logical error or errors being made in the case study.

Explain what professional ethical standards may be called into question by this error (or errors).

Discuss the relationship of logical thought to ethical behavior in the workplace based on your consideration of your case study.  

Discuss how to approach ethical problems in the workplace.

Answer 1

The logical error in the presented case can be seen as the fact stating that the patient becomes more violent during the full moon.

In my opinion, it Is not necessary to have a full moon or making the situation stressful in any healthcare unit. There may be chances that the health care unit might have some patients who have some serious behavioral or health-related issues which make them violent. This is quite common in stressful environments such as a hospital but it is nowhere related to the full moon.

The main ethical parameter that can be maintained in this case is to have high moral and serving those who need help. In order to deal with this issue, proper training and managing violent patients should be given to the health care providers. In fact, more incentives can be provided who are involved with more violent patients.

The manager needs to come forward and try to turn down the rumour of violence associated with the full moon. The manager needs to motivate his caregivers and maintain high morale during a tough time.