Question

Did the nurse manager have a responsibility to supervise the care of the patient

N520- Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Care

Answer 1

Ans. According to the non-maleficence principle of medical ethics, ensuring patients’ safety and preventing any injury or damage to them is a major priority for healthcare providers.Thus, it has been the most emphasized component of the quality of health care services all around the world.health care system implemented special plans purposed to deliver standard health care services and prevent any mistakes and an organized approach to risk management, systematic deficiency, and patient safety improvement. One of these programs is clinical governance which was introduced by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. Although great emphasis has been placed on the importance of clinical governance by the MOHME, there are some challenges in achieving the desired outcomes . This could be the result of healthcare providers’ inadequate understanding about the importance of clinical governance and lack of organizational safety culture.

Various patient safety guidelines and standards, less attention is paid to the ethical and legal aspects of this issue. From a moral perspective, the main goal of patient safety in the health system. A practical value, in the sense that the main focus is its positive outcomes and benefits. A moral value by focusing on the protection and promotion of humanity and human dignity. It should be emphasized that both aspects are important in the health system. From a professional point of view, moral values in patient safety are not separated from basic medical obligations, but are so central that they may be the source of other moral values emphasized in medicine. This means that patient safety is closely related to the concept of human dignity and all patient safety measures taken must insure the protection of human’s dignity. In other words, the responsibility of the health care staff and professional commitment, in general, are closely related to human dignity.

A newborn infant was hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit because of multiple seizures. He was the first child of the family. The mother’s and family history was negative for seizures or any other disease. Seizures were controlled by medications, and diagnostic assessments including electroencephalography were ordered. As the infant was stable and had tolerated breast feeding, it was planned to transfer him to the level II NICU, but it was postponed due to lack of available beds.

On the evening shift of the third day of admission, his nurse heard a sudden noise and noticed that the incubator door was open and the baby was on the floor. The in-charge nurse immediately announced the incident to the on-call physician. The newborn was examined thoroughly and no physical injuries were found. Moreover, the incident was reported to the chief physician of the department and the record of this incident was immediately sent to the hospital officials. Later, all other incubators were inspected to make sure they were secure enough.

When the staff informed the newborn’s father of the falling, he accused the mother of neglecting the child, although she had said that she was resting at the time of the incident.

The questions raised in the meeting were as follows:

What are the factors leading to this incident? How could this incident been prevented? What is the responsibility of the staff in dealing with this incident? Based on professional commitments, what is the duty of medical and nursing staff in such events? What are the ethical issues of patient safety in this case? What are the legal obligations and consequences of this case?