...Ethical Self-Assessment Paper Name HCS 545 Due Date Instructors Name Abstract Ethics are paramount to the healthcare management field, and the American College of Healthcare Executives has undertaken a number of initiatives to demonstrate the organization's commitment to ethics and support its members in making ethical decisions. (ACHE, 2013). This paper will examine the influence of individual ethics on decision making within the health care industry. It will discuss what the self-assessment taught me about my own ethical decision making, the effect of professional ACHE standards on my own ethical decision making, how individual ethics influence my decision making, and what strategies I can adopt to improve my ethical decision making in the future. Self-assessment Results The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) offers a self-assessment in which you examine yourself enabling you to learn more about yourself. The self-assessment is not a scoring assessment and therefor requires each individual to recognize the areas in which they have strong ethics, and areas that may need improvement. Any questions answered with “always” identified an area of potential weakness where ethics could be compromised. The self-assessment enabled me to see my strengths and weaknesses so that I could identify the areas in need of improvement. ACHE Standards ACHE standards have been established to help educate healthcare professionals regarding ethical decision making....
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...Ethical decision making is required when the healthcare executive must address a conflict or uncertainty regarding competing values, such as personal, organizational, professional and societal values. Those involved in this decision-making process must consider ethical principles including justice, autonomy, beneficence and nonmaleficence as well as professional and organizational ethical standards and codes. Many factors have contributed to the growing concern in healthcare organizations over ethical issues, including issues of access and affordability, pressure to reduce costs, mergers and acquisitions, financial and other resource constraints, and advances in medical technology that complicate decision making near the end of life. Healthcare executives have a responsibility to address the growing number of complex ethical dilemmas they are facing, but they cannot and should not make such decisions alone or without a sound decision-making framework. Healthcare organizations should have mechanisms that may include ethics committees, ethics consultation services, and written policies, procedures and guidelines to assist them with the ethics decision-making process. With these organizational mechanisms and guidelines in place, conflicting interests involving patients, families, caregivers, the organization, payors and the community can be thoughtfully and appropriately reviewed. It is incumbent upon healthcare executives to lead in a manner that sets an ethical tone for their...
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...Excerpted from The Tracks We Leave: Ethical and Management Dilemmas in Healthcare, Second Edition, by Frankie Perry, RN, LFACHE (Health Administration Press, 2013) CHAPTER 1 Understanding Your Ethical Responsibilities Hea lt h c a re l eader s and those aspiring to be leaders must recognize first and foremost that character and integrity constitute the very cornerstone of leadership. Organizations have failed and promising careers have been derailed when ethics have been relegated to secondary importance or, worse yet, ignored in the pursuit of more bottom-line considerations. Healthcare managers must understand their role and responsibility in creating an ethical healthcare environment that is honest, just, and always in the best interests of those being served. Whether you are the CEO, an assistant administrator, a department head, a program manager, or a clinician, if you are “in charge,” you have the ultimate responsibility for establishing the culture and setting the standards of conduct in your sphere of influence. This task is not always an easy one. Nor is it easy for well-intentioned managers to always make ethical decisions themselves. BARRIERS TO ETH ICAL D ECIS I O N M A K I NG In our book Healthcare Leadership Excellence: Creating a Career of Impact, James Rice and I identify some of the common barriers to ethical decision making and seven pitfalls for managers to avoid (Rice and Perry 2013, 29–37). We then make recommendations for building...
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...Practices and Ethics Two major necessities needed to manage a health care organization financially are outstanding ethical standards and reporting practices. Reporting financial data reports is important and information must be accurate and factual. Organizations obtain and maintain financial data to aid in the audits of the amounts, control, and potential uncertainties of cash flows. Keeping the financial data current is important because majority of the time the data contains information about the organization’s equity and economic resources. Developing and analyzing ethical standards carefully allows organizations to stay in compliance with those standards formed for the health care community. Poor ethics and financial planning sometimes effects consumers. According to Nelson (2011), “Basic ethics principles that make up our common morality, including respect for patients, acting in patients’ best interest, avoid bringing harm to patients and treating patients in a fair and equitable manner, serve as the foundation for healthcare values.” This paper will contain a summary of the four elements associated with financial management, generally accepted accounting principles, and general financial ethical standards. The reader will explore Examples from two articles “Ethical Decision making for healthcare Executives” and “Ethics: A foundation for quality” that reflect ethical standards of conduct, financial reporting practices, and the significance of each example. Four elements of...
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...ACHE The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) is an international organization that consists of more than 30,000 healthcare professionals that lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare companies. ACHE is known for their extensive educational programs such as their annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership. ACHE has strived towards the optimal goal of becoming the premier leader for healthcare administrators dedicated to improving the delivery and integrity of health care. These decisions are not just limited to clinical matters, but they include the total patient care experience. Because of emerging healthcare trends and complex health law and ethics, it is imperative that healthcare administrators have a professional organization. CHE is known for its prestigious FACHE® credential, signifying board certification in healthcare management, and its educational programs including the annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership” (American College of Healthcare Executives, n.d.). SELF-ASSESSMENT Self Assessment and The Ethics of Self-Assessment can assist and define those areas that are based on strong ethical ground; areas that you may wish to consider and examine the basis for your responses; and opportunities for further reflection (www.ACHE.org). This Self-Assessment can help medical professionals to recognize those areas in which they have a strong ethical ground; areas that they may wish to examine or survey the basis for their responses; and...
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...EJD, MSN, APRN-NP, CDNP-PC, CDE The Ethics of Distribution The healthcare organizations’ deals with peoples’ lives on a daily basis, and the health care professions posse’s special knowledge and responsibility for medicating the needs of the patient and the social resources available to care for the patients. Furthermore, the health care professions social responsibility includes direct participation in the decisions such as what constitutes a disease, and the appropriate treatment for the patient. However, the health care professionals, patients, and family members sometimes face difficult decisions about medical treatment, and these decisions may conflict with a patient or family’s morals, religious, and beliefs. The health care has an obligation to the society to prevent disease, and to maintain the patient health is important for the health care professional understands the psychosocial nature of health and disease. . In the field there can be many scenarios that will go on and take place. Making sure to always have composure and to make sure that you are dealing with it the best you can and using the best judgment possible will then go a very long way. Ethical dilemmas can include discrimination in race, age, gender, religion, and sexual harassment which includes inappropriate comments or actions. Conflict of interest may arise such as bribes or someone that is making a decision that is favorable to a gift giver. Also organizational resources may be a manager...
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...Ethical Self-Assessment Paper HCS/545 Ethical Self-Assessment Paper Organizations deal with decision-making situations all the time. In a health care setting there is no exceptions. Decision making situations arise on a daily basis sometimes they are related to patient care other times they are related to patient experience or even situations where the patient may not even be involved. Due to trends in health care and the complex ethics and laws involved it is extremely important for health care professionals and administrators to maintain a level of professionalism and feel part as though they belong. “The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) is an international professional society of more than 35,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare system and other healthcare organizations. ACHE is known for its prestigious FACHE® credential, signifying board certification in healthcare management, and its educational programs including the annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership” (American College of Healthcare Executives, n.d.). ACHE offers a self-assessment test that can be taken which is composed of several moral questions. Its main purpose is to identify areas of improvement by reviewing the questions’ answers. Any questions that were not answered with an “always” can be an area of weakness and may need to be reviewed to find ways to improve. The test is broken down into several sections to identify different areas in which a person...
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...Ethical Self Assessment Abstract * As Health care executives in this globally diverse world where cultural beliefs blends with societal ethics can one truly define ethics? What might be right to one person may not be right to another person. Ethics is one of the most important topics that should be addressed not just in this industry but in every aspects of the business world. But a major challenge with ethics is that it is a very relative term. After completing the American College of Healthcare Executives Ethical Self Assessment, the author found answers to questions included in this paper. Such this paper will address what I learn about my own ethical decision making from the self-assessments. The effect of professional ACHE standards to my ethical decision making will be discussed in this paper. How my individual ethics influence my decision making will be enumerated in this paper. Finally the strategies that I can adopt to improve my ethical decision making in the future will be enumerated in this paper. Ethical Self Assessment Paper As Hermans and Oles (1994) states, “The human person not only lives in a world of values but also is able to create values on a personal perspective” (p. 569). Value to me simply describes an individual or cultural belief system an individual may have. Values are viewed as objects or ideals important to an individual, called personal, or group of individuals, culture, or family. A personal value thus refers to an individual’s belief...
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...Ethical Self-Assessment Paper Ethical Self-Assessment The assignment calls for self-examination of what influences the ethical decisions individually made within the health care industry, as well as describing or defining lessons learned from self-assessment. The American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE) has developed a series of questions, designed to demonstrate the ethical decision making process. This paper will address what, how, and why I would choose the ethical decisions made in healthcare. As a health care professional in society today, there will be daily situations that call for an ethical decision to be made. According to Dictionary.com (2012) “Ethics is being in accordance with the accepted principles of right and wrong that govern the conduct of a profession”. The ethical decision will be comprised of two things, the beliefs developed by the organization for employees to carry out and the beliefs the individuals have set for themselves. There are always guidelines to adhere to in the health care field as far as patient care, privacy, treatment, and delivery, but ethical decisions are based on moral values instilled in the worker. There are a few things that I learned from this assessment. But one that stands out the most is when making an ethical decision, especially as a health care professional, it is not just about the personal moral beliefs. An ethical decision in health care must ensure that the decision made does not negatively...
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...their own personal ethics as well. The code of ethics (ANA 2001) advises nurses on ethical and legal responsibility to their own patients, as well as the community in which they serve. In today's health care system nurses are faced with many ethical issues in their daily task and they have to make clear and logical ethical choices of their own. These ethical choices are generally inspired by ethical doctrines that include beneficence, confidentiality, autonomy, fidelity, veracity, and other (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2008, p53). Nursing is a noble profession and I enjoy most about being a nurse is simply caring, helping and nurturing people. In addition, I also thank God for giving me this opportunity to make a difference in someone's life, whether that is done by providing care, teaching, or even supporting a family. Personal, cultural and spiritual Values According to the International Council of Nurses (ICN), a nurse's primary responsibility is to attend their patients, and be able to respect the patient's customs, values, beliefs, and rights. In addition, nurses should choose to extend their education because they are held accountable for their own practice. Nurses should practice cooperating with other healthcare team members, but if they suspect a threat for patient's safety or health by others, they should take quick action to protect them (ICN). As a nurse, I am obliged to render healthcare services to people those are in need without considering their caste or creed and...
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...Reporting Practices and Ethics Reporting Practices and Ethics When writing this essay, first three articles that address financial reporting practices and ethical standards in healthcare had to be found. Finding god articles to use as reference was not an easy task. Upon reading the chosen articles, much thought about this topic began to enter my mind. The decision to keep reading even more articles and expand horizons before beginning to compose was a good choice. Because with every article read, my opinions changed and I gained more knowledge. The chosen articles The first chosen article is titled, “Financial reporting responsibilities” written by Carl Tietjen. This article addresses the need to update a 35 year old model that has been generally used in most financial reporting practices. In the article, Tietjen states that most organizations have thus responded by examining their own reporting practices. Then they have been implementing new methods to try to ensure that moral and ethical standards can be upheld. This article does not specifically address healthcare finance however it seemed to be a good reference point for the research. The second article used is titled, Accounting for false objectivity, written by Ralph Palliam. This article states that concludes that, “There is a need for more moral training and leadership to motivate professionals (accountants) to act in the public’s best interest, not only for the sake...
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...Whitner February 13, 2011 Ethical Consideration 1. Identify and explain at least three Ethical considerations. “Ethics are the principles of conduct governing and individual or a group; specifically, the standards you use to decide what your conduct should be”(Dressler, 2008, p. 553). The leaders and management team of an organization are selected and expected to exhibit the highest level of ethical values. The Vice President for Health Services is certainly charged with ensuring that ethical practices are adhered. They are responsible for making sure that the decisions, policies, and procedures have an ethical foundation. Their primary focus is to make certain that the organization perform at optimum levels. Ethical consideration pertains to the right or wrong conduct based on morality. “Ethical behavior calls healthcare providers to conduct themselves in a manner that is beyond the demands of what is legal; it also asks them to behave in a manner that is ethical according to the guidelines of their profession” (Riley, 2011, p.1). Ethical principles are important all industries; however, the healthcare industry requires the highest level of ethics because people in this industry deal with situation and circumstances that affect another person’s life (Dogra, 2010). The three ethical consideration observed in the scenario was 1. The candidate revealed his potential disability, 2. The decision of whether to hire the candidate with the potential...
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...or group's behavior. Everyday nurses encounter challenging ethical dilemmas in providing care for their patients. Some of the challenging dilemmas include providing care that will prolong life but decrease quality of life, euthanasia, whether to break confidentiality to provide care for a patient, stem cell research, etc. Currently, ethical decisions in the nursing profession and health care are becoming more complex. Due to this change nurses today require advanced problem solving ability and critical thinking skills to deal with ethical issues. Patient’s lives can be greatly affected by the decisions healthcare members make pertaining to their care. Decisions involving ethics can create situations in which parties disagree with one another on the plan of care. Emotions and interpersonal relationships are factors that interfere with a nurses’ ability to make clear decision related to their patients during these difficult situations. Developing an advanced nursing problem solving skills and critical thinking skills will allow nurses to be the best patient advocate. (Hodgson, Mendenhall, & Lamson, 2013) In this paper I will discuss a situation that reveals how the different types of healthcare ethics could change the overall outcome of the situation. Importance of Ethical Theory to Nursing Utilitarianism/Consequentialism: In ethics utilitarianism is a theory that states the rightness or wrongness of a decision or action is decided by its effectiveness in producing the greatest...
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...Ethical Self-Assessment Darlinda Smith HCS/545 November 19, 2012 Shawna Butler RN JD CPHRM Ethical Self-Assessment The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) is an international professional society of more than 40,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems, and other healthcare organizations. The Foundation of the American College of Healthcare Executives was established to further advance healthcare management excellence through education and research. ACHE is known for its education programs. ACHE established network of more than 80 chapters provides access to networking, education, and career development at the local level. The goal of the organization is to be the premier professional society for healthcare executives dedicated to improving health care delivery (American College of Health Care Executives, 2012). The ethics self-assessments intended for your personal use to assist you in thinking about your ethics-related leadership and actions. The ethics-self assessment can help you identify those areas in which you are on strong ethical ground; areas that you may wish to examine the basis for your responses, and opportunities for further reflection (American College of Health Care Executives, 2012). After taking the self-assessment, I have identified a few areas of improvement and areas where I was in line with ACHE philosophy. I never took the time to focus on how your individual ethics affect your professional decision...
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...Ethical Framework in Practice Nursing is an admirable, dignified career. Nurses respect the self-sufficiency and self-esteem of all their patients in every matter. Patients share their confidential information to the nurses, because they trust the nurse. Nurses care for the sick and needy population. Nurses take care of the patient’s deepest and painful needs in an intimate way compared to other disciplines in the health care team (Nazarko, 2009). Nurses frequently encounter ethical dilemmas and issues related to providing confidential information. This paper analysis is about the ethical recommendations on breach of privacy act between the nurses and the patient. Hippocratic Oath evidently explains about the importance of confidentiality in medical ethics. The oath is like this," That whatsoever I shall see or hear of the lives of my patients that are not fitting to be spoken, I will keep in confidence" (Hippocratic Oath, 2010). In Nightingale’s pledge for nursing, says that ‘‘I will hold in confidence of all personal matters in the practice of nursing” (Gretter, 1893). All nurses take Nightingale’s pledge at their graduation oath. Nurses are dedicated to provide better care for their patient based on their patient’s values and beliefs to maintain confidentiality. The provision of health care is comprehensive and people’s needs are often complex. Modern technology has made advanced changes in healthcare. With the many advances changes in health care a equivalent...
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