Ethical Issues In Health Care Essay

Per Larson (2013), ethical issues in health care continually effect the health care industry. Listed where the condensed top 5 ethical issues health care leaders felt where the most challenging. For this discussion board, I have selected to debate the ethical issue of the importance of balancing care quality and efficiency in the health care system. I chose this ethical subject because I am passionate about not only providing mediocre care to patients, but providing a broad spectrum of holistic care that views the patient as a person and not just as a source of hospital revenue.

In the progressive age of computer advancement and technology also comes the hurried approach in many aspects of life. Advancement of technology has hit the health care industry with a bang! Computers line hospital hallways. Doctors treat patients with cell phone in one hand and a stethoscope in the other. Costs are rising to keep up with the latest and greatest health care

diagnostics, treatments, and technologies. Hospitals attempt to keep up with government incentives by providing the latest and greatest diagnostic tools that meet the selected requirements. Government payback incentives not only includes utilizing up-to-date diagnostics, incentives also incorporate hospital standards of care to improve operational efficiency and less waste (Nedelea & Fannin, 2017). Essentially all hospitals attempt to keep up with incentive requirements so that supplemental funding is available in the age of major health care industry deficits. Unfortunately, this produces the view of patients as costumers rather than human beings. As opposed to customers, patients require complex physical, emotional, and sociologic care during hospital stays.
With the rising pressure for more efficiency, also comes the decrease in personal care.

Nurses are forced to see patients as costumers first and lastly as human beings. Poor quality care leads to sicker patients, higher overall costs, and lower confidence in the healthcare industry whereas, empathic care is thought to be a critical aspect of quality caregiving and positive health outcomes (Lamberton, Leana, & Williams, 2015). Many patients feel that empathetic and personal hands-on care is lost when they are admitted into the hospital. These feelings stem from the rushing nature of care given to them by medical staff and the lack of feeling that quality care is given to them (Lamberton, Leana, & Williams, 2015). Too often, administration pushes nurses to care for more and more patients raising the workload to overwhelming heights. Nurses are forced to be more efficient by using less supplies, spending less time in patient’s rooms, and discharging patients within 48 hours or less to meet insurance payout

requirements.
To correct the problem of assuring quality care while also being efficient is a challenging question. In my opinion, keeping the primary focus on quality first and efficiency second will always be the right answer. Not only does quality healthcare ultimately lower the chances of repeat hospital admissions, quality care is also the ethical principle that health and healing was built upon (Pross, C., Geissler, A., & Busse, R. (2017). Another way hospitals can correct the gap of quality verses efficiency is through giving increased voice to nurses working directly with patients. These vital nurse employees see the everyday struggles of balancing patient care while also being efficient. Hospital administrations can support these efforts by encouraging nursing and nursing leadership in high management positions. Per Needleman and Hassmiller (2009), improvement in quality and efficient care must be utilized in the day-to-day work of the front-line staff, with adequate time and resources provided to them. This is accomplished most successfully by including front-line staff in decision making policies and procedures. This involvement helps to assure that new and revised decisions are geared not only towards efficiency but also towards quality of care being given to patients daily.
In conclusion, health care managers throughout the health care system pushes nurses towards efficiency trends chiefly for the reduction of health care costs and increase in government incentive payouts. Staffing shortages and increasing rise in health care costs has forced health care administrations to expect and demand higher nurse efficiency. This demand has unfortunately decreased the quality of care nurses can show their patients. Primarily the most important way found to assure care is given with both efficiency and quality is to include front-line workers such as nurses in the development of policy and procedure incorporating efficiency and quality.