Writing Question

PART 1

Prepare a 68 slide PowerPoint presentation for a lunch-and-learn.

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Introduction

As you prepare for your career, it’s important to learn and show a basic understanding of the key ethical ideas related to healthcare management. These ethical principles need to be woven into every part of an organization to help handle tough situations in management, leadership, planning, and decision-making.

You should also know how personal values connect to ethical management. Having moral integrity, which means doing the right thing, is key to professional actions and can lead to successful business outcomes. However, personal ethical challenges might make it hard to stay a consistent moral leader over time. This is why creating your own moral guidelines and knowing your ethical limits can help guide your career.

Some of the most common ethical principles used by healthcare leaders are autonomy (respecting individual choices), beneficence (doing good), nonmaleficence (avoiding harm), and justice (fairness). Good managers use these principles to prevent and solve problems in all areas of the business.

While these principles might seem easy to understand, the real challenge for healthcare leaders is knowing how to apply them correctly. An effective leader builds knowledge and skills in ethical leadership by watching others, practicing, and reflecting on experiences and outcomes. The constant changes in our healthcare system offer ongoing opportunities to develop moral leadership qualities. Each part of the healthcare system has different needs and situations related to these ethical principles, but some applications are the same everywhere.

Scenario

As a new leader, you’ve decided to prepare a 30-minute lunch-and-learn agenda to give to healthcare managers to cover the topic of ethical theories and principles. Explain the relationship between personal integrity and ethical leadership, and between ethical leadership and positive organizational outcomes. Use the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice and how these principles guide ethical healthcare leadership practices.

As a part of the lunch-and-learn, you decided to bring a food item to share from your heritage or culture.

Lunch-and-Learn Group Discussion Presentation: Ethical Theories and Principles in Healthcare Leadership

Agenda

Introduction:

• Welcome and introduction to the lunch-and-learn session.
• Share the food item you brought, explain how it reflects something about your heritage or culture, and tie it to one of the ethical theories and principles in healthcare leadership (autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, or justice).
• Give a brief overview of the importance of ethical theories and principles in healthcare leadership.

Personal Integrity and Ethical Leadership:

• Explore the significance of personal integrity as a foundation for ethical leadership in healthcare.
• Explore how ethical leadership contributes to fostering a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion within healthcare organizations.

Ethical Principles in Healthcare:

• Provide an overview of the four selected ethical principlesautonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.

Group Discussion on Chosen Ethical Principle:

• Provide real-world examples of the chosen ethical principlesautonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, or justice.

Impact on Healthcare Leadership Practices:

• Highlight the broader implications of applying ethical principles in healthcare leadership.
• Address potential challenges and benefits of integrating ethical principles into decision-making processes.

Conclusion:

• Summarize key takeaways from the session.

Additional Requirements

• Audio recording of agenda is NOT required.
• Include a title slide and references slide.
• Include 68 slides.
  • Note: Use the Notes section of each slide to expand the points on the slide. If you need help doing this, refer to .
• Include at least three current scholarly or professional resources. For help searching for resources, see the .
• Use APA formatting for citations and references.

PART 2

Create a response in a manner of your choosing (an 8-slide PowerPoint or a 35 page paper) covering the potential impact of examining a patient’s mental health records via the health information exchange (HIE) during a standard ER visit.

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Introduction

Organizations like the Joint Commission and the National Committee for Quality Assurance collect and share a lot of information on quality indicators that are used by the industry, government, and consumers. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which Congress passed in 1996, protects the privacy and confidentiality of patient health records. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services makes sure that organizations follow these rules and offers support and guidance to healthcare leaders.

The use of health information technology and electronic health records is improving the quality of care and creating more job opportunities in healthcare. However, healthcare managers need to stay updated on the fast changes in technology, both for management and clinical purposes, and understand the ethical issues that come with them. Data security breaches can have serious consequences, including high legal costs and damage to an organizations reputation and trust within the industry and community.

Technology, Data Security, and Ethics

The healthcare team must carefully weigh the principles of patient privacy, autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence while navigating this ethical dilemma.

A health information exchange (HIE) is in place, connecting various healthcare providers within a region. The HIE successfully shares patient health information to improve care coordination and patient outcomes. However, a challenging ethical dilemma arises concerning the sharing of mental health records.

Scenario

Sarah is a 32-year-old woman who has been receiving treatment for severe depression and anxiety for the past five years. She has sought care from multiple healthcare providers, including a primary care physician, a psychiatrist, and a therapist, all of whom have contributed to her electronic health record (EHR). Sarah has made significant progress in her treatment, but her mental health history is sensitive and deeply personal.

One day, Sarah experiences a medical emergency and is rushed to the emergency room at a local hospital that participates in the HIE. The emergency room staff access her electronic health record through the HIE to gather critical medical information. While treating her physical condition, they discover her detailed mental health history, including past suicide attempts, hospitalizations, and notes about her ongoing therapy.

Instructions

Create a response in a manner of your choosing (an 8-slide PowerPoint with expansion in notes section, or a 35 page paper) covering the following areas:

• Privacy versus care: Should the emergency room staff access and use Sarah’s mental health records to inform her current treatment, considering the potential benefit to her care?
• Informed consent: Should the healthcare team attempt to contact Sarah’s mental health providers or seek consent from Sarah herself before using her mental health records in her treatment?
• Legal and ethical obligations: How do the healthcare providers balance their legal obligations under HIPAA with their ethical duty to provide the best care possible to the patient? Answers must examine autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.
• Long-term consequences: Consider the potential long-term consequences of sharing or not sharing mental health records. How might this decision impact Sarah’s trust in the healthcare system, her willingness to seek future care, and the overall effectiveness of the HIE?

PART 3

Write a 56 page strategic change management plan that describes how organizational culture affects healthcare management practices and the types of ethical challenges that can come with organizational change.

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Introduction

One of the biggest challenges for healthcare managers is balancing the responsibility to be good stewards of resources while also being financially responsible. Issues like conflicts of interest, billing practices, fraud, and abuse are just a few examples of the ethical problems that can arise in financial management. The concept of justice is key in making ethical financial decisions. Leaders must balance the needs of the market with the needs of patients, while also considering the fairness to their staff and community.

It is important to use formal ethical decision-making processes when handling ethical issues in healthcare organizations, and to understand how these processes differ from those in other industries. By developing an ethical mindset, choosing a personal moral stance, and adopting an ethical philosophy, you create a solid foundation for making decisions. Common mistakes, or decision traps, can happen in the decision-making process and can lead to failure. Being able to recognize and reflect on these traps is crucial for developing your own ethical decision-making skills.

Equally important is having a strong, ethically oriented organizational culture to help leaders face these challenges with integrity. Healthcare managers play a vital role in putting policies and procedures into place, as well as setting an example of ethical thinking and behavior.

For this assessment, you will evaluate a case study based on a hypothetical scenario involving healthcare management, patient care, and end-of-life considerations. You will utilize a formal decision-making process to evaluate this scenario based on the concepts and principles you have studied in this course and perhaps your own personal and career experiences.

Preparation

• Read the to complete this assessment.

Scenario and Challenges

Jenny Baluyot, the healthcare administrator at Brookside Hospital, is faced with a serious managerial challenge in the Case Study Scenario:

• Ms. Baluyot must initially use excellent communication, investigative, critical thinking, and decision-making skills to immediately assess and deal with the situation she faces in her office when she arrives.
• She will then need to investigate and evaluate the validity of the claims related to medical procedures performed and ethical behavior of staff to appropriately address them with the family and within her facility.
• Finally, as an ethically minded manager and individual, Ms. Baluyot must be sure that Brookside Hospital provides Michael and his family with the discharge and end-of-life support they require.

Imagine yourself in Ms. Baluyot’s position, and work through the process outlined below.

Steps

For your evaluation of this case study, use the tools and knowledge gained in your studies to gather and evaluate relevant facts and recommend actions for Ms. Baluyot to address the situation ethically.

• Clearly define the problem. Determine whether the decision involves an ethical conflict.
• Identify the person who should be the decision-maker and any internal and external stakeholders.
• Identify and list the ethical principles and the non-moral concerns of the situation or problem.
• Identify and explore several possible options.

Additional Requirements

• Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Resources and in-text citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
• Font and font size: Arial, 12-point, double-spaced. Use Microsoft Word.
• Number of resources: 35 scholarly, peer-reviewed articles.
• Length: 56 pages.

Review the rubric to learn the grading criteria for this assessment.

PART 4

Conduct an informational interview with someone you consider a moral mentor to get an inside view of current ethical issues in healthcare. Finish the assessment with a course reflection that highlights key takeaways, explains how you can apply those takeaways to your career, and identifies what other topics you would like to study next.

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Introduction

External market forces create significant challenges for healthcare managers. Changes in society, such as shifts in demographics, government policies, the economy, politics, laws, and even the weather, can impact the healthcare industry. These changes can happen on a global, national, state, or local level. To be effective, managers must keep up with current issues while also trying to predict and prepare for future changes.

Healthcare managers also face a wide range of regulatory agencies and organizations that govern the healthcare system. These can be mandatory or non-mandatory and operate at national, state, or local levels, including consumer advocacy groups. These organizations exist to protect the community and limit the power of the healthcare industry. Managers have a responsibility to understand, stay updated on, and comply with specific guidelines and regulations in their sector to maintain a good reputation for themselves and their organizations. Strategic planning, developing policies and procedures, training staff, and building a strong organizational culture are all ways to support this compliance. These tasks also give leaders a chance to show their commitment to the community.

Successful healthcare managers demonstrate their responsibility by serving as advocates for their organization and profession. Being active in professional organizations is a good way to build trust and integrity in the community. Many healthcare organizations adopt the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which focuses on creating social value and strengthening community partnerships. This shows their commitment to the community and can have local, national, or global effects, depending on the type of healthcare organization.

Three major market forces are currently influencing our healthcare system. First, the shift from a patriarchal system to a managed-care system has significantly changed how healthcare services are delivered. Second, the aging of the baby boomer generation is causing major changes in the healthcare industry. Third, there is growing public interest in integrative medicine, particularly in areas like surgical recovery, pain management, and cancer treatment. These external forces are creating new ethical challenges that require organizations and managers to develop effective strategies, policies, and procedures to address them.

Preparation

Ideally, you should have completed your informational interview ahead of time in order to prepare for this assessment.

If you have not yet completed your interview, be sure to visit the for valuable assistance with your process. Open your to further explore research and writing help as you need it.

The following presentation may be helpful as you prepare for your informational interview:

• .

Informational Interview

Based on the content and your learning experience from this course, identify and contact a moral mentor to interview. The interview offers an opportunity for you to obtain an insiders view of current ethical issues in the healthcare field. This interview also offers you a chance to increase your understanding of ways managers utilize ethical principles and strategic efforts to prevent and address them. Healthcare management professionals are often willing to support a learner’s progress through their educational journey by sharing expertise and experience and by discussing the real-life application of course concepts and material.

Information Requirements From Interviewee

• Link to contact information (for example, business email). Note that this is not to contact the healthcare professional personally but to verify the validity of the information provided. It is for reference only.
• Identify the contact’s position within the organization and length of employment in the position or organization. The interviewee should hold the title of director or higher.

Consider the Following in Your Interview

• Formal policies, processes, teams, individuals utilized.
• The influence and role of external regulatory policies and regulations.
• Influence of external forces.
• Influence of internal organizational factors.
• Ethical principles and theories.
• Role of personal moral integrity in leadership.

Required Questions for Interviewee

• As a healthcare manager, what are some pros and cons to health information exchanges (HIEs) or electronic health records (EHRs)?
• What is an ethical theory you espouse or support? What is your ethical philosophy?
• What is an an ethical challenge related to patient health information faced while in this position, and how was it resolved?
• What role do managers and staff have in protecting patient health information, and what role does personal moral integrity play in this effort?
• How does the organization support or undermine potential ethical issues?

Additional Questions

Based on your studies, what questions do you have for the interviewee? You will need to identify three additional questions that will further your knowledge and expand your understanding of the intricacies of electronic records keeping; the ethical obligations management has to patients, staff, and to both internal and external market forces; and (or) the role and impact regulatory bodies have in maintaining and sharing of records.

Course Reflection

Finally, you will reflect on your most valuable takeaways from this course, identify any immediate or future applicability of your learning to your career, and share what you would like to study further. Create a one-page list of resources for future use in your courses and career.

• Identify and explore the course material, learning experiences, or other takeaways were most valuable.
• Consider how this learning experience will impact and influence your career.
• Analyze the information, topics, materials, or resources you would like to further explore in the future.
• Create an annotated resources list for future use. Use APA formatting to create this references list.

Additional Requirements

• Length: 34 pages (23 page interview, 1-page reflection).
• Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Resources and in-text citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
• Font and font size: Arial, 12-point, double-spaced. Use Microsoft Word.
• Number of resources: 35 scholarly, peer-reviewed articles.