Let It Pour Case Study

Introduction

Faith Community Hospital has a main mission and that is to "promote the health and well-being of the people in the [community]." Faith Community Hospital has developed some major concerns regarding communication, ethics, and organization. While there are some problems and symptoms at the hospital, everyone involved seems to form a commonality geared towards the purpose, values, and success of the hospital. This presentation will reflect the definition of the problems, which the hospital is facing, a proposal on the appropriate solutions, and a description of my basis for the proposed solutions.

Defining

Chris, a recent graduate has just been promoted to the position of Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Faith Community Hospital. On is first day of his new promotion, the CEO, Pat presents him with three major problems the hospital is facing. The first symptom is communication. In communication, the problem identified is if the stakeholders and Board of Director realize and understand the difference between oaths and ethical laws, how are the employees and stakeholders interpreting the mission statement, and why are they interpreting it different from the way it is written? Are they using it to suit their individual purpose?

The second symptom is ethical issues. The problem identified is that certain patients are refusing to take certain medical services and the staff refuses to provide certain services medical intervention can go too far with their religious belief and moral convictions. The third symptom is organization. In organization, the problem defined is that three staff members in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) initiated Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders and there were no written orders to that affect. In addition, staff members did not follow DNR orders even thought hey were in place Ð'- this could also be a potential ethical issue as well.

Solutions

Time must be spent to define the problem so that both parties can agree as to what the issue really is. In developing alternative solutions, I have to look at the problems in different ways by finding a new perspective that I have never been through before. Brainstorming or writing notes quickly no matter how impractical they may appear is an excellent process is discovering ideas. Once I have listed the alternatives, I would have be to open to the possibilities and be ready to make notes for those that need more information, are new solutions, can or will be combined or eliminated altogether, will meet opposition, and/or seem promising or exciting in developing and implementing.

The Board of Directors seem to be more interested in the financial aspect of the statement and the stakeholders are more interested in the actual health and well-being of the patients. In order to tackle the problem of communicating the purpose and intent of the mission statement, first the employees and Board of Directors must agree to sit down and discuss their interpretation of the statement by sticking to the subject and not changing mid-stream to another issue. The plan is to not dissect the mission statement piece by piece, but to gain a specific understanding and foundation on what the purpose is without their own religious beliefs and values. One the mission statement has been clarified and maybe even re-worded, the stakeholders can be made abreast of the hospital's mission and intent.

In relation to the ethical issues regarding the patient's as well as the staff's of medical services based on religious beliefs, refusing such treatments can be seen as allowing the patient to die or for their condition to get worse. The issue should not be the value of the life of that person, but the value of the treatment that person is to receive. It would be a different situation if the factors were dissimilar, such as the treatment were experimental, had unpleasant side effect, was futile in not having any reasonable chance of doing good Ð'- other than keeping the patient from dying, or causes great suffering to the patient and the patient's loved ones. All of these factors would be seen as more plausible to refuse treatment or render treatment. This however, is not the case.

The first solution would be for the staff to demonstrate to the patient that we believe her/his desire to get well Ð'- avoid challenging the patient's refusal, minimizing the patient's feelings, or arguing or trying to reason with him/her. The staff could try to give the patient options Ð'- leaving the decision-making to the patient Ð'- but still provide many choices. It is very important to respect the beliefs and values of the patient, as it is an