Requirements:
You are a family nurse practitioner working in an outpatient primary care office of a large hospital system. The practice has been operating for over 15 years, and many of the administrative and clinical staff were hired when the practice opened. You have been in the practice for less than 3 months. In that short amount of time, you have witnessed several of the clinical staff engaging in heated arguments with each other, sometimes in patient areas. You overhear an argument occurring today between two staff. You pick up a patient’s chart and notice a very low blood pressure that the medical assistant failed to notify you about. When you confront the MA, she states that she was going to report the vital signs to you when she became engaged in the heated argument you overheard and forgot to notify you.
Unfortunately, this pattern of behavior is not unusual in this practice. Working with staff who cannot cooperate effectively can negatively influence your ability to spend time with patients, can impede the flow of patients through the office, and could impact patient safety.
Case Study Responses:
- Analyze the case study for potential issues for members of the healthcare team from office conflict. Contrast the potential effects for each member of the healthcare team based upon the required readings from the week. Discuss the potential ethical and legal implications for each of the following practice members:
- Medical assistant
- Nurse Practitioner
- Medical Director
- Practice
- What strategies would you implement to prevent further episodes of potentially dangerous patient outcomes?
- What leadership qualities would you apply to effect positive change in the practice? Focus on the culture of the practice.
Solution:
With increased diversity in the workplace, conflict has become inevitable. Nonetheless, it is of profound importance to handle the conflict in healthcare organizations appropriately as it threatens patients’ safety. Based on the scenario, it is arguable that there are various ethical and legal implications for the different staff. In reference to AAMA Code of Ethics for Medical Assistants (2019), medical assistants should uphold the honor and high principles of the profession and accept its disciplines. However, the medical assistant did not uphold this as she failed to give her best job performance as evidenced by failure to report low blood pressure. Implication includes losing a job or disciplinary actions….Please click the icon below to purchase the full solution at $5