Imagine you are a stakeholder for a non-profit health care organization. As a leader you are responsible for modeling ethical behavior and have the ability to encourage patient safety initiatives.  See rubric for additional details.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word letter to your legislator promoting a health policy which supports patient safety. Your policy could include safety issues such as and hand hygiene or Medication Administration.

Include the following in your letter:

• Explain the health policy you are proposing and its purpose.
  • Explain why action is needed.
  • Explain what course of action is recommended.
  • Explain why this health policy change is important.
• Explain essential points that explain how this issue has evolved or become a concern. (Include references to support your points and explanation.)
  • Explain who will be affected by this policy.
• Analyze the responsibilities of the organization’s leadership.
  • Analyze the impact this policy will have on resources.
  • Describe if individuals meet licensing board requirements (if any).
  • Analyze the impact of not following ethical standards.
• Analyze the responsibility of professional licensing boards as it applies to patient safety.

Format your references page according to APA guidelines.

Complete the Ethical Self-Assessment located at http://www.ache.org/newclub/career/ethself.cfm.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you examine the influence of individual ethics on decision making within the health care industry.

Include the following in your paper:

• Identify the four major ethical principles.
• Discuss what you learned about your own ethical decision- making process from the self-assessments.
• Examine the effect of professional ACHE standards on your ethical decision- making process.
• Explain how your individual ethics influence your decision- making process.
• Examine the influence of individual ethics on professional decisions.
• Analyze the relationship of these principles to current health care issues.

Format your paper according to APA guidelines.

CASE STUDY

Moreno Medical Center (MMC) is a 600-bed, full-service acute care facility located in the Northwest Kelsey community. The hospital is a physician-owned, for-profit hospital that takes pride in the provider-patient relationship. With recent changes in managed care, every dollar, process, and interest of the patient serves as a common ground for making an organization more efficient.

To remain competitive in the marketplace, the management team at MMC decided to take a look at various processes within the hospital and noted that the overall patient experience in the outpatient surgical clinic was less than satisfactory. The main problem seems to focus on long delays throughout the entire admission to discharge process. If the hospital wants to maintain its competitive position, the administration will have to redesign the current process to improve patient satisfaction.

The hospital administration appointed an internal quality consultant to facilitate the planning process. The quality consultant for this new organizational role is an experienced intensive care RN with a business degree. She understands that health care is a personal encounter and that patients and families expect to have their priority needs met when experiencing a health care issue.

The quality consultant decided to work closely with the surgical department RN administrator who would be a powerful change agent in leading the improvement process. During the review of the surgical department processes, the administrator and consultant identified several major issues:

·       Surgeons delaying surgery times causing backlog of surgery schedule

·       Other hospital departments (e.g., admitting, finance, lab) conducting separate encounters with surgical patients without regard to the surgery schedule

·       Long wait times for patient transportation from surgical area to recovery room

·       Ancillary staff providing patient discharge instructions when nurses are busy

·       Nursing staff displaying a culture that the procedure, not the patient, is the priority

The surgical department RN administrator acknowledges that changes need to occur and the new process must be guided by what is in the best interest of the patient. He developed a new vision statement for the department with its first priority to provide a patient and family focused quality care culture.

Review the introduction videos and organizational charts.

Read the case study detailing key issues that have been identified at MMC.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you:

• Analyze MMC’s characteristics and organizational structure to determine how they could be affecting patient satisfaction in both positive and negative ways.
  • Could reorganization help drive better patient outcomes?
  • Does the current structure empower nurses to provide the best patient care possible?
• Analyze social and cultural aspects of MMC that could be exacerbating or helping resolve admission and discharge issues.
  • Are the right individuals involved in the admission and discharge process or do roles and team dynamics contribute to the issue?
• Assess the responsibilities of MMC leaders and managers to act as change agents in mitigating the patient satisfaction issues.
  • What actions have already been taken and what other actions would you suggest to make a greater impact?
• Analyze how delegation is contributing to or improving MMC’s issues.
• Analyze how MMC’s staffing and performance evaluations could help improve overall patient satisfaction.

Cite at least five peer-reviewed, scholarly reference that are less than five years old to support your assignment.

Format your paper according to APA guidelines, and include an APA-formatted reference page.