Health Care Administration

This book explores the many connections that bioethical thinking has with social reality. Bioethics, if it is to be effective, must engage with and address the actualities of modern life: policies, regulations, markets, opinions, and technological advances. In these original contributions fifteen notable scholars working in the North West of England take on this challenge.

Healthcare ethics is not just about decisions made at the bedside. It is also about decisions made in executive offices and in boardrooms. Business Ethics in Healthcare offers perspectives that can assist healthcare managers achieve the highest ethical standards as they face their roles as healthcare providers, employers, and community service organizations. Weber suggests guidelines and criteria based on the understanding that the healthcare organization is committed to patients' rights, to careful stewardship of resources, to just working conditions for employees, and to service to the community. As Weber shows, addressing business ethics issues in a healthcare organization starts with complying with relevant laws and regulations. As a provider of high quality patient care with limited resources, it needs to be able to distinguish between the right way and the wrong way of taking cost into consideration when making decisions about patient care practices. As employer, the organization needs to use good criteria for determining wages and salaries, to know how to make fair decisions about downsizing, and to respond most appropriately to union organizing efforts and employee strikes. As a community service organization, it has particular responsibilities to the community in the way it advertises, how it disposes of medical waste, and the types of mergers it enters into.

Contemporary Debates in Bioethics features a timely collection of highly readable, debate-style arguments contributed by many of today's top bioethics scholars, focusing on core bioethical concerns of the twenty-first century. Written in an engaging, debate-style format for accessibility to non-specialists Features general introductions to each topic that precede scholarly debates Presents the latest, cutting-edge thoughts on relevant bioethics ideas, arguments, and debates

Everyday Medical Ethics and Law is based on the corechapters of Medical Ethics Today, focussing on the practical issuesand dilemmas common to all doctors. It includes chapters on the lawand professional guidance relating to consent, treating people wholack capacity, treating children and young people, confidentialityand health records. The title is UK-wide, covering the law andguidance in each of the four nations. Each chapter has a uniform structure which makes it ideal for usein learning and teaching. "10 Things You Need to Know About..."introduces the key points of the topic, Setting the Scene explainswhere the issues occur in real life and why doctors need tounderstand them, and then key definitions are followed byexplanations of different scenarios. The book uses real cases toillustrate points and summary boxes to highlight key issuesthroughout. Whilst maintaining its rigorous attention to detail, EverydayMedical Ethics and Law is an easy read reference book forbusy, practising doctors.

Every accredited American hospital is required to have a mechanism for handling ethical concerns; most hospitals satisfy this requirement by constituting an institutional healthcare ethics committee (HEC), a pattern which is repeated in most western countries. This text provides definitive, comprehensive guidance for members of healthcare ethics committees who find themselves confronted with ethically challenging situations. Each chapter includes learning objectives, clinical case studies and questions to stimulate discussion among committee members. Particular emphasis is given to consultation, as this often presents the greatest challenges to committee members. Each chapter stands alone as a teaching module, as well as forming part of a comprehensive volume. Written and edited by nationally and internationally recognized experts in bioethics, this is essential reading for every member of a healthcare ethics committee.

Health Care Ethics examines the way ethical dilemmas are played out in everyday clinical practice and argues for an approach to ethical decision-making which focuses more on patient needs than competing professional interests. While advances in medical science and technology have improved the ability to save and prolong lives, they have also given rise to fundamental questions about what constitutes life and personhood, especially in the context of what are termed 'persistent vegetative state' and 'brain death'. Drawing on the example of intensive care where such questions feature strongly in everyday practice, Kath M Melia examines how decisions are taken within the context of multiprofessional teamworking, including · whether to admit a patient and commence treatment · what the aim of treatment should be (i.e. palliation, care or cure) · when to limit, withhold or withdraw treatment · when to donate organs. As an area in which different professional groups work closely together, the author argues that there are lessons to be learnt from intensive care which can be applied to ethical decision making in all areas of health care for the greater good of patients. The book makes a significant contribution to the literature on ethics in health care and to the development of ethical decision making which prioritises the needs of patients. It is essential reading for ethicists, sociologists and health care professionals.

This is a lucid, readable discussion of ethical questions in health care as they arise on the business or organizational level: an effort to spell out an ethical perspective for healthcare organizations. It will be of use to students in health services management programs, health care professionals, healthcare administrators, and members of healthcare ethics committees. Hall begins with the ethical analysis of decision-making in the management of healthcare organizations and then addresses some of the questions of organizational ethics through an analysis of corporate social responsibility in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and of the problem of uncompensated care. Later chapters take up patient development, community relations, diversity, employee relations, governmental relations, regulatory compliance and medical records. The author's analysis focuses on healthcare institutions as business organizations with many of the problems faced by corporate management in other fields but with the difference that health care holds a special place among human needs and has traditionally been viewed from an altruistic perspective. He gives special attention to the new standards on organizational ethics promulgated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and includes many case studies not only to illustrate the main points but also to direct the reader's attention to peripheral aspects that can complicate theses issues.

There can be few aspects of life which have not altered so dramatically in the past few decades as the relationship between medicine and the law: as each advance in medicine is made, and treatments become more and more sophisticated, the legal and moral issues surrounding such treatments have also multiplied, and become more complex. Written by a doctor and a lawyer, both with many years of practical experience, this book provides a unique and in-depth coverage of the most important ethical and moral issues (and their legal implications) facing healthcare professionals, lawyers and the general public alike. It represents a useful outline of where medicine and the law stand at present and hints at where they will be going in relation to each other in the coming years.

In a world of rapid technological advances, the moral issues raised by life and death choices in healthcare remain obscure. Life and Death in Healthcare Ethicsprovides a concise, thoughtful and extremely accessible guide to these moral issues. Helen Watt examines, using real-life cases, the range of choices taken by healthcare professionals, patients and clients which lead to the shortening of life. The topics looked at include: * euthanasia and withdrawal of treatment * the persistent vegetative state * abortion * IVF and cloning * life-saving treatment of pregnant women Clearly written and insightful, Life and Death in Healthcare Ethicspresupposes no prior knowledge of philosophy. It will be of interest to anyone confronting healthcare ethics for the first time, or seeking to develop his or her understanding of some core topics in the field.

This is your source for authoritative and comprehensive guidance from the British Medical Association (BMA) Medical Ethics Department covering both routine and highly contentious medico-legal issues faced by health care professionals. The new edition updates the information from both the legal and ethical perspectives and reflects developments surrounding The Mental Capacity Act, Human Tissue Act, and revision of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.

The exponential digitization of medical data has led to a transformation of the practice of medicine. This change notably raises a new complexity of issues surrounding health IT. The proper use of these communication tools, such as telemedicine, e-health, m-health the big medical data, should improve the quality of monitoring and care of patients for an information system to "human face". Faced with these challenges, the author analyses in an ethical angle the patient-physician relationship, sharing, transmission and storage of medical information, setting pins to an ethic for the digitization of medical information. Drawing on good practice recommendations closely associated with values, this model is developing tools for reflection and present the keys to understanding the decision-making issues that reflect both the technological constraints and the complex nature of human reality in medicine .

Medicolegal Essentials in Healthcare provides a concise overview of the most clinically relevant medicolegal issues for healthcare groups in England and Wales, and is a valuable resource for medical, dental and nursing students in training as well as being a useful quick reference for practitioners in these fields. Each chapter is written by a leading expert on the subject, and as such provides up-to-date, concise, and comprehensive coverage, identifying key areas of controversy and enabling readers to put contemporary medicolegal issues into their appropriate clinical context. Key features include: * Focuses on issues of immediate relevance to healthcare professionals * Chapters written by leading experts in the field * A knowledge of medicolegal issues is of increasing importance to all healthcare professionals, as society generally becomes more litigious, and practitioners face the threat of legal claims against them

As more and more people survive into old age, the burden of caring for them becomes greater and greater. Although it is now possible to alleviate many of the afflictions that beset mankind, no society can afford to pay for all the healthcare that is now available or technically possible. People working in healthcare increasingly have to do more with less. Rationing takes many forms, mostly covert, and the less privileged in most societies end up struggling to get their proper share of the available healthcare resources. All too often, those in the front-line have to deal with the consequences of this 'rationing by default': healthcare professionals find themselves rushed off their feet simply doing the basic tasks and completing all the paperwork; placing frail, sick people in ever lengthening queues, sometimes asking them to wait for hours in the middle of the night under uncomfortable and even unsafe conditions; and, worst of all, working under conditions they would rather avoid in which the safety margin for those they are caring for has been greatly diminished. We are all aware that under these conditions the chance of making a mistake which can seriously harm or even lead to the death of a patient is greatly increased. But what can be done about this? How can you be sure that you are doing the right thing when faced with having to practise an uncertain science on vulnerable patients in a complex system under ever-changing conditions? At what point could you cross the invisible line from reasonable to irresponsible or unethical behaviour by tolerating conditions or tacitly accepting practices which may be regarded as unacceptable, even though you may have little immediate control over them? This book is a guide to getting it right for healthcare professionals. It is about doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, for the right people. These are the dimensions of quality in healthcare, and although some are in conflict (equitable access and efficiency, for example), adherence to ethical practice and professional behaviour will help lead healthcare practitioners through the minefield of responsibilities and priorities. Real-life situations are integral to the book, with over 500 clinical examples referred to within the text.

The SAGE Handbook of Healthcare Ethics is an influential collection of work by leading scholars on the fundamental and emerging themes which define healthcare ethics. Combining international and interdisciplinary perspectives, the Handbook provides a cutting-edge account of debates in five key areas: Health Care Ethics in an Era of GlobalizationBeginning and End of LifeVulnerable PopulationsResearch Ethics and TechnologiesPublic Health and Human RightsThis authoritative Handbook brings together experts with backgrounds in philosophy, sociology, law, public policy and the health professions and reflects the increasing impact of globalization and the dynamic advances in the fields of bioscience and genetics, which keep ethics at the centre of debates about the future direction of healthcare. It is an invaluable resource for all students, practitioners, academics and researchers investigating ethical issues in relation to healthcare.

This edited volume of original chapters brings together researchers from around the world who are exploring the facets of health care organization and delivery that are sometimes marginal to mainstream patient safety theories and methodologies but offer important insights into the socio-cultural and organizational context of patient safety. By examining these critical insights or perspectives and drawing upon theories and methodologies often neglected by mainstream safety researchers, this collection shows we can learn more about not only the barriers and drivers to implementing patient safety programmes, but also about the more fundamental issues that shape notions of safety, alternate strategies for enhancing safety, and the wider implications of the safety agenda on the future of health care delivery. In so doing, A Socio-cultural Perspective on Patient Safety challenges the taken-for-granted assumptions around fundamental philosophical and political issues upon which mainstream orthodoxy relies. The book draws upon a range of theoretical and empirical approaches from across the social sciences to investigate and question the patient safety movement. Each chapter takes as its focus and question a particular aspect of the patient safety reforms, from its policy context and theoretical foundations to its practical application and manifestation in clinical practice, whilst also considering the wider implications for the organization and delivery of health care services. Accordingly, the chapters each draw upon a distinct theoretical or methodological approach to critically explore specific dimensions of the patient safety agenda. Taken as a whole, the collection advances a strong, coherent argument that is much needed to counter some of the uncritical assumptions that need to be described and analyzed if patient safety is indeed to be achieved.

Through a series of timely and relevant cases based on real-life experiences, this book explores the kinds of management dilemmas and moral challenges that confront healthcare managers on a day-to-day basis. Good management requires making morally sound decisions and understanding the ethical implications for your organization, community, patients, and your career. In this updated edition, readers will explore the interrelatedness of ethics and management and common barriers to ethical decisions.

Why is thinking about values and ethics a crucial component of health care training and practice? How can we go about engaging in such thinking? Values, Ethics and Health Care responds to these essential questions. It examines key ethical frameworks and debates within the field of healthcare, locating them firmly in their social and occupational contexts. Guiding students through a range of dilemmas and difficulties encountered in health care practice with case studies and real-life examples, this lively text illustrates how to apply knowledge to professional practice and decision-making. Key FeaturesOffers a critical and reflective understanding of health care ethics and valuesPresents an interprofessional approachRelates theory to 'everyday' ethicsIncludes student-friendly features such as real-life examples, 'thinking about' points, and links to further reading The book will be essential reading for undergraduates taking courses in Values, Ethics and Professional Practice as part of health studies degree programs. It will also be useful for graduate students as well as practitioners in the field.