Purpose

Discuss potential complications in a clinical scenario at an out-patient family practice. Students will explore potential effects on patient outcomes and implications for members of the heath care team as a result of conflict among the healthcare team.  Students will develop strategies that result in prevention of untoward outcomes that result in a positive practice culture.

Activity Learning Outcomes

Through this discussion, the student will demonstrate the ability to:

1. Recognize potential areas of conflict in NP clinical practice (CO1)
2. Determine methods of data collection to assess the conflict (CO3)
3. Examine corporate compliance and its effect on clinical practice (CO2)
4. Understand risk management in clinical practice (CO4)

 Due Date: Wednesday by 11:59PM MST of Week 5

 Students must post a minimum of two times in each graded discussion. The two posts in each individual discussion must be on separate days. Posting twice on two different days meets the minimum requirement however for full credit, the student must post at least three substantive posts on three different days. The student must provide an initial post to each graded discussion topic posted by the course instructor, by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT of Week 5. Subsequent posts, including essential responses to peers, must occur no later than the Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT at the end of Week 5. Students are expected to submit assignments by the time they are due. Threaded discussions are not considered assignments and are not part of the late assignment policy.

 A 10% late penalty will be imposed for discussions posted after the deadline on Wednesday of week 5, regardless of the number of days late. NOTHING will be accepted after 11:59pm MT on Sunday (i.e. student will receive an automatic 0).

Total Points Possible: 100

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:

1. 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
2. What strategies would you implement to prevent further episodes of potentially dangerous patient outcomes?
3. What leadership qualities would you apply to effect positive change in the practice? Focus on the culture of the practice.
4. A scholarly resource must be used for EACH discussion question each week.

Solution

Discuss the potential ethical and legal implications for each of the following practice members

 Teamwork among the healthcare professional is a critical element of quality care as well as patient safety. Similarly, teamwork between the healthcare professionals impacts the patient stay, mortality as well as medication errors (O’connor et al., 2016). The potential ethical implication for the medical Assistant (MA) includes loss of job due to what can be termed as negligence. The MA noted the low blood pressure but failed to inform the family nurse practitioner.

Legal implications on the nurse practitioner include possible lawsuits. The family nurse practitioner may be exposed to liability for malpractice when the patient is harmed by the action of the MA even though the FNP may not have been directly involved in treating the patient. FNP may also be liable for the actions of MA due to failure to supervise properly.  Legal implication on the medical director includes liability for the negligence of the practice members…