Health Management

Health Management

Name:

Institution:

Health Management

Problem Statement

Doctor Diliper has recently shown irresponsible and unprofessional behavior that threatens the lives and privacy of patients at the emergency department. Additionally, he has engaged in unethical behavior when addressing medical students.

Brief Analysis

Doctor Gabu has recently received a complaint letter from the family of an elderly patient who had been admitted to the hospital at the emergency department. The elderly man had difficulty breathing, which was not the first time in Mercy hospital. Doctor Diliper, the attending chief resident who was in charge of Mr. Samson at the time had irresponsibly put his life in danger by leaving him unattended when he had difficulties breathing. Even worse is that he made an unprofessional comment to the elderly man, saying Mr. Samson deserved poor treatment.   The family of Mr. Samson has complained about the issue and wants to file for legal action against the emergency department that was in violation of the patient’s rights. Doctor Gabu will have to deal with the situation considering that a legal suit will reflect negatively on the emergency department (Neale, 2012).

In addition to reckless neglect of a patient, Doctor Diliper has engaged in more unethical behavior such as examining a patient with the curtains drawn, which exposed her to other staff members and patients. He was also reported to have embarrassed a medical student by scolding him in front of patients for taking too long with an examination, an action considered unprofessional.

This problem is evidenced by the fact that Doctor Gabu is thinking of how to approach the situation. In addition, a complaint letter threatening to file a suit against the emergency department means that the problem needs solving. Another clue comes from the reports of other staff members who feel that Doctor Diliper has recently engaged in unprofessional behavior (Buchbinder, Shanks & Buchbinder, 2014).

Case Analysis

Doctor Diliper is the chief resident of the emergency department in Mercy Hospital. He had been considered a rising star for his exceptional performance. However, he has recently been involved in several unethical and unprofessional issues that raise the question of whether he is burning out (Santen & Hemphill, 2011). The problem arises from the fact that the department could be sued for unprofessional conduct because of one staff member.

Alternatives

Doctor Gabu, who is the chairman of the Emergency Department at the Mercy hospital, has only three options to consider concerning this matter. The first one is warning the doctor about his recent unprofessional behavior to find out whether there is any problem causing it. The second alternative is taking disciplinary action on Doctor Diliper in order to set an example to the entire emergency department that unprofessional behavior will not be tolerated. This will also convince Mr. Samson’s family not to go through with the legal suit by indicating that the problem has been solved (Taylor, Wolfe & Cameron, 2002).

Decision Criteria

The decision criteria should be based on the best option for the whole department, as well as the patients. It should evaluate all the options and the consequences for each. The option with the best results should be considered. In this case, it should be the one that stops such unprofessional behavior.

Recommendations

I would recommend that Dr. Gabu implement disciplinary action because it will communicate to everybody that such behavior is not allowed within the department. In addition, this has a good chance of stopping the lawsuit from Samson’s family.

Implementation Plan

Implementation plan on the disciplinary action should involve the board. The best form of action should be decided by the whole board depending on the set rules.

Evaluation

Evaluation should be conducted after the plan is implemented. The doctor under review should stop such unprofessional behavior immediately. The number of times he engages in such unprofessional practices should be recorded for evaluation purposes.

References

Buchbinder, S. B., Shanks, N. H., & Buchbinder, D. (2014). Cases in health care management. Sudbury, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Neale, T. (2012). Unprofessional Behavior Common in Hospitals. Retrieved from http://www.medpagetoday.com/HospitalBasedMedicine/Hospitalists/33292

Santen, S. A., & Hemphill, R. R. (2011). A window on professionalism in the emergency department through medical student narratives. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 58(3): 288-294.

Taylor, D, Wolfe, R, & Cameron, P. (2002). Complaints from emergency department patients largely result from treatment and communication problems. New York, N.Y: Blackwell Publishing.