Healthcare Delivery Dilemma

Healthcare Delivery Dilemma

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Healthcare Delivery Dilemma

A healthcare delivery dilemma usually occurs whenever a patient refuses to take the best possible alternative in medication and opts for the one that is a little risky, or slower in delivering quality results. For instance, the case of a patient who refuses medical intervention for their health complication in favor of medical intervention when dealing with a coronary artery disease is a good example of a dilemma in healthcare delivery. The best way to combat the clinical situation that the patient is going through is through a surgery to repair the affected arteries. This is the best and the fastest way of resolving this medical complication, as well as having the best results in application. It is in fact the reason why the team of medical experts as well as the family members and relatives of the patient favor this mode of intervention. The dilemma arise because the patient prefers to take medicines and drugs to resolve their health issues instead of going through a surgery (Armstrong, 2011).

The best way to resolve this stalemate on whether to adopt either a medical approach or a surgical approach to treating the coronary artery problem with the patient is to follow some ethical theories of nursing. The major theories to use under this case are the teleology and the deontology cases. These two theories differ in the way they consider the ethics of a case, such as the outcomes verses the real action. Teleological ethics denotes that a wrong act is good because of its positive outcomes. On the other hand, the deontological theory concerns more with the intention of an act of doing well, but may also have a negative result (Guido, 2010).

These two theories can easily resolve the healthcare dilemma in the situation under consideration. If the concerned stakeholders decide to take the teleological option, they will suggest or even insist on the patient going through a surgical procedure in order to resolve the coronary artery problem, which might be wrong in the eyes of the patient, as it will result into better and faster recovery of the patient. This is also because the surgical procedure would lead to a faster recovery of the patient, as well as guarantee a permanent elimination of coronary artery complication that the patient is suffering from. On the other hand, they can also decide to take on the deontological theory option by heeding to the patient’s request to stick to the medical intervention procedure to cure the problem. However, this option risks the entire well being of the patient, and does not guarantee that the patient will recover or get better from the complication. In some odd cases, the situation might even worsen and demand that they take a surgical intervention as a matter of emergency in order to save the life of the patient (Oleske, 2009).

From the above two ethical options of intervening to the health care dilemma, the concerned parties will have to evaluate the available alternatives for the patient and settle on one that assures them of the best results, and one that will bring a positive conclusion to the entire problem. Therefore, the best option is to take the teleological option and compel the patient to go through surgery as this will surely save his or her life, as well as guarantee permanent elimination of the entire problem (Pozgar, 2013).

References

Armstrong, E. (2011). The Health Care Dilemma: A Comparison of Health Care Systems in Three European Countries and the US. Singapore: World Scientific.

Guido, G. W. (2010). Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing (5th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Oleske, D. (2009). Epidemiology and the Delivery of Health Care Services: Methods and Applications. New York: Springer.

Pozgar, G. D. (2013). Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals (3rd Ed.). Boston: Jones and Bartlett.