Medical Assistant Ethical Dilemmas

A medical office administrative assistance must know the importance of proper medical documentation,the legal aspects of documentation and the various medical laws, regulations, and acts; understand language and other communication barriers, proper billing and reimbursement procedures, workplace conflict and diversity; and know how to properly maintain patient ledger cards. Accurate medical documentation ensures the patient receives the proper treatment and aides in validating medical necessity. This documentation is not only critical to the patient but the facility as well because it ensures proper codes are assigned, clean claims are submitted, and allows the reimbursement process runs smoothly. Medical office administrative assistants must understand the imporatance in protecting patient privacy because they have an ethical and legal

Jerry has been trained as a medical assistant and well as LPN or licensed practical nurse. Having an occupation as being a medical assistant is regulated loosely in the U.S. In addition, many states lack medical assistant certification and training requirements. It may be surprising that licensing for medical assistants does not exist. Despite inconsistent regulation, every state mandates by law that whenever a medical assistant provides any type of direct patient care, the supervising physician or licensed health care professional must be physically present in the office or building (medicalassistant.net website, 2012). Another law that is consistent in every state is one that prohibits medical assistants from independently prescribing or refilling medications (medicalassistant.net website, 2012). Licensed Practical Nurses have a broader scope of practice than medical assistants do, but prescribing or refilling medications is not included. In this case study, only Dr. Williams is able to refill the medication. If Jerry decides to call in a refill he will be practicing outside of his professional scope and breaking state law.

Physician Assistant’s who may also go by the name PA, practice medicine under the supervision of a physician or a surgeon. PA’s must be formally trained and can examine patients, review medical histories, diagnose illnesses and injuries, order and interpret diagnostic tests such as x-rays and blood tests, prescribe medication, document patient progress, and treat a range of ailments (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). The physician assistants code of ethics is divided into four categories; Patient independence, goodwill, fair treatment and nonmaleficence (Anderson, J. (2015)). The code of ethics promotes dignity, integrity, honesty and accountability.

The way the on-site dental assistants are asking the dental assistant student to treat the patient presents an ethical dilemma that needs to be dealt with. This circumstance should be seen as a prima facie duty, which means, there is an obvious way to respond to the present situation. The obvious problems to confront are the violation of the patient’s rights as well as transgressing a portion of infection control, standard precautions. Following standard precautions means treating every patient as if they already have an infectious disease. When treating a patient, there should be no extra precautionary measures outside of the standard precautions. This patient trusts us to provide them with optimal care. They trust us to treat them with equality. These on-site assistants are treating this patient like a rabid animal. It is as if the on-site dental assistants fear the patient because of his condition. If standards precautions are being followed, the dental assistant should not need to wear a different gown, wear extra face protection, or follow a different sterilization method. The dental assistant also shouldn’t have to run the instruments through the autoclave twice. If I were the patient, and I realized I was being treated differently than the other patients, I would be

Upon reflection of the ethical principles affiliated with prescribing for family members, there are clinical, ethical, and legal aspects to consider. According to Thomas et al. (2012), ethical solutions should be integrated and evaluated in all clinical decisions. Nurse practitioners (NP) should refrain from prescribing to self, family, or friends because decisions related to care should be unbiased and fair related to allocation of health resources. This may be difficult under circumstances that involve personal connections. Moreover, there are potential legal and ethical principles that govern practice that may be at risk of when prescribing for family members.

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the Affordable care Act from President Obama gives consumers more options and benefits when seeking coverage from insurance company. It offers lowering cost as well as gets more access to high quality of care. This law creates Patient’s Bill of Rights that is very effective to protect consumers from any abuses or fraud from insurance company. Some preventive services are available to many Americans especially Medicare recipients at no cost. Not just that, they also receive a special offer of 50 percent discount for any well-known drugs in the market place under Medicare named “donut hole.” The Affordable Care Act helps other organizations and programs to convince healthcare providers

There’s also non-maleficence, which basically means, ‘Do no harm’. The physician assistant must aim at producing a net benefit over harm. 6 If Sally decides not to treat the abusive patient, which is simply abandoning the patient, then she is doing harm. Ignoring the patient’s needs is an act of negligence, which will probably cause the patient’s condition to worsen. Sally must act accordingly with the Deontological view 7, which requires her to do her duty as a medical provider to treat the patient no matter what he does. This requires Sally to show the virtue of compassion as she is trying to provide care even to the most abusive, noncompliant, dishonest patients. This act will also satisfy some of the competencies a physician assistant must uphold: Commitment, dedication and self-regulation.

A nurse is given an opportunity to help patients, either if its by helping them through a very serious sickness or just helping a patient get to the bathroom on time, or a time when happiness is overfilling the room and a child is being born. Registered nurses provide a wide variety of patient care services (Mitchell, p.12). A Nurse must always know where to begin and where to stop, as any other career in the health field there is always something that cannot be done by everyone but only the certified person, a nurse must always remain inside her scope of practice to prevent any misunderstandings. A nurse must also follow a code of ethics , the code of ethics of the American Association of Medical Assistants states that a nurse should at all times render service with full respect and dignity of humanity, respect confidential information obtained by a patients file, uphold the honor and high principles the profession and accept its discipline, and last but not least always want to improve her services to better serve the health and well being of the community. (Mitchell, p.65).

McCall Ethics Case Study Jerry is Dr. Williams’s office assistant. He has received professional training as both a medical assistant and an LPN. He is handling all the phone calls while the receptionist is at lunch. A patient calls and says he must have a prescription refill for Valium and that the provider, a friend, calls in the medication prior to any flights. This type of request happens often and in slightly different scenarios, but the outcome should remain the same to avoid ethical and legal issues. This paper will review the case study to help resolve the problem at hand, refilling a prescription without provider authorization. Qualified Medical Training Understanding the definitions of a licensed practical nurse, LPN, and a medical assistant, MA is the first step to making a factual conclusion for this case study. Support staff to the provider cannot make decisions about medication refills for patients without a direct order from the provider. This action is outside the scope of practice for an LPN or MA. Licensed Practical Nurse An LPN is a role in support of the nurse or RN, a registered Nurse usually in a skilled nursing setting such as a hospital or long-term care facility. As defined by the National Federation of Licensed Practical Nurses, NFLPN, an LPN “means the performance for compensation of authorized acts of nursing which utilize specialized knowledge and skills and which meet the health needs of people in a variety of settings under the direction

Medical assistants usually do not preform medical coding as a regular part of their job. When entering codes it is important that you enter the correct one. If you enter the wrong code the patient could get billed for a service that they did not receive.

For a manager, building relationships within a company while making ethical decisions involve more than leadership to have technical or task-related abilities. (Hunter, 1998) Failure to find balance could mean leadership is missing the simple principle that healthy relationships with the customers, employees, owners, and are not met and ethical decision-making practices do not adhere too. As a Medical Support Technician, (MSA) at a primary care facility, adhere to established protocols balancing doctor, patient ratio. MSA responsibility is to book new patients and schedule established patients according to clinical assignment. According to the author of Moral Choices, you could say that this decision-making model represents ethical decisions

Healthcare professionals will be faced with ethical dilemmas throughout their career, particularly in the hospital environment. Having an education regarding professional healthcare ethics will provide some direction in how to best address these dilemmas at a time when either the patient or their family is in need of making decisions for themselves or their family member. It can be difficult for healthcare professionals to weigh professional protocol against their own personal beliefs and ethical understandings when determining critical care for their patient.

Not only is Jessica a faithful Lutheran but she's also a medical assistant at a family practice clinic. Jessica faces a difficult situation one day at work. A woman and her young son walk into the clinic because her boy had fallen in the yard on a sharp object cutting his thigh. The mother lived next door, so it was easiest to bring him where Jessica worked. The poor boy is bleeding pretty badly from the cut of his thigh. Quickly they tied a tourniquet, meanwhile the medical assistant calls an ambulance to transfer the boy to the hospital so that he may be treated properly, and gets the care he deserves. While in the wait for the ambulance, the physician informs the boy's mother that her son is going to need a blood transfusion. The mother then states, “We are Jehovah Witnesses and do not believe in blood transfusions.”

The role of ethics in organizational behavior is the underlying factor to the success and longevity of any organization. A set of rules and guidelines focusing on promoting safety, trust, and responsible practice within the workplace must be established internally. Organizations develop code of ethics that center upon the promotion of good. Ethics are vital in developing trusting relationships between employees and administration within.

Everyday, healthcare professionals are faced with ethical dilemmas in their workplace. These ethical dilemmas need to be addressed in order to provide the best care for the patient. Healthcare professionals have to weigh their own personal beliefs, professional beliefs, ethical understandings, and several other factors to decide what the best care for their patient might be. This is illustrated in Mrs. Smith’s case. Mrs. Smith is an 85 year old who has suffered from a large stroke that extends to both of her brains hemispheres which has left her unconscious. She only has some brain stem reflexes and requires a ventilator for support. She is unable to communicate how she wishes to proceed with her healthcare. Mrs. Smith’s children, Sara and Frank have different views regarding their mother’s plan of care. The decision that needs to be made is whether to prolong Mrs. Smith’s life, as Sara would like to do, or stop all treatments and care, as Frank feels his mother would want. In the healthcare field, there are situations similar to this case that happen daily where moral and ethical judgment is necessary to guide the decision that would be best for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss, compare and contrast the personal and professional values, ethical principles, and legal issues regarding Mrs. Smith’s quality of life and further plan of care.