Rising to the Challenges for Assuring Ethical Practice

Presented by Lisa Milliken

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Video Runtime: 104 Minutes; Learning Assessment Time: 78 Minutes

Professionals from different healthcare backgrounds and settings are increasingly faced with new ethical challenges, ranging from those posed by reimbursement and regulatory protocols to biases, cultural differences, and even tensions between team members who may have different viewpoints and allegiances for determining what is best for the patient or client. This course presents recent evidence of such challenges for physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, athletic trainers, social workers, case managers, and nurses. The results of current research will be shared along with practical examples, case studies, and recommended solutions. Information will be applicable to professional healthcare team members in acute care, post-acute settings, clinics, skilled nursing facilities, home health, and other outpatient settings.

Meet your instructor

Lisa Milliken

Lisa Milliken received her BA from Louisiana Tech University and her MA from the University of Memphis in audiology and speech-language pathology. She has since served adults and geriatrics as a clinician, manager, vice president, consultant, compliance manager, and education director and is passionate about mentoring…

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Chapters & learning objectives

Ethical Challenges From Reimbursement Models

1. Ethical Challenges From Reimbursement Models

This chapter will initially address the complicated challenges of different reimbursement models, including the ethical dilemmas of quantity over quality by some models or vice versa for others. The chapter will also review value-based competition and how the rules of this model might infringe on medical ethical principles. A range of other restrictions will be discussed, including the use of patients’ personal values as guidance for communication strategies.

Principles From Different Professional Codes of Ethics

2. Principles From Different Professional Codes of Ethics

This chapter will briefly review ethical principles that are common to physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, athletic trainers, social workers and nurses. Applications to these principals will be applied through common scenarios that are relevant to the interprofessional team.

Recognize Potential Ethical Conflicts Between Interprofessional Team Members

3. Recognize Potential Ethical Conflicts Between Interprofessional Team Members

This chapter will review conflicts between team members, such as those that occur when issues had not been discussed or resolved in time, as well as other scenarios, such as those where there are different perspectives from team members and different levels of understanding regarding the patients’ role in the care process. The challenges of interprofessional practice will be discussed, followed by strategies for building respect and trust for more open and mutual discussions.

Cultural Barriers and Facilitators

4. Cultural Barriers and Facilitators

This chapter will share the different types of barriers cited by healthcare professionals, such as language barriers, cultural differences in perspective for service delivery, and the challenges of limited resources to facilitate culturally competent care. Effective tools and strategies will then be shared for increasing cultural awareness and resolving such issues.

Biases That May Affect Decision-Making

5. Biases That May Affect Decision-Making

This chapter will cover evidence from the literature and practical examples of how a healthcare professional might be torn between their different commitments, such as their allegiance to the client’s autonomy versus their allegiance to the client’s safety. Similarly, they may need to consider how the client’s values may be different from their own. Other allegiances may be difficult when considering the client’s needs against regulatory mandates or employer directives. Once many such conflicts have been reviewed, proposed approaches will be shared to promote this complex decision-making process.

Ethical Tensions Between the Professional’s Allegiances

6. Ethical Tensions Between the Professional’s Allegiances

This chapter will cover evidence from the literature and practical examples of how a healthcare professional might be torn between their different commitments, such as their allegiance to the client’s autonomy versus their allegiance to the client’s safety. Similarly, they may need to consider how the client’s values may be different from their own. Other allegiances may be difficult when considering the client’s needs against regulatory mandates or employer directives. Once many such conflicts have been reviewed, proposed approaches will be shared to promote this complex decision-making process.