Issues affecting standards of practice related to competency of medical care - Essay Example

? Issues affecting standards of practice related to competency of medical care Lecturer Issues affecting standards of practice related to competency of medical care Standards of practice with respect to competency of medical care according to Lyckholm and Hackney’s article, is the degree of caution and prudence required of medical practitioners who are under duty of care. The requirements of standards of practice are dependent on situations closely. Whether there is a breach of standards of practice is determined by trier of fact, and is often phrased in terms of reasonable person. Lyckholm and Hackney describe it as whether the practitioner proceeded with such reasonable prudence or caution as a prudent and reasonable man would have exercised under similar situations or circumstances. Identify and describe the issues affecting standards of practice related to competency of medical care identified in the Lyckholm and Hackney article. This paper seeks to address issues affecting standards of practice related to competency of medical as stated in Lyckholm and Hackney’s article. A standard of practice is a psychological or medical treatment guideline. Standards of practice can be specific or general. They specify proper treatment founded on scientific evidence and alliance between psychological and/ or medical professionals involved in addressing treatment of a particular condition. According to Lyckholm and Hackney, the issues that affect standards of practice are majorly ethical issues that practitioners must observe during medical practice and justice, especially privacy, access to health care, medical competency, confidentiality, and the blurring of professional and personal boundaries in small communities. The two authors assert that because medical care has ultimately become more complex with the increasing number of principles and ethical issues intertwined and affecting standards of practice, the rural hospitals have began developing mechanisms in order to provide help in tough circumstances and situations. The center of academics has also offered continued education and expertise for staff, both within groups and individually with respect to ethical dilemmas (Lyckholm & Hackney, 2001). Lyckholm and Hackney outlines the principles of ethical practice in relation to competency of medical care that they believe affect the standards of practice. The authors make recommendations on such issues that affect standards of practice and assert that in order to up hold standards of practice; practitioners should principally address the fundamental causes of requirements for health and diseases, and aim to prevent negative health outcomes. The medical practitioners also need to obtain community health in such away to respect the rights of people within the community. Lyckholm and Hackney assert that issues like public health policies, priorities, and programs should be evaluated and developed via processes that avail opportunity for community input by members so as not to undermine standards of practice. This is because if public health fails to advocate for and work for empowerment of members of the community, then the standards of practice will in the long run be affected. Doing so will however ensure that the conditions and resources necessary for health of individuals are accessible to everyone in the community. Standards of practice also require consistent assessment and evaluation so as to ensure they are consistent with the emerging health care conditions and situations. Practitioners need to seek information needed to implement effective programs and policies that promote and protect standards of practice and ultimately health of people (Lyckholm & Hackney, 2001). Lyckholm and Hackney through their article recommends that medical institutions should offer competent standards of practice to medical practitioners in order to ensure competency of medical care. The public health institutions on the other hand need to offer information to the communities needed to make informed choices and decisions on programs and policies, and the consent of the community should be obtained before implementation of anything treatment or a concern to their health. This will ensure that standards of practice are upheld and not affected in any nature. The two authors require that for standards of practice to remain unaffected, practitioners should act timely on the information and treatment of patients within the accessible resources. The practitioners also need to incorporate a variety of approaches anticipating and respecting diverse beliefs, values, and cultures of different people as these have been found to affect standards of practice massively. For this reasons, practitioners should aim to protect the confidentiality of information obtained from individuals that could result into harm to a community or the individual if publicized. Standards of practices are also affected grossly by incompetency of medical practitioners; therefore medical institutions should ensure that all their practitioners are professionally competent (Lyckholm & Hackney, 2001). Relevance that standards of practice have practitioners at the Federal Qualified Health Care Centers Standards of practice are very relevant to the practitioners at the Federal Qualified Health Care Centers. The primary relevance is that standards of practice will ensure that the practitioners at the Federal Qualified Health Care Centers protect the safety and health of the public through ensuring that the practitioners and other health professional at the Federal Qualified Health Care Centers are fit and competent to practice their professions. The standards of practice is also relevant to the Federal Qualified Health Care Centers in key areas within the scope of professional practice areas such as: interaction with the clients, the environment of practice, health practitioner as a professional, responsibilities to the clients and community, and interaction with other professional colleagues (Kass, 2008). In addition, standards of practice are relevant at the Federal Qualified Health Care Centers as it ensures that the health of our clients is inherently protected. It places an obligation and duty to care for the well-being of our clients on our practitioners. In addition to ensuring that our practitioners follow even the code of conducts and ethical principles, standards of practice also imply that our practitioners has the element of power to perform their mandate (Kass, 2008). References Lyckholm L.J. & Hackney M.H. (2001). Ethics or rural health care, Critical reviews in oncology/hematology, 40(2); 131-138 Kass NE. (2008). An ethics framework for public health. Am J Public Health, 91(11)1776-82. Read More