Ethical leadership and cultural competence in end of life care

¶ … Life

End of life care has continued to be one of the major controversial issues in the United States for decades because of the political, quality, and policy issues related to it. Caring for individuals at the end of life is increasing critical because those in this stage tend to become dependent on caregivers for survival and basic life activities. Individuals at the end of life require support from different people including their family members and members of the healthcare system. In most cases, members of the healthcare system usually come from different backgrounds from the backgrounds of those they provide care or support to. Elders or those at the end of life stage become dependent on the support services provided by caregivers from different ethnic and/or cultural backgrounds. As end of life care has become vital in the United States, it poses an ethical challenge that could be resolved through ethical leadership.

End of Life and its Impact on the United States

As previously mentioned, end of life care is a controversial issue in the U.S. because its associated with different political, policy, and quality views. While Americans recognize the need to care and support elders or individuals in this stage of life, the major issues surrounding end of life care makes it\'s a controversial topic. Some of the factors that contribute to the controversy associated with end of life include disparities in provision of care, difficulties in accessing such care, shortage of caregivers, quality of care, and funding issues (Giovanni, 2014). Apart from these issues, end of life has developed to become an ethical challenge in the United States that has tremendous impacts on the healthcare system. The ethical dilemmas or issues associated with end of life is attributable to the fact that individuals at this stage in life are forced to depend on support services from people from other backgrounds than their own (Hallenbeck & Goldstein, 1999). This is a major challenge given that end of life is closely linked to different cultural perspectives that influence care. As elders depend on support and care from healthcare workers, they always disagree based on differences in deeply held values and beliefs. Given this ethical challenge, end of life has exacerbated controversies relating to the most suitable care for elders or those at the end of life stage. In essence, the cultural differences affect the healthcare approaches taken by healthcare workers, which in turn affects the quality of care.

Using Ethical Leadership to Address the Challenge

Since end of life has become an ethical challenge in the U.S. because of the cultural differences between the individuals and healthcare providers, the most suitable measure to address the challenge is through ethical leadership. Through ethical leadership, physicians and other caregivers need to understand that providing suitable end of life care requires understanding the potential ethical dilemmas and utilize suitable strategies/interventions (Cavalieri, 2001). Once these dilemmas are understood, the intervention or healthcare strategies are based on ethical principles that contribute to enhanced quality of care. In essence, ethical leadership entails using biomedical ethics to deal with the issues that confront individuals at the end of life stage. During this process, end of life care is provided in consideration of the deeply held values or beliefs of the patient.