Ethical Decision Making Process and Dilemma

¶ … Decision Making with Providers

The scenario facing Mike, the lab technician, is that of lateness, which attracted a reprimand from his supervisor. Seemingly, lateness had become a trend to Mike while reporting to work and that is why the supervisor had questioned him. He had made a promise that he would be punctual, the last time his supervisor questioned him. Mike's promise pegged on the importance he attached to his job because he was the sole breadwinner for his wife and newborn baby. Mike was overwhelmed by the thought that his job would be terminated in the possible reoccurrence of his tendencies to come to the workplace while late. He had received the assurance his supervisor (Grand Canyon University, n.d.).

On this day, Mike tries his best to reach work on time. Therefore, he leaves home twenty minutes before time but unfortunately, there was an accident on his commute. Although some time is lost, he manages to arrive just before official reporting time. However, upon arrival, he sees a spill on the hospital floor. He is confronted by a hard decision to make, either to stop and ensure the spill is cleaned up to avoid any possible accidents, or ignore and proceed to clock in for work. A stop to take care of the spill meant that he would be late and risked being fired from work. He was still justified to ignore the spill since it was in another work area and could be cleaned by another person as he proceeded to clock in (Grand Canyon University, n.d.).

Consequences of a failure to report

Mike's failure to report the spill on the flow in the main lobby meant that he was acting out of fear of his supervisor's threat to terminate his job. Therefore, he goes ahead to clock in for work while neglecting the spill but being punctual in reporting to work. Punctuality also meant that he would finish the pending work from the previous day and work on his day's assignment. From this decision, he would be assuming that someone else was taking care of the spill in the lobby (Grand Canyon University n.d.).

The consequence of Mike's failure to report the spill was an accident involving a woman who falls in the lobby. She broke her hip after the fall and appeared to be in a lot of pain. It is obvious to Mike that the accident was caused by the spill that he saw and neglected after fearing that he would be late. He learns of the whereabouts of the patient's accident when he is sent to her room to gather some information. The patient appears disturbed wondering why she had an accident in a hospital, a place she considered safe. She wonders whether the hospital had any programs in place to prevent such occurrences (Grand Canyon University)

The patient innocently questions Mike without knowing that he was in a position to stop the accident that very morning. Mike is guilty because he could have prevented the accident if he had not acted out of fear and assumption. The consequence of failure to report the spill predisposes Mike to another dilemma: he wonders whether to admit to his supervisor what had happened on his arrival to work that morning. However, the admission still had a possible consequence of his termination from work, something that he had feared a lot (Grand Canyon University, n.d.).

Impact of Mike's Decision on the Patient's Safety, Risk of Litigation, Organization's Quality Metrics, Workload of other Hospital Departments

Mike's decision compromised the patient's safety because the accident was inevitable. If Mike would have thought twice and decided to report the spill, the case would have been different. He would not even have lost his job after all. From the foregoing, the patient has suffered a broken hip and may have to go through treatment for some time. Perhaps, there may be possibilities of the patient being handicapped the rest of her life. Mike's decision on the risk of litigation cannot be understated. If the patient finds out the truth of the negligence that led to her accident, she may decide to sue the hospital on the grounds of failure to have proper risk management mechanisms aimed at enhancing the safety of people in the hospital. This serious legal issue may lead to large losses to the hospital towards compensation or even risk closure of the hospital on the extreme viewpoint (ECRI Institute, 2009).

The decision will also affect the organization's quality metrics to some extent if the consequences are not contained in the right manner. If the case finds its way to the public, perhaps, through personal expression of dissatisfaction of the affected patient or her family either to the media or directly to the populace itself, most people will raise questions and concerns against the hospital. This will jeopardize the presupposed good name that the organization may have created for itself over the years. Lastly, I believe that Mike's decision also created a state of emergency in the hospital especially at the time of the accident. The workload in other departments definitely increased on that day as they tried to respond immediately to the emergency of the fallen woman (Dlugacz, Restifo, & Greenwood, 2004).