The Dowd Model's application to healthcare worker substance abuse ethics

Ethical Decision Making Project

The traditional decision making model is what is really taught in a lot of ethics programs is outside the reading understanding level of an assessed 25% of the worker population. Many believe that their needs to be an alternative model that is capable of making sure that the ethical matters inherent in repetitive business situations could be effectively surfaced while making the model easy to use by people who were functionally semi-illiterate. It is clear that every employee is called upon to make decisions in the normal course of doing his/her job. Organizations cannot function effectively if employees are not empowered to make decisions consistent with their positions and responsibilities. With that said, the Dowd Model will be used in this case study to two scenarios.

Scenario One

DETERMINE whether there is an ethical issue or/and dilemma.

I the medical arena, ethics play a good part. The Ethics Group do work to improve patient care and the health of the public by examining and promoting professionalism. The employee in scenario obviously crossed the lines ethically. As healthcare professionals, there are people that may be more likely to start developing substance abuse issues than members of the general population because of high work-related stress, increased admission to controlled elements, and our acquaintance of drug effects. People like the man in this scenario who have become addicted may be shielded from discovery by the trust of our patients and coworkers. Plus, some people may try to work very hard in order to avoid discovery, fearing punitive professional, social, financial, and legal penalties.

It is clear that this man did break an ethics issue here because he was intoxicated on the job. The bottom line is that an impaired worker is a danger to both themselves and their patients and possible other people on the job and it is clear that their needs to be an intervention. Of course this supervisor suspected that this coworker was impaired, and now he needs to connect with someone who can investigate and evaluate the situation even further.

This incident is an ethical issue because drinking among U.S. workers can threaten public safety, damage job presentation, and result in expensive medical, social, and other difficulties distressing employees and managers alike. Output losses attributed toward alcohol were projected at $119 billion for 1995 (1). As this Alcohol Alert clarifies, several issues give to problem drinking that goes on in the workplace. Employers are in an exclusive situation to alleviate some of these factors and to inspire workers to seek assistance for alcohol problems.

IDENTIFY the key values and principles involved.

First, ethics or rules were broken because it is illegal to come to work under the influence of alcohol. But the purpose of these rules is not simply to control and manage disorganized or unacceptable conduct of employees. It is also meant to protect the other employees who are obligating their talents, time and exertions to the association. This shows to them that their group is just and fair. They key values involved are the fact Ethical principles do require that an individual make their corrective rules and guidelines fair, to guarantee that these are obviously defined, easy to comprehend and are applied in a just manner.