Interdisciplinary Issues in Healthcare Increasingly

Interdisciplinary Issues in Healthcare

Increasingly over the last few decades, health care professionals have begun to understand that the field of medicine does not exist in isolation. Rather, it is part of a broader field of understanding and benefits greatly from using a multidisciplinary approach to both the research and publication of data (Slatin, et.al., 2004). Due to the nature of contemporary healthcare, and the technological advances combined with a number of privacy and litigious issues, health care personnel are being asked to make, or to participate in, decisions that are far beyond simple medical training. These decisions include euthanasia, organ donation, refusal of care, certain health issues for the mentally or physically chanallenged, and a host of other issues. Each of these complexities involves the way humans behave and interact with one another -- in other words, moral, ethical, and legal considerations of human communication.

Relevant Disciplines -the overall trend in nursing ethics surrounds a more deontological than utilitarian approach (the means are more important than the result). The combination of ethics of care and virtue ethics support relationships more than philosophical debate (Tschudin, 2003).

Literature Search- Modern nursing is a rewarding, but challenging, career choice. The modern nurse's role is not limited only to assist the doctor in procedures, however. Instead, the contemporary nursing professional takes on a partnership role with both the doctor and patient functioning as an instructor, individual counselor, caregiver, medical researcher, emotional and psychological counselor, and personal case manager. As an amalgamation of these roles, a nurse must assist the client in all physical, mental, and psychological roles that advocate proper medical care and maintain the dignity of the client. In the contemporary world, it is important to note that a more holistic approach is preferable, seeing the patient as more than their disease, and advocating for that patient's proper care and assistance when they are unable (Kozier, Erb, & Blais, 1997). A literature search will cover the aspects of moral, ethical, legal and clinic issues with which a modern nurse must deal.

Adequacy in Discipline - at the very center of the debate on euthanasia lies the core of individual and societal ethics. Philosophically, ethics is a rubric used to understand and explain the way humans morally organize events or actions. The focus is on understanding the way moral choices are presented than judging the outcome of the decisions made. Ethics can be situational, and certainly the dilemmas or morality and choice have different answers depending on the particular time and place they occur (MacIntyre, 2006).

Analyze the Problem- if we use the utilitarian approach to analyzing a medical problem, we would first ask ourselves who will benefit, how will they benefit, and are there other ways of handinling the issue? The key to understanding how to use a multidisciplinary approach is to take the tools from the philosophical toolbox and then apply them to the medical model.

Conflict between Insights and Sources- Within any philosophical discipline there will be conflict. Using a philosophical approach, there is typically no one single "right" answer given, but rather a process with which to think about, and analyze, a given set of problems. For instance, is euthanasia "always" right; certainly not, but under the right set of circumstances, it might be the kindest option available in a moral sense, but still not acceptable legally.

Create common ground- Common ground is created in medical ethics by finding a process to utilize disparate data and find a more appropriate solution.

Construct a more comprehensive understanding- No "system" or organization is capable of judgment, so it is up to the human professional to decide what is in the best interest of the client. To find a comprehensive understanding, one must pull from the templates and definitions of medical ethics: autonomy, justice, fidelity, beneficence, veracity, non-maleficence, and paternalism (ICN, 2006).