Visit http://www.aha.org/advocacy-issues/communicatingpts/pt-care-partnership.shtml and review the American Hospital Association’s Patients’ Bill of Rights. Discuss how health care professionals can ensure that patients’ rights are upheld and protected. Instructions: Post your discussion to the Moodle Discussion Forum. Word limit 500 words. Reply to at least two other student posts with a reflection of their response. Please make sure to provide citations and references (in APA format) for your work. This is the discussion that I want to reply: i have to put any reference too. The Patient’s Bill of Rights was first adopted by the American Hospital Association in 1973. It was developed with the expectation that healthcare institutions would support these rights in the interest of delivering effective and high-quality patient care. The American Hospital Association encourages institutions to translate the Bill of Rights to meet the needs of their specific patient populations and to make patient rights and responsibilities understandable to patients and their families. According to this organization, a patient’s rights can be exercised on this or her behalf by a designated surrogate or proxy decision-maker if the patient lacks decision-making capacity, is legally incompetent, or is a minor. This law tries to reach three major goals: Helping patients feel more confident in the US health care system; assuring the health care system is fair and it works to meet patients’ needs and giving them a way to address any problems they may have. In this sense, the Patient’s Bill of Rights encourages patients to take an active role in staying or getting healthy, to stress the importance of a strong relationship between patients and their health care providers and to point out the key role patients play in staying healthy by laying out rights and responsibilities for all patients and their providers.
Healthcare professional can ensure that patients’ rights are upheld and protected by following this legal body statements. Some actions professionals can follow could be provide accurate and easily understandable information to patients. Carefully explain patient’s health plans. Provide special attention to patient with special needs as language, physical or mental disabilities. Help should be given to patients so they can make informed health care decisions and choose what is the best interest for them. Healthcare personnel must provide access to emergency services to all patients no matter their payment capability, also they should let patients taking part in treatment decisions. Respect and non-discrimination are other aspects promoted by the Patient’s Bill of Rights and the right of confidentiality (privacy) of health information.
Sources
American Patient Rights Association (2020). Accessed on Saturday, January 16th 2021 on https://www.emedicinehealth.com/patient_rights/article_em.htm
Patrick Charles (2020). What are patient s rights ? Emedicinehealth. Retrieved on Saturday, January 16th 2021 from https://www.emedicinehealth.com/patient_rights/article_em.htm
Module 3 Discussion
The Bill of Rights informs patients what to expect during their hospital stays. In the hospital, patients are entitled to various rights, which care providers must help them achieve. According to the bill, patients should expect care providers to offer high-quality care, a clean and safe environment, involved care, protected privacy, and help with hospital bills and clearance when leaving the hospital. Healthcare providers must ensure that these rights are upheld and protected by fulfilling their professional duties under healthcare ethics.
Healthcare organizations require care providers to work with patients, provide quality care, and collaborate with patients’ families to meet patient needs and fulfill the duty of care. Healthcare organizations implement human rights in hospitals and, through them, devise patient rights (Masic & Izetbegovic, 2014, p.61). In meeting the duty of care and honoring patient rights such as high-quality care and privacy protection, healthcare providers must meet quality and timely care services (Masic & Izetbegovic, 2014, p.61). According to healthcare standards, quality care involves care provider error reduction, perfecting the care art, and implementing bias-free care that coincides with healthcare ethics (Masic & Izetbegovic, 2014, p.61). Once care providers commit themselves to error reduction, ethical care practices, and non-biased care practices, they position themselves on course to enhancing their involvement in patient care and focus on high-quality care. Additionally, ethical and professional care providers provide patient privacy by safeguarding their data while maintaining a clean and safe healthcare environment to limit medical errors.
Patient right to privacy is one of the greatest care provider roles that need protection. Right to privacy includes care provider restriction of third-party access to information (Demirsoy & Kirimlioglu, 2016, p.1438). Patients’ right to privacy also includes bodily privacy (Demirsoy & Kirimlioglu, 2016, p.1438). Participating in patient wellness and upholding and protecting their rights requires care providers to be involved in the care process and provide a safe environment that respects the right to privacy. Care providers focused on protecting patient rights aim not to intervene in patient family personal issues, not allowing people directly involved in the care process to be present during medical intervention processes, and allowing friends and family to accompany patients, especially if the company carries an insignificant medical disadvantage (Demirsoy & Kirimlioglu, 2016, p.1440). Care providers can also uphold and protect patients’ rights by their healthcare organizations’ care principles, focusing on comprehensiveness, providing care continuity, and ensuring their availability when needed (Masic & Izetbegovic, 2014, p.62). If care providers abide by these requirements, they meet patient expectations during hospital stays and, as a result, uphold and protect patient rights.
Healthcare providers meet patient expectations during hospital stays through their professionalism regarding their healthcare ethics duty. Care providers can meet patient expectations by providing a safe and clean care environment and protecting patient privacy needs.
References
Demirsoy, N., & Kirimlioglu, N. (2016). Protection of privacy and confidentiality as a patient
right: Physicians’ and nurses’ viewpoints. Biomedical Research, 27(4), 1437-1448.
Masic, I., & Izetbegovic, S. (2014). The role of medical staff in providing patients’
rights. Medical Archives, 68(1), 61-64.
Reply to Colleague
I agree that the law of patient rights seeks to help patients feel better, assures fairness in the healthcare system, and addresses all patient issues arising during the care process. As you point out, some of the steps healthcare providers can observe to uphold and protect patient rights include paying special attention to their patients, providing access to emergency services, and taking part in care decisions. I want to add that healthcare professionals should receive the relevant training regarding professional practice, upholding and protecting patient rights, and the significance and steps to maintain and restore patient health (Masic & Izetbegovic, 2014, p.64). I believe that professional care providers understand the duty of care and focus on serving patients to the best of their ability. However, for healthcare organizations to train and motivate care providers to uphold and protect patient rights, they need to survey their healthcare practices and focus on individual and organizational responsibility.
References
Masic, I., & Izetbegovic, S. (2014). The role of medical staff in providing patients’
rights. Medical Archives, 68(1), 61-64.