Assessment 5
Tonya’s Case
Write a 2–3 page paper that examines end-of-life issues in relationship to hospitals,
professional ethics, and accrediting bodies.
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How Institutional Conceptual Frameworks Influence
Ethical Decision Making
We wrap things up by exploring institutions and groups designed to help ensure that
hospital staff at all levels think and act ethically in caring for patients. Accrediting bodies
are oversight agencies charged with performing accreditation of hospitals and helping to
establish standards for health care delivery. Their aim is to keep the quality of care as high
as possible and to make sure the care is delivered ethically. Ethics committees are groups
of individuals within hospitals that meet regularly to advise staff on ethically difficult
cases and to promote an ethical institutional culture.
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the
following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:
Competency 2: Apply sound ethical thinking related to a health care issue.
o Demonstrate sound ethical thinking in applying ethical principles and
moral theories to a specific case.
Competency 3: Analyze ethical issues associated with patient care from the
perspectives of various health care professionals.
o Explain professional codes of ethics and apply them in to a specific
case.
Competency 4: Explain the conceptual framework that health care leaders use
to make ethical decisions.
o Explain organizational documents like mission and value statements
and use them to analyze a case study.
o Explain the role of accrediting bodies and applies this understanding
in analyzing a case study.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and
respectful of the diversity, dignity, and integrity of others and is consistent with
health care professionals.
o Provides validation and support within written communications by
including relevant examples and supporting evidence using APA
citations.
o Produce writing with minimal errors in grammar, usage, spelling, and
mechanics.
Preparation
Complete the Case Study: Tonya Archer media activity, which is linked later in this
assessment.
Before you begin creating your submission for this assessment, make sure you have
worked through the Tonya Archer case study. This will provide the foundational context
for the assessment, for which you will be carrying out independent research by using the
Internet to complete the following:
Identify the professional code of ethics for your professional specialty or a
specialty that you are interested in.
With a local hospital in mind (perhaps one you work for), locate the mission,
vision, and values statement of that hospital.
After you identify the professional ethics code and the hospital mission, vision, and values
statements relevant to your work and interests, it may be useful to complete the
following:
Identify which item in the ethical code you believe is the most important and
explain why.
Name something in the code you would like to see addressed in more depth.
Why?
Which item in the code do you think would be the most challenging to follow
and why?
Does your code make an explicit distinction between what is legal and what is
ethical? That is, is the code clear that, while an action may be legal, it may not be
ethical?
Finally, how well does your professional code of ethics align with the mission
and values statement of your hospital? Can you imagine a situation in which
following one would make it challenging to follow the other?
Instructions
For this assessment you will apply some concepts we have learned in the course,
particularly those relating to the basic principles of health care ethics, professional codes
of ethics, and values of health care institutions.
Write a paper that answers the following questions as it relates to the Tonya Archer Case
Study:
What are the most relevant end-of-life issues in health care ethics as they
relate to this case?
What should the hospital do? Should doctors simply keep Tonya on life support,
as the parents want? Or, since all medical evidence indicates that Tonya’s brain
damage is permanent, should life support be removed?
Support your answer with the following considerations in mind:
Explain which principles of health care ethics and which moral theory are the
best philosophical foundations for your view.
Is your view supported by your professional code of ethics? If so, explain how. If
not, explain what your code gets wrong about a case like this.
Is your view consistent with the mission statement and values of the hospital
you identified in your independent research you conducted to prepare to
complete this assessment?
Would an accrediting body, like The Joint Commission, support your choice?
Why or why not?
Submission Requirements
Your paper should meet the following requirements:
Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract
from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current
APA style and formatting guidelines. Refer to Evidence and APA for guidance.
Length: 2–3 typed, double-spaced pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Scoring Guide
Use the scoring guide to understand how your assessment will be evaluated.
View Scoring Guide
