Critical Decision Making
In the daily scope of practice, health practitionners are faced with various dilemmas on the appropriate decisions to take. It therefore requires critital thinking and critical decision making to create abalance between the benefits of the decisions made and the possible consequences of the decision. In the case of mike, he is facedon a dilemma on where to secure the working environment by removing the spill or simply ignoring it and deal with his risk of termination. Both of the two decisions, when taken, will great an impact on the integrity of mikes practice as a lab technician. It is therefore upon him to ensure that he comes up with a decision that will create a balance between the effects and the benefits of the decisions. However, it is important for mike to acknowledge that patient safety is the overall goal of health care practice. Therefore, it would be quite easy to explain his ordeal to supervisor as opposed to dealing with patient accidents caused by the spill.
From his scenario, it is quite clear that in critical decision making, one should ensure that the benefits of the decision taken outweigh the risks (Monahan, 2016). An illustration of this aspect is the scenario in Mike’s case. In this case study, the decision to report to the housekeeping is important as it improves the safety of the patients and the staff as a whole. Therefore, the safety benefits of this decision outweigh the possible risks of facing termination. This is because mike could easily explain to his supervisor the circumstances that led to his lateness in clocking into work. This scenario helps in understanding the key aspects of decision making
Consequences of Failure to Report
As a result of Mike’s failure to report the case of the spill to the housekeeping department, patient safety was undermined. The report illustrates a case of a patient who sustained a hip injury secondary to sliding on the spill. This not only affected the patient but caused a cloud of guilt over Mike. He had the constant regret for his action and the possible ways he would have prevented the injury from occurring. It is therefore important to note that failure to report not only affected the patient but mike too.
Also, the safety of the hospital was questionable. This is evident when the patient blames the hospital for failure to protect its patients from injury. Therefore, mike decision impacted the hospital image by portraying it as an unsafe place for the patients.
Impact of his decision.Due to his failure to report the problem to the concerned party, the safety of the patient was interfered. This is because the spill created an unsafe patient environment by exposing the patients to the risk of sliding. An example of the case of reduced safety is evidenced by a woman who slid and fall sustaining a hip injury. Mike’s decision, therefore, reduced the ability of the hospital to secure and protect its patients from harm in the hospital environment.
Other than patient safety, his decision also affected the organization’s quality metrics. Thisis evidenced when the patient questions the hospital’s role in protecting its patients. It is therefore evident that the quality of the services in the hospital unit was undermined and considered unsecured for the patients.
There was an increase in the workload of the other department s to Mike’s decision to ignore the spill. The physiotherapist department had to offer physical therapy to the patient to restore the normal function of the joint injured during the accident (Kepner, 2017). Also, the nursing department had a role in assisting the patient to performself-care activities due to the inability caused by the dislocation of the hip joint. The occupational therapists are also faced with a role to come up with the various supportive devices to aid the patient in walking. His decision to ignore the problem increased the workload of the various department in the hospital.
His action is likely to attract a legal action taken against the hospital organization for ignorance of their role in patient safety. Thisis evidenced by the fact that the patient blames the hospital for her ordeal and is likely to sue the hospital for its laxity in providing patient safety.This is a legit action since the ignorance of the staff members in ensuring patient safety was the primary cause of the accident.
As mike’s manager, I would train him on the importance of patient safety as the primary role of the health professionals after which I would suspend him as a disciplinary measure. (Frensch, 2015) indicates disciplinary action should be taken against health malpractices to enhance effiency. This is important as it will act as a caution for the other staff members thus preventing future reoccurrence of the same mistake. This is important as it will also help learn the consequences of his decision and therefore develop appropriate critical decision-making skills in his future experiences as a lab technician.
From this illustration, it is important to learn that critical decision making is an essential skill in the scope of practice of healthcare personnel. (Armstrong, 2011) suggests that the role of the hospital to enhance the skills of its employees in this skill through various training programs.
References
Armstrong, Jon Scott (2011). “Role playing: a method to forecast decisions.”In Armstrong, Jon Scott. Principles of forecasting: a handbook for researchers and practitioners. International series in operations research & management science. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 15–30
Frensch, Peter A.; Funke, Joachim, eds. (2015). Complex problem solving: the European perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kepner, Charles Higgins; Tregoe, Benjamin B. (2017) . The new rational manager: an updated edition for a new world (Updated ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton Research Press.
Monahan, George E. (2016). Management decision making: spreadsheet modeling, analysis, and application. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 33–40.
