Access to Care Case Study Evaluation Assignment

Access to Care Case Study Evaluation Assignment
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Table of Contents
 TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc369093431"
Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc369093431 \h
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Access to care issues  PAGEREF _Toc369093432 \h
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Identifying problems  PAGEREF _Toc369093433 \h
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Patient rights  PAGEREF _Toc369093434 \h
3
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Patient Responsibilities  PAGEREF _Toc369093435 \h
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Ethical Principles  PAGEREF _Toc369093436 \h
4
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Elements of liability  PAGEREF _Toc369093437 \h
4
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Total Quality Management  PAGEREF _Toc369093438 \h
5
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Conclusion  PAGEREF _Toc369093439 \h
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Introduction
The American Medical Association has an obligation of ensuring that every citizen has access to adequate healthcare. This is highlighted by the fact that a just society should provide fair protection (in terms of healthcare) to all its members (American Association of Nursing, n.d). Therefore, access to care issues could be elucidated as the problems hindering the availability of quality health care to all citizens. A case study involving Jill, Dr. Jones, and Dr. Smith had multiple problems that hindered Jill’s access to quality healthcare. Some of the problems include communication obstacles, elements of liability, patient rights, and patient responsibilities. This paper tackles all the aforementioned obstacles, access to care issues, and total quality management steps that can help improve the efficiency of the hospital under discussion.
Access to care issues
One of the issues (access to care) was evident in the case study when Dr. Smith declined Jill’s medical records (at her first appointment) from her Boston neurologist. This owes to the truth that in a case involving Nurse Jolene Tuma and her patient, the nurse was charged after providing the patient with information devoid of the healthcare provider’s consent (Brooke, 2011). Dr. Smith would have used the records from Jill’s history to understand her case and provide a better remedy to the patient. Additionally, Dr. Jones gave Jill a prescription of two months despite the truth that she was not her healthcare provider. According to Brooke, (2011) one should not interfere with a colleague’s professional-patient relationship by treating their patient without the consent of the healthcare provider. This hinders the provision of adequate healthcare because it is essential to understand a patient’s history before making decisions that may affect the patient. Another issue is whereby Dr. Smith agreed to help his colleague Dr. Jones who was busy and unavailable. According to Brooke, (2011) one should not accept additional responsibility when they are too busy with other patients. Clearly, Jill could not access adequate healthcare owing to the issues described above.
Identifying problems
The case study in question had a number of problems that affected all the parties involved in the case. It follows that these problems could be categorized into patient rights, patient responsibilities, ethical principles, and elements of liability.
Patient rights
According to the Florida Patient’s Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, a patient is entitled to a quick response to requests. This right was infringed upon when Jill’s call went unanswered. In fact, no one replied when she left a message requesting for a refill to her prescriptions (no one called her back after twenty-four hours). Jill’s prescription had not been refilled one week after her initial request. The same Bill of rights also reveals that a patient has the right to know the rules and regulations applying to their conduct. This was not the case for Jill because she was never informed that a patient must follow-up an appointment after running out of prescriptions. After Jill failed to reach Dr. Smith, she paged him twice. However, she did not get a response, which contradicts Florida’s Bill of rights that affirms a patient should be treated with respect and dignity.
Patient Responsibilities
The aforementioned Bill of rights gives several responsibilities to patients. After a thorough analysis of the case study under discussion, it becomes clear that Jill met her patient responsibilities. For instance, it is the responsibility of a patient to report unexpected changes in their condition to their healthcare provider. Jill adhered to this responsibility because she opted to fly back to Boston for evaluation after realizing that medications were no longer working. The bill of rights further reveals that it is the responsibility of the patient to provide their healthcare provider with information regarding past illnesses, present complaints, and medications. Jill complied with this resp...