by Ronal Perdomo Lugo Number of replies: 0Healthcare professionals play an esse

by Ronal Perdomo Lugo
Number of replies: 0Healthcare professionals play an essential role in ensuring that patients’ rights are respected and protected during their medical care. Some of the elements that are addressed in the link presented are:
High quality in hospital care: One of the fundamental rights of patients is to receive high quality medical care. Healthcare professionals should strive to provide an exceptional standard of care, based on scientific evidence and good clinical practice. This involves informed decision making and patient-centred care to ensure that treatment and care are effective and safe. A clean and safe environment: Safety and cleanliness are crucial to patient well-being. Healthcare professionals must maintain a clean and safe hospital environment to prevent infections and injuries. This includes compliance with hygiene protocols and proper management of medical waste to ensure patient safety. Participation in your care: Patients have the right to actively participate in their health care and make informed decisions. This promotes the need to encourage open communication with patients, providing clear and understandable information about their diagnosis, treatment and available options. This allows patients to be involved in decisions related to their health. Protecting your privacy: Respect for patient privacy is a fundamental right. In all actions carried out, the confidentiality of patients’ medical and personal information must be maintained. This involves secure access to medical records and discreet communication about patients’ health status. Assistance when leaving the hospital: Patients have the right to a safe and coordinated transition when leaving the hospital. Health services and providers must ensure that patients receive clear instructions about post-hospital care, including medications and medical follow-up. This helps prevent later health problems and promotes a successful recovery. Help with billing claims: Medical billing processes can be complicated and confusing. People who can offer advice to clients are trained on this and should be available to help patients with their billing claims, providing detailed information on costs and payment options. This ensures that patients do not face unfair charges and can address any billing issues effectively.
In summary, the team of professionals and workers who make up health care services have the responsibility of ensuring that patients’ rights are respected and protected at all stages of their medical care. This involves providing high-quality care, maintaining a safe and clean environment, encouraging patient participation, protecting privacy, facilitating post-hospital transition, and offering assistance with billing issues. By fulfilling these elements, they can significantly contribute to patients’ positive healthcare experience (Kwame & Petrucka, 2022).
References
Kwame, A., & Petrucka, P. M. (2022). Universal healthcare coverage, patients’ rights, and nurse-patient communication: a critical review of the evidence. BMC Nurs, 54.
by Cristina Rodrigues Goncalves – Wednesday, September 20, 2023, 2:47 PM
Number of replies: 0 The AHA Bill of Rights
The American Hospital Association, in very plain language, describes what patients should expect whenever they visit a healthcare center, expectations that can, in other words, be termed as patient rights. To meet the provisions of the rights, the AHA defines that healthcare professionals ought to be committed to working with patients as well as their family members to meet the patient’s needs (American Hospital Association, 2023). In light of this knowledge, this discussion presents some of the strategies that healthcare professionals can adopt to ensure that they uphold and protect patients’ rights.
The AHA recognizes high-quality hospital care as the first right that all patients should be accorded. In the contemporary world, high-quality hospital care may be defined as a form of care that is free from prejudice/discrimination based on any social, economic, political, ethnic, gender, and/or sexuality reasons (American Hospital Association, 2023). Healthcare professionals are obligated to provide equal attention and treatment to all because everyone deserves it regardless of their identity. Thus, avoiding biases would eradicate any instances of negligence, hence guaranteeing constant and consistent attention to the needs of a patient, which can primarily be defined as high-quality hospital care for that patient.
Additionally, patients are entitled to a clean and safe environment when in hospital. Healthcare professionals, as well as healthcare facility owners, can assure safety and cleanliness by ensuring that their facilities are not overcrowded. Overcrowding in any social amenity automatically translates to unsafe/unclean living standards, which would be hazardous in the case of overcrowding in a hospital due to the risk of disease outbreaks from communicable diseases. Safety may also be assured through ensuring proper lighting to prevent accidents and falls, as well as proper dumping of used tools such as needles and scalpels.
The AHA Bill of Rights also introduces the protection of patient privacy as a right that patients should enjoy (American Hospital Association, 2023). Patient privacy has always been crucial and sensitive, making physician-patient confidentiality a critical factor in the care delivery process. Therefore, healthcare professionals have to ensure that patient information is not disclosed to other parties unless the patient has authorized. This is because some information may lead to outcomes such as stigmatization of a patient if it falls into the wrong hands. Therefore, the protection of patient information, which includes locking up files and electronic data with passwords only known to a few authorized persons, would be an effective strategy for promoting and protecting this patient right.
The AHA also stipulates that patients need to be involved in their care. In line with one of the core principles of biomedical ethics, which is the principle of patient autonomy, healthcare professionals have the duty to include patients in the decision-making process in regard to their care plans (Beauchamp & Childress, 2019). Recent research has established that when patients are involved in their care delivery process through inquiries of what they would like, the level of satisfaction with their care is often higher than when they are not. Additionally, compliance with guidelines, medications, and other procedures is also higher when patients are involved in their care. Therefore, healthcare professionals should effectively engage patients with questions and inquiries regarding their preferences in the quest to meet this right, as suggested by the AHA.
References
American Hospital Association. (2023). The patient care partnership | AHA. https://www.aha.org/other-resources/patient-care-p…
Beauchamp, T., & Childress, J. (2019). Principles of biomedical ethics: marking its fortieth anniversary. The American Journal of Bioethics, 19(11), 9-12. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265…