Problems of Justice in Policy

Problems of Justice in Policy

Justice refers to giving one what they are due. Its measurements are based on equality, fairness, and desire or any other tool that can be used as criteria for measuring justice. In the nursing field, it concentrates on the access to scarce resource allocation and access to equitable care. Ethical values are a fundamental aspect of any healthcare provider here. They ensure one makes the right decisions over the wrong ones. Ethical values are the worldwide code of conduct that gives a practice the basis the kind of motives, intentions, and actions that are valued. Ethics surrounding healthcare are vital since nurses have to pinpoint healthcare dilemmas, make good decisions, and judgments based on the values they hold and adhere to the laws which govern them at the same time.  However, this comes with a lot of problems in policy justice (Baker College, 2007) as evident in the case of a community health nursing agency in Midwestern County.

In as much as equitable access to care in nursing is well described, sometimes the nurses who are supposed to render the care are not available. A scenario is seen when Jann Beech wants an argent resource allocation to give care for the adults that will be staffed by nurse practitioners in her clinic citing if such care is given improvements in the current statistics would improve. The people getting the care need to have an assurance that the care they seek to get or have should be readily available to them. However, in nursing access to the practice of interstate put into considerations the demographic issues. The issues of whether nurses work in part or full time also arises here. According to Berridege & Levy (2019), nurses are supported to be on duty to attend to the needs of the patient at all times but is this right to the caregiver who also needs time with their family. The problem associated with whether a nurse with high expertise can go in a high demand state also arises here. If practitioners in the refereed region are low skilled on critical care, a question on whether or not it is okay for them to render services to go to the other state where they are highly needed arises. If the director of the community health agency agrees to Beech’s request, she will cross the ceiling on the amount of funds allocated for new programs and that will be breaching policies that are set to regulate such issues.

The underlying problem in policy justice here is need. Critical care expertise is needed in two states and the nurses to give this service are scarce. If they work longer, travel long distances, and worked harder, they will not meet the ethical principle of justice which then makes the issue a problem of justice in the policy. The persons in charge may decide to give the nurses commensurate salaries which would make the situation fare, but then financial resources are finite meaning someone somewhere is deprived in need of commensuration the salaries of those nurses which rises another problem.

Scarce nursing resource allocation is difficult within the field especially when both a poor and rich state is in question. A scenario is when Susan Chinn, an associate of a community health nursing agency in a large Midwestern county requests that the organization provides counselling services for pregnant teenagers.  Justice should be served well in the areas that are affected by the financial resource which is a concern since, in such a scenario, the standards of justice that are needed are very high. There is an agreement that the interest of the patient should come before the organization’s as well as the nurses’ interest. This rises confusion in cases where the later believes action is good for the patient and the hospital at large. If the director agrees to this request, the ceiling on the amount allocated for new programs will be breached and this will interfere with the financial operations of the health system. It may be well intended but cost the organization in a big negative way. Sometimes actions may seem good, but they infringe on the patient’s rights which rises a problem — overruling the patient’s paternalism where there is categorization of paternalism as week and strong where strong paternalism refers to interactions that are meant to protect the patient regardless of the fact that patients’ choices that are risky are autonomous, voluntarily, and informed (Mullen et al. 2019). Weak paternalism is when nurses are giving patient protection regarding the fact that the patient cannot make a proper decision because of the influence of medication of depression. This ends up bringing problems to the medical practitioners whose positions require that they give a patient’s the necessary care in cases of decision-making impairment capabilities.

The problems of justice in policies mostly arises in cases of ethical dilemmas. Proper ethical decisions are essential for health workers in the community health nursing agency in the Midwestern County.  It is a foundation for the health practitioners who are dealing with ethical dilemmas every day. The dilemmas come about when nurses take care of patients. Sometimes they conflict with the nurses’ ethical values or patients. In as much as the nurses have a moral and just responsibility to their profession, themselves, and their patients to enhance ethical principles of the highest order, sometimes they can be breached such as in cases of weak paternalism to help the client, but this raises problems in justice.  The community health nursing agency has a board that deal with ethics; however major problems of justice in policy especially in the presence of these boards. Advocating for patient’s rights, ethical consideration for practice, and care is important.

References.

Baker College. (2017, Summer). ENG 1010 College Composition I [Class handout]. Flint, MI: Baker College