Administrative Ethics The health care field is surrounded by ethics policies and guidelines; there is just no escaping it. Health care administration is an area where ethical policies are not just guidelines, but instead, they are very specific and strict rules. Health care administration employees have to be knowledgeable about the ethics that surround the medical industry, including patient care and confidentiality. The administrative side of health care follows all the paper work side, including patient charts and data, billing, insurance, deductibles, and medical history. With all this knowledge being accessible, it is imperative that the administration side understands the ethics surrounding health care inside and out so that patient confidentiality is not hindered. A health care administrator has a responsibility to one’s self, the organization they are employed by, as well as the consumer and fellow employees to uphold and abide by ethical guidelines. “With the growth of information systems one ethical concern that continually presents itself to the administrator is confidentiality of information” (Badzek, 1998). For an administrator, confidential information is not just simply private information, but also information that includes the organization as a business and place of employment. Being responsible for this medical information means being able to manage and be aware of ethical procedures and being able to make the hard decisions accordingly. Breaching ethical confidentiality can mean consequences of personal and business liability; even well-intentioned acts can cause strife for a health care organization. However, it is the organizations responsibility to provide appropriate educational programs, and they have quality policies and procedures in place, so that employees have resources and knowledge to conquer those hard scenarios. The article that I focused on talks about ethical issues concerning privacy within the workplace and protecting employees. Often times when we thing about ethics and privacy, we primarily focus on the patients; employees are also covered under privacy and ethics. The article focuses on a nurse who is employed within a hospital and floats among many of the different departments. This nurse gets caught stealing pain medication for her own personal use rather than using it appropriately for patients. The head of the nursing department is made aware of the situation and is stuck between informing the rest of the nursing staff to prevent any separation within the department and to identify those who may have been aware of the situation; or should she protect the identity of the nurse. The hospital and lead nurse came to an agreement about consequence for the particular nurse, but another nurse that was involved thought it would be appropriate to report her to the state nursing board for reprimand, as well as inform the rest of the nursing staff. While these may both seem appropriate actions, it was agreed upon to keep this confidential if the nurse that got in trouble agreed to complete a rehabilitation program. The dilemma here is - whose business is it really when an employee violates an ethical policy? Does everyone in the hospital need to know about it? Only those who were directly involved? Does the employee’s career need to be over due to a mistake or lapse in judgment? Often times when patients are concerned it is slightly less complicated; when an employee’s privacy is concerned it can get a bit greyer. Ultimately, it is the hospitals responsibility to follow through with the regulations set fourth when an employee violates the rules of employment. This often times does not happen, because employees can reflect on the organization as well as other employees, especially supervisors. While it is not clear what exactly did or should have happened, it is a great article to make an organization understand that ethics can involve staff as well as consumers. The hope is that one day ethics will no longer be an issue; it will be a “black and white subject.” Hopefully, through “discussion, retrospective analysis, and ethics education, innovative ways to effectively answer difficult questions concerning confidentiality information will emerge” (Badzek, 1998).

Reference
Badzek, L.A., Bower, M.M., Marra, S.E., Mitchell, K., Administrative Ethics and Confidentiality/Privacy Issues. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Retrieved from: http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol31998/No3Dec1998/PrivacyIssues.aspx