Organizational Change and Ethical-Legal Influences in Advanced Practice Nursing Case Study

Organizational Change and Ethical-Legal Influences in Advanced Practice Nursing Case Study

This scenario involves a patient, a physician, three nurse practitioners and eight medical assistants. Medical assistants are tasked with answering calls from patients, processing laboratory results, and taking prescription renewal requests from pharmacies and patients. Stephanie is a medical assistant with ten years of experience and is very competent at her job. Mrs. Smith visited the facility for her annual physical checkup. Her last checkup was a year ago. Mrs. Smith had a bottle of amoxicillin and requested a refill. The label on the bottle had the patient’s name, the date of a week ago, and the nurse practitioner’s name as the prescriber. The patient informed the nurse practitioner that she called last week with a complaint of a cough and spoke to Stephanie. Neither the nurse practitioner nor the other prescribers recall discussing Mrs. Smith with Stephanie. Do you need help with your assignment ? Reach out to us at eminencepapers.com.

Potential Ethical and Legal Implications for Healthcare Team Members

Healthcare team members have a legal and ethical responsibility to ensure the safety of patients (Haddad & Geiger, 2022). In this scenario, Mrs. Smith is a patient handled by Stephanie, the medical assistant, a nurse practitioner, and a physician. Every healthcare worker has a code of ethics that governs their practice. Healthcare members who harm the patient or go against their code of ethics are held responsible based on their cadre and the harm caused (Haddad & Geiger, 2022). Medical assistants have a code of ethics and principles. The medical assistant receives calls from patients. Stephanie received a phone call and spoke to Mrs. Smith last week about a cough. As a medical assistant, Stephanie approved and refilled Mrs. Smith’s bottle of amoxicillin without routing the phone call to the nurse practitioner. Stephanie later approved the bottle refill using the nurse practitioners. The medical assistant is allowed to document a medication refill indicating the name of the authorizing practitioner; however, it is an ethical and legal violation to indicate the nurse practitioner’s name on the bottle without authority from the nurse practitioner. Medical assistant job descriptions include picking up patients’ phone calls; however, the authority to refill prescriptions or prescribe medications must be given by a licensed nurse practitioner or physician. Stephanie committed an ethical violation by calling in Mrs. Smith’s bottle for amoxicillin. Although Stephanie has ten years of experience as a medical assistant and is competent at her job, legally, she is still required to seek authorization from the nurse practitioner.

Nurse practitioners have prescribing authority (Zhang & Patel, 2022). Medical assistants working with nurse practitioners take prescription renewal requests from patients and inform the nurse practitioners for approval. The medical assistant refilled a bottle without informing the nurse practitioner. Since the nurse practitioner’s name is on the bottle, the nurse practitioner is responsible for any drug reactions or harm caused by the prescribed drug that might affect the patient. The nurse practitioner’s name on the drug bottle indicates that the nurse practitioner approved and authorized the patient to be given this medication. Mrs. Smith was prescribed amoxicillin for her cough. Amoxicillin can cause severe drug reactions in patients who have a penicillin allergy. If such a reaction had occurred, the nurse practitioner would have been held responsible

A medical director is tasked with recruiting healthcare professionals such as nurse practitioners, physicians, and medical assistants (Bayot & Varacallo, 2022). The medical director is, therefore, aware of the job description of a nurse practitioner and a medical assistant before hiring them. The medical director ensures that every staff member is aware of and understands their job description. The medical assistant could have knowingly approved the patient’s medication using the nurse practitioner’s name or because she did not understand her job description. A medical director ensures that the rights of every staff member are respected. The nurse practitioner should forward an official complaint against the medical assistant to the medical director. The medical director must acknowledge that the nurse practitioner’s rights were violated and the legal repercussions that could have occurred.