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2 pages/β‰ˆ550 words
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3 Sources
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APA
Subject:
Social Sciences
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Ethical Challenges Faced by Social Workers in Hospital Settings

Essay Instructions:

Question 3 (30 marks)
a) Analyse THREE (3) ethical challenges that medical social workers may face in hospital setting.
(15 marks)
b) Apply the relevant social work values and code of ethics in the case of a patient intending to withhold (forgoing the treatment which is yet to be initiated) OR withdraw (discontinuing) from dialysis.
(15 marks)
https://sasw(dot)org(dot)sg/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SASW-Code-of-Professional-Ethics-3rd-Revision-online.pdf
Writer One has written an answer and there is input from the teacher, can you improve it based on writer one and the teacher input, thank you. Use headings and Sub headings in your answer even if it is just a few lines of words.
From Writer One:
Question 3 (30 marks)
a) Analyse THREE (3) ethical challenges that medical social workers may face in hospital setting.
(15 marks)
Medical social workers may face three ethical challenges that include the following in a hospital setting.
1. Medical social workers must maintain patient confidentiality and privacy. They must balance patient privacy with the requirement to share information with other healthcare providers to provide better care.
2. End-of-life decision-making. Medical social workers may help families stop life-sustaining treatment or consider advance directives (Heenan & Birrell, 2018). They must respect the patient's wishes while considering ethical and legal issues.
3. Cultural competence. Medical social workers must understand and respect patients' and families' cultures (Heenan & Birrell, 2018). The employees must respect and confront cultural prejudices and conflicts in their initiatives.
b) Apply the relevant social work values and code of ethics in the case of a patient intending to withhold (forgoing the treatment which is yet to be initiated) OR withdraw (discontinuing) from dialysis.
(15 marks)
Healthcare ethical decision-making relies on social work ideals and ethics. Social work values like self-determination, dignity, and social justice apply to patients who want to stop dialysis (Heenan & Birrell, 2018). Social workers must respect patients' freedom to refuse or discontinue treatment under the social work code of ethics. In this scenario, the medical social worker should advise the patient about dialysis's benefits and hazards, the risks of withholding treatment, and the alternatives. Medical social workers should ensure patients' decisions are informed, voluntary, and based on their beliefs and preferences (Heenan & Birrell, 2018). The medical social worker should respect the patient's decision and support their right to self-determination without external pressure or coercion.
Input from teacher:
3a:
- one can write about responsibility to clients vs organisation in terms of privacy and confidentiality - while we're encouraged to work with the family system, to what extend should we disclose information to the patient's family.
- another example can be ethical responsibility towards client vs organisation. when clients refuses to include children in the financial assessments for financial assistance, how should social workers proceed? To honour his/her wishes or to decline them of financial assistance as per the organisations practice.
- You can write about organisation vs professional practice, maybe some hospitals may have unethical practices where they omit certain assessments (i.e. to quicken the helping processes, social workers may have a common practice where they may put little effort to contact family members of the patient to have a more holistic assessment.
3B (Input from teacher)
service to humanity- it is important to understand the reasons to forgo treatment and discontinue diagnosis and ensure that their decision does not threaten their well-being before terminating their case or discontinuing medical services to client
social justice- should the underlying issue be due to organisation practice i.e., rejection of financial aid application, social worker can try to appeal to advocate for client to ensure that medical treatment remains affordable to client, thereby encouraging medical compliance
dignity and worth of a person- to provide patient with relevant information and trust that he/she is able to make an informed decision for themselves.
importance of human relationship- strengthening rapport to encourage medical compliance to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of patient remains protected.
integrity- upholding patient confidentiality and privacy in the process of information gathering, and to act according to the ethical responsibilities to the six stakeholders throughout the process of case management.
competency- SW may involve the Dr in the process of psychoeducating the patient and the family regarding the consequence of their decision, should they decide to discontinue diagnosis and forgo treatment + supervision consultation in the face of this ethical dilemma

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Ethical Challenges Faced by Social Workers in Hospital Settings
Your Name
Department of ABC, University – Whitewater
ABC 101: Course Name
Professor (or Dr.) Firstname Lastname
Date
Ethical Challenges Faced by Social Workers in Hospital Settings
Introduction
Modern health and social care are changing drastically, influenced by technology, financial drive, and emerging strategies like evidence-based and patient-centered care. According to Heenan and Birrell (2018), these changes have resulted in increased ethical challenges social workers face in hospital settings. The three most common ethical challenges include the need to maintain confidentiality & privacy, advising on end-of-life decisions, and cultural competencies.
Maintenance of Confidentiality and Privacy
Confidentiality and privacy are core requirements that should be observed by social workers. Both terms refer to the state of being or keeping information private because every person is entitled to privacy. Most social work clients are going through issues that they don't want exposed to other people like family members. Yet, social workers need to work with family members. Regarding medical attention, social care workers must also share information with healthcare professionals or health organizations that may go against client demands. According to Heenan and Birrell (2018), healthcare professionals require all the information they need to make vital medication decisions. However, social workers may find themselves in an ethical dilemma where the client or patient does not want some information to be shared. In other cases, only the patient is in a position to share the information. It leaves the social worker in an ethical dilemma if they fail to. In this case, Boland (2016) suggested consideration of the client's best interest, like health.
End-of-Life Decision-Making
Hospital settings also provide situations where decisions should be made to end a patient's life. Examples include a chronic illness patient in a coma whose family can no longer sustain the medical bills. Such decisions are challenging because they are engulfed with emotions, religious views, cultural positions, and rational thoughts emerging from a lack of funds or a burden on the family. According to Bruun et al. (2022), such a situation places social workers in an ethical dilemma where they must either support or oppose end-of-life decisions. Regardless ...
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