Accountability Is a Fundamental Part of Healthcare Practice

Accountability Is a Fundamental Part of Health and Social Care Practice

Introduction

This essay will focus on accountability, along with different dimensions in health and social care. For Instance, various areas of accountability are self-accountability, employer, law, patients and professionals. In the healthcare organisation, people are responsible for record keeping, and it can promote accountability. In different professions, accountability has been valued and supported to enhance the visibility of business outcomes.

Accountability can be referred to as a higher level of activity than responsibility. It does not merely designate who is responsible for an action. It also requires that a person who undertakes a task can provide a pertinent explanation

Defining Accountability and Importance in Relation to Care Practice 

Accountability is about taking responsibility for actions. It can also be termed as answerability in corporations and society. In the context of healthcare, individuals or experts must be competent to play their role, asked him, in the best interest of patients. Accountability is another name of responsibility, as every individual is responsible for his actions. Critically, in the healthcare industry or institutions, accountability has not been depicted according to expectations. In any healthcare organisation, experts cannot facilitate or harm all patients. The management of the company must create a culture of accountability to make a well-functioning healthcare organisation. Top management is responsible for its actions, along with the entire organisation. Patient care is the top priority of the company, and the senior management must communicate some expectations to all key stakeholders to make them accountable. Accountability is the best way to achieve and maximise healthcare outcomes.  Enhancing the task incentive is also a key consideration in the healthcare organisation, and accountability shapes the path accordingly (Tilley and Watson, 2004).

Before creating the culture of accountability in health and social care, it seems imperative to understand some essential pillars. Accountability revolves around these pillars, as even without a single component, objectives cannot be met.

Pillars of Accountability for Health and Social Care Practitioners

Self, legal, Ethical, employer, and professional regulators are pillars of accountability for health and social care practitioners. Each component is to be elaborated in a separate section.

Self: Living with action is essential. “Self” is one of the most prominent pillars of accountability. Health and social care practitioners must be accountable to themselves. For Instance, doctors and administration must be responsible for either good or bad things in the organisations, and it shapes positive or favourable behaviour. Ultimately, it creates a positive impact on overall healthcare outcomes. Care practitioners must have to understand the strategy and objectives of the health firm, which is triggered by the patient’s needs and wants. Working honestly on the patient-oriented strategy to improve results justifies the responsibility (Caulfield, 2005).

Legal: Health and social care practitioners must be answerable for their actions, decisions, and intentions. The most important thing is to be accountable to patients by integrating with healthcare and social laws. Care duty and position of trust must be maintained adequately to create a culture of accountability. The health organisation can shape policy, which is to be aligned with state regulations, and the level of accountability can be measured accordingly.

Ethical: Ethical considerations must be depicted to improve the healthcare system. For Instance, if a firm operates in the United Kingdom, then it must uphold or integrate with the law. Instead of following procedures or obtaining benefits, police involvement in criminal activities is an ethical consideration to offer treatment to the whole society. Code of conduct or code of ethics must be shared or communicated to practitioners to shape the behaviour accordingly. In short, accountability in the healthcare organisation can be justified by prioritising patient or society needs instead of business benefits (Wilkinson et al., 2008 ).

Employer: The culture of accountability can be created and maintained by fulfilling the employer’s expectations. Also, healthcare practitioners can integrate with internal policies and procedures and participate in mandatory training activities. One of the prominent expectations of the employer is that employees will work according to instructions or within the competency framework. Due to possible loopholes in the internal environment, whistleblowing can also be useful, which can rationalise accountability.

Professional Regulators: Accountability needs some fundamental professional obligations.  For Instance, Health and Social Care Practitioners must be registered to build trust. Occupational norms are to be developed by these people to contribute to healthcare outcomes incredibly.

Investigating Local and professionally prescribed code of ethical conduct

Code of conduct and professional registration apply to my role in the healthcare organisation. Being a key stakeholder of the healthcare company, I have to contain some ethical considerations. It has been revealed that accountability is associated with the local and a professional code of conduct. The employer can shape the code of ethics for all employees in the company to follow the right path and avoid any unfair means. The code of conduct makes the employee responsible, answerable, and liable.  In the local or professional code of conduct, the position of the patient has been legalised, and the employer can measure the level of accountability accordingly. Laws indicate a patient’s conditions along with the possible behaviour of healthcare practitioners. Being a healthcare professional, I am accountable regarding my actions and behaviours, which can be depicted to ensure exceptional care and respect. I am responsible for acts, not bills. Accountability commonly relies on different laws, which are passed in the code of conduct or code of ethics. Integrating with healthcare bills seems ethical, but it is not the obligation to be accountable (De Cruz, 2005)

Displaying Awareness of code of conduct & Problem-solving Skills to Ethical Dilemma

• General Data Protection

Awareness of code of conduct is better for stakeholders, especially employees or practitioners, to learn new skills to enhance general data protection. Due to emerging technology in healthcare, a practitioner needs the patient’s data to work with them and improve healthcare quality. However, the code of conduct makes these practitioners accountable regarding data privacy and security. The code of ethics may teach practitioners to not reveal information even without any possible impact on the patient and the business. Also, practitioners have to protect the data, as any leakage can harm both treatment and patient. Consequently, the most important thing is to understand the objectivity or purpose of the code of conduct and improve credibility.

• Confidentiality

Possible moral imperatives can emerge in a complicated situation. It seems a big challenge for practitioners to deal with the potential ethical dilemma. Keeping the patient’s record confidential is an ethical consideration, even if it is allowed by the law. There is a difference between treating fairly and treating with respect and confidentiality is a critical element in this regard. The code of conduct helps to learn how to get rid of this situation. The confusion regarding the data protection act 1998 and freedom of information act 2000 is quite visible. Thus, to get rid of this ethical dilemma, the practitioners must share the information when it is only encouraged. Sharing or protecting ad information is not absolute in the law, as it depends on the situation (Seedhouse, 2009).

• Informed consent

Consent is abided by the code of conduct.  The patent must permit practitioners for any treatment. Healthcare companies must demonstrate respect for autonomy. The ethical dilemma may occur when the practitioner has to deal with a mentally ill person. It seems unethical to start treatment without consent. However, the moral imperative is to treat the patient at any cost without consent to save a life. Of course, the practitioner will go for benefits for patients, and it is the lesson that the code of ethics or code of conduct can teach (Dimond, 2015).

• Record Keeping

Principles of best practices can help practitioners. Evidence-based criminal practices, continuity of care, administrative and management decisions, day-to-day operations, and improvements in clinical effectiveness are vital principles, and these can also be associated with accountability. Ethically, even without fear of being penalised, practitioners should be factual, consistent, and accurate (Wilkinson et al., 2008). An ethical dilemma occurs when the practitioner has to maintain a patient’s record. Just keeping the record is enough. Ethically, according to the conduct, clear evidence of the care planned must be illustrated to justify the most prominent moral imperative. The healthcare organisation must streamline the code of conduct and practice it effectively to make people accountable, especially practitioners (Beauchamp and Childress, 2008)

Conclusion

In the end, it is to conclude that healthcare organisations need to focus on accountability. The code of conduct can be revised or changed to emphasise accountability. The internal policy of the company must be aligned with the objective and strategy of the health firm. The study elaborated the accountability pillars, relevance with the code of conduct, and role of a code of conduct in a different complicated situation. General data protection, recordkeeping, consent, and confidentiality can make the situation complex for practitioners. The healthcare industry is changing due to new trends, and accordingly, a flexible code of ethics or conduct must be shaped to make the difference. 

References

Beauchamp, T.L. and Childress, J.F. (2008) Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 6^th edition, Oxford University Press.

Caulfield, H. (2005) Accountibility, Oxford: Blackwell.

De Cruz, P. (2005) Medical Law in a Nutshell, 2^nd edition, London: Sweet & Maxwell.

Dimond, B. (2015) Legal Aspects of Nursing, 7^th edition, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Seedhouse, D. (2009) Ethics: the heart of health care, 3^rd edition, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Tilley, S. and Watson, R. (2004) Accountability in Nursing and Midwifery, 2^nd edition, Oxford: Blackwell Science.

Wilkinson, D., Savulescu, J., Hope, T. and Hendrick, J. (2008) Medical Ethics and Law: The Core Curriculum, Elsevier Health Sciences.