Individual Rights Versus the Collective Good Discussion Paper

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Individual Rights Versus the Collective Good Discussion Paper

All too often, nurses in the United States are compelled to out more hours because of a deficiency that exists in the system. Majorly, the reason why there exists a huge differential in average working hours for nurses and other industries is that there is a lack of policies that address this divide. First off, the rate at which experienced nurses are retiring is far higher than those being recruited. This is of cause ignoring the fact that the work input of a new recruit (registered nurse) is not equitable to an experienced nurse who has perhaps practiced for a substantial length of time. The concern that Bae and Brewer (2010) have raised is that the extra hours worked (read over time) have become mandatory across many states and this massively compromises the plight of these healthcare workers. An intervention that could perhaps help address this issue is a policy or federal legislation that places a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio (Wei et al., 2018). With this in place, healthcare organizations would find the need to hire more nurses to relieve the extra hours their counterparts in the industry have to put in. Individual Rights Versus the Collective Good Discussion Paper

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Even as moral ethics and nursing and medical care codes of ethics require nurses to seek the realization of a collective good, their interests cannot be ignored (Page, 2007). In fact, if there is a section of medical practitioners whose roles need more recognition and hence the importance of optimal time input requirements are nurses. As the team that makes up the majority of health care providers, nurses need to have their work scheduled reviewed if the providers want to realize impressive and improved patient outcomes. Suffice it to say, everyone has a right to healthcare but, at the same time, it is not farfetched to argue that even healthcare providers need to have a favorable and workable life-work balance.

References

Bae, S. H., & Brewer, C. (2010). Mandatory overtime regulations and nurse overtime. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 11(2), 99-107. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527154410382300

Page, E. M. (2007). Balancing Individual Rights and Public Health. Retrieved June 2022, from Safety during Quarantine: The U.S. and Canada: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1343&context=jil

Wei, H., Sewell, K. A., Woody, G., & Rose, M. A. (2018). The state of the science of nurse work environments in the United States: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 5(3), 287-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.04.010

Individual Rights Versus the Collective Good Individual Rights Versus the Collective Good Discussion Paper

The healthcare policy that will be discussed in this paper is the obligatory overtime work in the United States. In connection with this policy, almost one-half of the nursing staff put in more than 40 hours of labor each week. According to a descriptive study that used data from the 2004 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, registered nurses who worked in states that regulated mandatory overtime reported lower levels of compulsory overtime hours than nurses working in states that did not restrict mandatory overtime or states that restricted total work hours (Bae & Brewer, 2010). The percentage of registered nurses working 61 or more hours per week was lower in states with fewer rules than in states where regulations were present. The rate of required overtime hours spent by registered nurses working in nursing homes was much more significant than those reported by registered nurses working in hospitals. Because of this, there is a potential for this situation to become a substantial issue because obligatory working hours have the potential to reduce the workforce’s motivation to serve their patients.

According to Bodenheimer and Grumbach (2020), the four principles of medical ethics are beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice. The responsibility of health care practitioners to assist those in need is beneficence. Nonmaleficence is the obligation of health care practitioners to refrain from causing damage. Autonomy is the right of patients to make health care decisions independently. And last, justice is the principle of treating everyone fairly. The ideas of beneficence and justice in medical ethics are more recent, more contentious, and more difficult to define than the principles of nonmaleficence, autonomy, and nonmaleficence. People are often treated fairly when they receive what they deserve. All individuals must have an equal opportunity to develop their full human potential if justice exists. Yes, nurses should serve their patients, but if they are forced to work excessive hours that put their health at risk, do they receive justice?
This problem is the intersection of the conflict between individual rights and the common good. This circumstance exists in hospital and quarantine settings where health personnel are overworked and compelled to perform excessive extra hours to ensure the collective good of all patients (Page, 2007). In the United States, 700,000 individuals have died from COVID-19, a staggering amount unimaginable at the beginning of the pandemic (National Public Radio, 2021). The NPR has also indicated that health care employees have been overworked and tired in every aspect for almost two years. Individual Rights Versus the Collective Good Discussion Paper

The ethical and legal issues of the policy apply to a large population, particularly the professionals working in the medical field. According to Dembe (2008), there has been a significant accumulation of study data demonstrating an increased probability for sickness and injury among employees who work in schedules combining unusual shiftwork and requiring long work hours. In addition, research has shown that errors brought on by employee weariness due to working in such tight schedules can have severe and unfavorable ramifications for public safety. As a result, management in the healthcare industry ought to consider, from an ethical standpoint, that overly long work hours might lower staff morale, contribute to burnout, and increase the likelihood of medical errors. Workers’ rights cover a broad spectrum of human rights, ranging from the right to decent employment and freedom of having equal opportunity and protection against discrimination. The right of healthcare practitioners to be protected against discrimination is included in this broad spectrum. Individual Rights Versus the Collective Good Discussion Paper

Furthermore, the right to health and safety in the workplace and the right to privacy while working are two of the most significant rights associated with the workplace (National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights, n.d.). There are numerous additional rights as well. Before implementing rules and regulations for their staff, the government of the United States and healthcare institutions in the country ought to carefully consider the aforementioned factors to forestall problems that might endanger the health and safety of their personnel as the patients they serve. In conclusion, the collective good of all patients must indeed be ensured; however, the health of the health workers should also be considered. Both sides must be balanced and supported by laws and regulations enacted by the government and applied by the health care institutions. Individual Rights Versus the Collective Good Discussion Paper

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References
Bae, S.-H., & Brewer, C. (2010, May). full text provider logo. Retrieved June 2022, from pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20971931/

Bodenheimer, T., & Grumbach, K. (2020). Mandatory overtime regulations and nurse overtime. Retrieved June 2022, from Understanding Health Policy – A Clinical Approach.

Dembe, A. E. (2009, March). Ethical Issues Relating to the Health Effectsof Long Working Hours. Retrieved June 2022, from researchgate.net: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24008293_Ethical_Issues_Relating_to_the_Health_Effects_of_Long_Working_Hours

National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights. (n.d.). Workers’ rights. Retrieved June 2022, from globalnaps.org: https://globalnaps.org/issue/workers-rights/

National Public Radio. (2021, October 2). Health care employees are overworked and exhausted more than a year into the pandemic. Retrieved June 2022, from npr.org: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/02/1042667296/health-care-employees-are-overworked-and-exhausted-more-than-a-year-into-the-pan