ATTENTION "healthcare professionals"...i need your help

hello...

i am doing a project for religion 11 class...

the title for the project is: "Ethics in Medical Practice"

the assignment is to interview a "healthcare professional"...

because of the technology we have, i will be starting an online interview...

i will give you the credit you deserve when i am done with the project...

if you do not mind, please answer the following questions, if you are a healthcare professional (including but not limited to: nurses, doctors, pharmacists, research scientists in health, and etc.)...

questions:

1. Name(title: dr. nurse, pharmacist assistant director of ..etc) and Place of Work
2. How long they have practiced their profession?
3. Why they chose the medical field?
4. What keeps them going in their jobs?
5. Challenges
6. Changes they will like to see
7. Best experience
8. Worst experience
9. How it feels to work with "life"?
10. Do they feel like they sometimes play "god" making difficult decisions?
11. Based on their experience: When does life ACTUALLY begin?
12. When does life end?
13. Who should have control whether a person lives or dies?
14. To what extent does their religion affect the practice of their profession(any conflicts)
15. As medical professionals, what is their position on Abortion and why
16. What is their position on Euthanasia and why
17. What is their position on Physician assisted suicide and why
18. How is the Hippocratic Oath (or a similar oath) put in actual practice in their profession
19. What role should money play in determining the quality of healthcare received by the poor?
20. Would they encourage young people to get into the profession and why
21. Any other comments on Ethics in medical practice

thank you for your time...




[edit on 16-5-2005 by they see ALL]

You might have better luck by actually going to a.......hospital. Im sure any reasonable doctor would take twenty minutes to assist you.

Originally posted by WissNX01
You might have better luck by actually going to a.......hospital. Im sure any reasonable doctor would take twenty minutes to assist you.

thanks...

this thread can be locked now...

i have gotten my answers...

1. Name(title: dr. nurse, pharmacist assistant director of ..etc) and Place of Work
Jake (If you're interested, I'll U2U you the rest), R&D, field trainer, software quality analysist, Haemoscope Corp

2. How long they have practiced their profession?
"They" have practiced their profession for the past 2 and a half years

3. Why they chose the medical field?
Medical field chose me, but now I don't want to leave.

4. What keeps them going in their jobs?
It is amazing to be in a hospital and see an infant that would have died had it not been for our Thrombolastograph® (TEG®) Analyzer's test results pull through a major operation with flying colors. If I didn't get to go into the field and work directly with doctors, this would just be another job. However, since I've been given the opportunity to see both patients who have died because the TEG® results were ignored and seeing patients who make an amazing recovery due to coagulation treatments administered based on the results attained from our instrument.

5. Challenges
Hospital politics. With our device, a doctor can know why a patient continues to bleed after they've closed them up after, say, open heart surgery. The worst, however, is when you're training the doctors on the TEG technology and how to interpret the results, along with recommended drug treatments, and you have to tell them that they left a hole in the person. Usually, if they're a good surgeon, arrogant, or haven't been introduced to the TEG technology they end up pumping a bunch of blood products into the patient before finally deciding to open the person back up and find the bleeder.

There's also a major issue with IT (Information Technology) staff. Our software cannot be run over a network yet, and IT hates having to back up databases from a computer instead of a server. We used to have to sell the usefullness of the tests to the doctors and medical director, who would then tell IT to just shut up and do their job. However, the TEG technology has really taken off and gotten some major world-wide recognition. As a result, the sell to doctors is pretty simple, and IT really has to answer to them.

6. Changes they will like to see
I don't really understand this question...

7. Best experience
I was at a hospital with one of our clinicians. He was training a surgeon who is considered the best in Arizona for heart surgery on how to interpret the TEG results, and I was training the perfusionists and operators on using the software and actually running blood samples. It was about 8 PM and we were going to call it a night when the surgeon came to us in the lab and let us know a triple bypass was being airlifted to their hospital, and they needed us to stay. The surgury ended up lasting about 8 hours, and there were complications. I won't go into the medical mumbo-jumbo except to say that about 6 hours into the operation, things started to go severely wrong with the patient. The doctor, who was really resisting the new tests being run, finally came down to us and asked us to run some blood. For some reason the patient was still bleeding despite being closed up. We ran the blood, and the patient turned out to have a very dangerous coagulopathy which had developed during the surgery. After about 10 minutes, the clinitian I was with told the surgeon what needed to be done. The surgeon, who had exhausted all options he could think of, took the advise and administered a few drugs and some fresh frozen plasma. After the surgery, the doc came back to us and told us that, had we not been there until 3 in the morning that day, the patient he was operating on would have died.

8. Worst experience
A DIC Lukemia patient whose doctor refused to use the TEG results. There was a 25 year old girl who was bleeding out of every place she could be and was in the late stages of lukemia. She also happened to be my girlfriend's (at the time) closest cousin. My ex also works at the company, and it was remarkable how all of Haemoscope rallied to the call. We had clinicians and doctors flying out there doing everything they could to help. However, the doctor in charge had yea or nay say on every test and thing done. She flat out refused to run a TEG test. We asked her for just 360 microliters of citrated blood, and were going to run it to another hospital down the road that has a few of our analyzers.

The problem with DIC is that it appears to be a fibrinolysis or hemodilution problem. Our test is the only one I know of on the market today that can difinitivly detect a patient in DIC. DIC is where your blood begins to clot with extraordinary force. Say your normal clot is about 50% clot strength. A person in DIC would have a clot strength of about 100%. As a result, your body starts producing a chemical which causes the clot to break down immediately. In essence, it looks like you need to induce clotting in the patient, but you actually want to lessen their clot strength so the body stops breaking it down.

All the surgeon would have had to do was administer 2 grams of Factor VII and she would have lived. Instead, the doc told the family that all they could do was pray. Finally, my ex called and threatened a malpractice suit on the doc, and she allowed the test. Sure enough, it showed DIC, but by that time it was too late and she died.

9. How it feels to work with "life"?
It's amazing. Though I am removed from direct patient care, it all comes down to the patient, even to the hospital's accountants. Working with and helping to develop something that so obviously saves lives is incredible. Some of the stories we get from our clinitians are remarkable. There's a lot wrong with the company I work for on the political level and as far as advancement/payscale goes. However, I can't imagine a more fulfilling job.

10. Do they feel like they sometimes play "god" making difficult decisions?
Not I, but then I don't get to make those decisions. I have run into doctors who seem to think they are God, though, and will go with what they originally believed to be the problem despite what test results say, usually to the detriment of the patient.

11. Based on their experience: When does life ACTUALLY begin?
Not involved in pre-natal care at all, so based on my experience I can't answer this.

12. When does life end?
When the doctor gives up.

13. Who should have control whether a person lives or dies?
I'm assuming this is in reference to pulling the plug. I believe the person whose life is at stake should have the final say. If, however, they are incapable, I think it should be close family, be they spouse or parental. It should be made, however, by someone who cares for the person and is activly part of their lives, even if that life is not very active. Estranged parents or spouses, especially if they've remarried or have been with someone else for an extended period of time, should not have that person's life in their hands. In the event that the person has no one and no living will, I believe they should be kept alive through whatever means the hospital can employ.

14. To what extent does their religion affect the practice of their profession(any conflicts)
It doesn't.

15. As medical professionals, what is their position on Abortion and why
I am against abortion, but as I stated before this is not due to my profession but rather my faith.

16. What is their position on Euthanasia and why
In the event that the individual can't beat the disease and has a living will dictating the course of action to be taken in a specific circumstance, it should be permitted. To be more specific, if someone is comatose and has specifically stated that they do not want a feeding tube inserted, they should be euthanized instead of having to be starved/dehydrated to death. However, I don't believe functional people should be able to kill themselves. Medical technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, and a cure could be found for what they have in time. Suicide is illegal in this country, and I don't think there should be exceptions for people who don't feel like fighting a disease anymore. It would be like government sanctioned suicide for those who feel depressed and don't want to fight the depression, in my opinion.

17. What is their position on Physician assisted suicide and why
See above.

18. How is the Hippocratic Oath (or a similar oath) put in actual practice in their profession
I think it plays an interesting role where I'm at. While I didn't ever have to officially take the oath, I kind of live by it. A company is, of course, divided into several departments. Unfortunately, the marketing and accounting departments are focused on the books rather than the patients. When doing research and quality assurance, the patient needs to be priority number one. There are many times when I or someone else in my department has to butt heads with upper management to prevent them from releasing something before its ready or fully explored. Thankfully, this isn't really the case anymore at Haemoscope, though it used to be. Everyone here, now, focuses on the patient first. Especially after that episode with my ex's cousin, it really struck home here what a simple oversight could mean out in the field.

19. What role should money play in determining the quality of healthcare received by the poor?
Absloutly none. There is a suspicion that my ex's cousin didn't get the Factor VII she needed because it costs $6,000/gram and she was on state aid. Money shouldn't be an object when dealing with an individual's life.

20. Would they encourage young people to get into the profession and why
Absloutly. It's a very fascinating field. I never would have guessed all the fascets of hemotology there were had I not gotten into the field. Plus, the fulfillment when you're involved in a case that goes well, even if you're not the one cutting, is incredible.

21. Any other comments on Ethics in medical practice
Not really

Originally posted by they see ALL

Originally posted by WissNX01
You might have better luck by actually going to a.......hospital. Im sure any reasonable doctor would take twenty minutes to assist you.

thanks...

this thread can be locked now...

i have gotten my answers...

figures

Originally posted by junglejake

figures

what???

i did what this member suggested...

Originally posted by they see ALL

Originally posted by junglejake

figures

what???
i did what this member suggested...

Your response came while I was writing mine, so I didn't know y'all'd done that

Originally posted by they see ALL
1. Name(title: dr. nurse, pharmacist assistant director of ..etc) and Place of Work:

FredT

Seriously.... RNTS (Registered Nurse Transport Specialist) Pediatric Critical Care Transport

2. How long they have practiced their profession?

12 Years

3. Why they chose the medical field?

Initaly: Second higest paying profession right out of college.

4. What keeps them going in their jobs?

Transport is fun and exciting

5. Challenges

Inept management, large female group dynamics (not kidding here), long hours, ingrained and entrenched medical mentality

6. Changes they will like to see

See above. More nurses

7. Best experience

Running a successfull code while airborn including putting in a chest tube and intubating the patient.

8. Worst experience

Having a child which you saved in a code in an ED die in a car crash as he was leaving the hospital to go home.

9. How it feels to work with "life"?

Overall esp. in pediatrics it is very satisfying for the most part. Children tend to get better and can adapt to adverse circumstances. There always seems to be hope. It also depends on the circumstances. It can also be scary on a transport when things go bad and you are out of communication with you facility (happens more than you can imagine)

10. Do they feel like they sometimes play "god" making difficult decisions?

"Playing god" does not seem to fit in my experience. Decisions are seldom made in avacume. There are ethics committies and care teams that will debate what is going on. Do say a surgeon present all the avalible options to a patient? Not always. More to the point I think we esp. in pediatrics do NOT do a good job of letting parents relaize that doing nothing is okay as well.

11. Based on their experience: When does life ACTUALLY begin?

At birth

12. When does life end?

When everything that made that person unique and special is no longer there such as brain death. Medical science has provided us the ability to prolong life for a long time. Not alwyas to the benifit to the patient, but rather to make the family feel better.

13. Who should have control whether a person lives or dies?

The family to a point. I beleive that we are putting to much emphasis on the futile preservation of life at all costs. If the patient is brain dead and has no hope of recovery a committie of independant MD's medical ethisists, and other members of the care team shouyld be allowed to terminate care under certain criteria.

14. To what extent does their religion affect the practice of their profession(any conflicts)

I am an athiest. However, I will always respect the religious beliefs of my patients as best I can.

15. As medical professionals, what is their position on Abortion and why

Pro Choice. ITs a political/religious/personal freedom question and my opinions and beleifs are along those lines.

16. What is their position on Euthanasia and why

Support. See my explanation in 13

17. What is their position on Physician assisted suicide and why

Support. If people are not suffering any mental impairment and can clearly understand thier choices (particularly in terminal illness cases) why can't they choise the time and place of thier death.

18. How is the Hippocratic Oath (or a similar oath) put in actual practice in their profession.

We all strive to do no harm. However given the excessive litigation, more and more time is spent with redundant compliance documentation and less on direct care. Case in point, the nuber of risk management / case review / utilization review / compliance staff exceed the numbers of RN's at my hospital.

19. What role should money play in determining the quality of healthcare received by the poor?

Money itself should play no role and in my experience it does not in the pediatric arena. If I come to get your child for a transport, I could care less if you have insurance or not. That may not be the case with adult care?? However, certain "lifestyle" illnesses (smoking) or people who are non compliant with their medical regime (ie. diabetics not taking thier insulin) should have lower priority.

20. Would they encourage young people to get into the profession and
why

Nursing? No, long hours, weekends and holidays have to be worked for years in many cases. bad management, liability etc. etc.

21. Any other comments on Ethics in medical practice

thank you for your time...

[edit on 16-5-2005 by they see ALL]

w0w...

thank you ATSers

i didn't expect to get replies...

i already have the info. i need but i will include you (junglejake and FredT) in my project...

you will be credited too...

thanks again...

The thread author no longer need’s the requested information and has asked that the thread be closed.

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