ADMS 2500 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-6: Human Factors And Ergonomics, Environmental Factor

In small rural town, Dr. McCann works as a primary care physician. He is part of a large integrated health care system that operates as a no-profit entity. Dr. McCann normally visits numerous patients per day that has a variety of ailment and injuries.

On Monday, a 52 year old male patient visits Dr. McCann with a complaint of ankle pain in his left leg. While out on the farm doing chores he fell and has bruises on both legs, a few cuts, and what appear to be a swollen left ankle. Having seen many sprained ankles, the doctor suggests taking pressure off the ankle and foot by using a walking boot that inflates and suggests ibuprofen for the swelling.

On Friday, the patient is in the emergency room. He is suffering from a fever, shaking, low blood pressure, irregular heartbeat and appears to be very agitated. The patient explains his recent trip to Dr. McCann and the nurses remove his walking boot and began examine him. They notice an infected cut on the opposite leg. Unfortunately things get worse as the patient goes into septic shop. On Sunday, the patient dies due to complete organ failure.

As expected, the family is devastated and needs understanding of how a small cut has led to the death of their loved one. Dr. McCann is now caught between a rock and a hard place. The hospital is putting pressure on him to apologize, hoping they can avoid legal issues. Dr. McCann has to consider his professional career however. If he admits that he may have made a mistake, he could face legal issues himself and professional loss as well. He also has to consider how his patients and colleagues will view him.

Using critical thought, research and respond to the questions below with a minimum of 3-5 sentences.

1) What could Dr. McCann and/ or the hospital have done differently? Was this mistake preventable?

2) Does Dr. McCann have an ethical obligation to admit error? What are the possible benefits to admitting fault? Drawbacks?

3) If you were the administrator of the hospital, what would you do? Would you require that Dr. McCann apologize to the patient’s family and explain to them what went wrong? What are the risks to doing so?

Cartman was just left half of his grandmother’s estate after shedied. Since he isn’t really sure what to do with his newfoundwealth, he decides to work with a financial planner. As a part ofthe financial plan, the advisor recommends adjusting his inheritedportfolio of C.D.’s and T-bills into an investment policy that moreclosely resembles Cartman’s goals, risk tolerance, and timehorizon. Although Cartman sees how this would normally make sense,he told the advisor he preferred to keep things “as is,” becausethis money was his grandmother’s, and she seemed to do ok. Or inCartman’s words, she did “cooo.” So, instead of realigning theinvestments to better match Cartman’s situation, he just keptthings the way they were. 1) What behavior/bias is present? 2) Whyis this behavior detrimental? 3) What could have been donedifferently, or what could be done differently next time to avoidthis result?

John recently joined a gym program seeking a change from his regular routine. He worked out for several years 2-3x a week working on both strength and cardiovascular endurance. On this particular morning at his new gym, the work out consisted of 100 push up, 200 pull ups, 300 crunches, and a 4 mile run to finish it off. After the workout, he felt extremely fatigued and like his arms and legs were Jell-O. A few hours later the fatigue and muscle pain was so intense he couldn’t get up off the couch. Concerned family took him to the hospital.

1)What is the likely culprit of John’s pain?

2)What factors from the scenario lead you to this conclusion?

3)What is occurring physiologically from the illness?

4)How could this have been prevented?