Informational Interview and Course Reflection

Conduct an informational interview with someone you consider a moral mentor to get an inside view of current ethical issues in healthcare. Finish the assessment with a course reflection that highlights key takeaways, explains how you can apply those takeaways to your career, and identifies what other topics you would like to study next.

External market forces create significant challenges for healthcare managers. Changes in society, such as shifts in demographics, government policies, the economy, politics, laws, and even the weather, can impact the healthcare industry. These changes can happen on a global, national, state, or local level. To be effective, managers must keep up with current issues while also trying to predict and prepare for future changes.

Healthcare managers also face a wide range of regulatory agencies and organizations that govern the healthcare system. These can be mandatory or non-mandatory and operate at national, state, or local levels, including consumer advocacy groups. These organizations exist to protect the community and limit the power of the healthcare industry. Managers have a responsibility to understand, stay updated on, and comply with specific guidelines and regulations in their sector to maintain a good reputation for themselves and their organizations. Strategic planning, developing policies and procedures, training staff, and building a strong organizational culture are all ways to support this compliance. These tasks also give leaders a chance to show their commitment to the community.

Successful healthcare managers demonstrate their responsibility by serving as advocates for their organization and profession. Being active in professional organizations is a good way to build trust and integrity in the community. Many healthcare organizations adopt the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which focuses on creating social value and strengthening community partnerships. This shows their commitment to the community and can have local, national, or global effects, depending on the type of healthcare organization.

Three major market forces are currently influencing our healthcare system. First, the shift from a patriarchal system to a managed-care system has significantly changed how healthcare services are delivered. Second, the aging of the baby boomer generation is causing major changes in the healthcare industry. Third, there is growing public interest in integrative medicine, particularly in areas like surgical recovery, pain management, and cancer treatment. These external forces are creating new ethical challenges that require organizations and managers to develop effective strategies, policies, and procedures to address them.

Based on the content and your learning experience from this course, identify and contact a moral mentor to interview. The interview offers an opportunity for you to obtain an insiders view of current ethical issues in the healthcare field. This interview also offers you a chance to increase your understanding of ways managers utilize ethical principles and strategic efforts to prevent and address them. Healthcare management professionals are often willing to support a learner’s progress through their educational journey by sharing expertise and experience and by discussing the real-life application of course concepts and material.

Information Requirements From Interviewee

• Link to contact information (for example, business email). Note that this is not to contact the healthcare professional personally but to verify the validity of the information provided. It is for reference only.
• Identify the contact’s position within the organization and length of employment in the position or organization. The interviewee should hold the title of director or higher.

Consider the Following in Your Interview

• Formal policies, processes, teams, individuals utilized.
• The influence and role of external regulatory policies and regulations.
• Influence of external forces.
• Influence of internal organizational factors.
• Ethical principles and theories.
• Role of personal moral integrity in leadership.
• As a healthcare manager, what are some pros and cons to health information exchanges (HIEs) or electronic health records (EHRs)?
• What is an ethical theory you espouse or support? What is your ethical philosophy?
• What is an an ethical challenge related to patient health information faced while in this position, and how was it resolved?
• What role do managers and staff have in protecting patient health information, and what role does personal moral integrity play in this effort?
• How does the organization support or undermine potential ethical issues?

Additional Questions

Based on your studies, what questions do you have for the interviewee? You will need to identify three additional questions that will further your knowledge and expand your understanding of the intricacies of electronic records keeping; the ethical obligations management has to patients, staff, and to both internal and external market forces; and (or) the role and impact regulatory bodies have in maintaining and sharing of records.

Finally, you will reflect on your most valuable takeaways from this course, identify any immediate or future applicability of your learning to your career, and share what you would like to study further. Create a one-page list of resources for future use in your courses and career.

• Identify and explore the course material, learning experiences, or other takeaways were most valuable.
• Consider how this learning experience will impact and influence your career.
• Analyze the information, topics, materials, or resources you would like to further explore in the future.
• Create an annotated resources list for future use. Use APA formatting to create this references list.