HSS 261 Unit 2 Discussion Board

Unit 2 Discussion

The American Dental Hygienists Association implores dental practitioners to adhere to certain core values to address any ethical situations and dilemmas that may arise in their practice environment. These include autonomy, confidentiality, societal trust, non-maleficence, justice and fairness, beneficence and veracity or telling the truth (Jill Day et al., 2018). Imperatively, when dental practitioners like in this scenario face ethical dilemmas, they need to consider these aspects to deal with such situations. Prescription of pain medications or opioids as demanded by patients requires one to consider the underlying professional conduct and guiding principles to avert possible addiction demands by patients.

In this case, the dentist must consider ethical principles that include autonomy, beneficence, veracity, and social trust. While the patient has the autonomy to demand what they want from the practitioner, the dentist has a duty of care and provide benefits to the individual and not harm them (Lee et al., 2018). Further, veracity implores on the practitioner to tell the patient the truth and ask him only to use the prescribed drugs to relieve his pain and not what he demands for as it may constitute use of opioids. Societal trust implies that the practitioner should value the trust with the patient and ensure that the public trusts the professional based on her actions and behaviors (American College of Dentists, 2018). Therefore, she must consider all these ethical principles. The steps of ethical decision-making process that the dentist should use include defining the issue, getting resources, brainstorming on the possible solution, evaluation of the alternative and making a decision and implementing it as well as its evaluation.

In this case, the best ethical decision is to have the patient understand that as a dentist, one may not have the power to prescribe certain schedules of drugs, including certain groups of pain relievers or opioids. Therefore, the patient should accept to purchase the pain killers prescribed or be made to understand that what he paid for has catered for certain procedures in the facility and cannot be refunded.

HSS 261 Unit 2 Discussion Board References

American College of Dentists. (2018, May 10). ACD ethical dilemma–patient in pain [Video].

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NlBhxLLBRw

Jill Day, B. G. S., LDA, R., & Sarah Stream, B. A. (2018). Ethics in the Dental Office:

Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice should guide your decisions. Dental Assistant, 87(4), 8-9.

Lee, H., Chalmers, N. I., Brow, A., Boynes, S., Monopoli, M., Doherty, M., … & Engineer, L.

(2018). Person-centered care model in dentistry. BMC Oral Health, 18(1), 1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-018-0661-9

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Assignment Description

Primary Response is due by Thursday (11:59:59pm Central), Peer Responses are due by Saturday (11:59:59pm Central).

Primary Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 200–250 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

For this Discussion Board, please complete the following:

Ethical dilemmas in healthcare are not always about life and death, but these are faced by healthcare professionals every day in their interactions with patients. Consider the scenario in this video about a patient’s request for painkillers to relieve his dental pain:

After viewing the video and considering the possible decisions that the dentist can make, answer the following questions:

What ethical principles are involved in this case and what are the steps in the ethical decision-making process that the dentist should use to come to an ethical decision?

If you were the dentist, what do you think is the best ethical decision and why?

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 50–100-word reply about their Primary Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following question:

What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?

For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.

HSS 261 Unit 2 Discussion Board Rubric

ExpectationPoints PossiblePoints EarnedCommentsApplication of Learning Material Content: Post demonstrates understanding of Learning Material content.20Application of Course Knowledge: Post contributes unique perspectives or insights gleaned from personal experience or examples from discipline.20DB Responses: Responds substantively to two posts. Responses encourage interaction in the Discussion Board and classroom community.20Organization: Post presents information logically and is clearly relevant to discussion topic.8Professional Language: Posts contain accurate grammar, spelling, and punctuation with few or no errors. (APA formatting is not required.)7Total Points75Total Points Earned

View a downloadable version of the Discussion Board Grading Rubric.

HSS 261 Unit 2 Discussion Board Reference

American College of Dentists. (2018, May 10). ACD ethical dilemma–patient in pain [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NlBhxLLBRw

Discussion Board RubricExpectationPoints PossiblePoints EarnedCommentsApplication of Learning Material Content: Post demonstrates understanding of Learning Material content. 20 Application of Course Knowledge: Post contributes unique perspectives or insights gleaned from personal experience or examples from discipline.20 DB Responses: Responds substantively to two posts. Responses encourage interaction in the discussion board and classroom community. 20 Organization: Post presents information logically and is clearly relevant to discussion topic.8 Professional Language: Posts contain accurate grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation with few or no errors. (APA formatting is not required.)7 Total Points75 Total Points Earned