Bolin, J. N.,Mechler, K.,Holcomb, J.,Williams, J.,(2008). An Alternative Strategy for Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Rural Healthcare

James shares...

This particular article was very interesting because it talks about some of the ethical challenges in small rural healthcares. The authors acknowledge that some of the ethical dilemmas in small rural hospitals are hard to address mainly because some of the physicians in the rural areas play a double role for example, the same physician might be the private physician for hospital board members, administrators, and managers, this leads to a conflict of interest between organization loyalty and patient rights. Also because in small towns there is a tendency that majority of people knows each other therefore it is easy to excuse a conduct because of respect and relationship. This particular problem has lead to the creation of virtual peer review model and a virtual hospital ethics committee offered through the Texas A & M Health Science Center Rural Community Health Institute (R-CHI, College Station, Tx).
The virtual technology has allowed physicians from different locations to convene a meeting and discuss ethical issues. Therefore this new technology has allowed rural physicians to practice medicine without the fear of judging their peers. It has also allowed the hospital administrators in small rural towns to practice or conduct their duties without being infected by small town politics.

Reference

Bolin, J. N.,Mechler, K.,Holcomb, J.,Williams, J.,(2008). An Alternative Strategy for Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Rural Healthcare, Ethics and Rural Healthcare, 8(4),63-65.