Choosing A Health Career

Please research at least two health care careers, based on the pdf download sent to you via e-mail, or in the download below. You can use Career Cruising to research each career by comparing the education needed, wages / salaries, job outlook, career path, and duties performed each day. You will need to use “Pleasanton” as the username and “Bulldog” as the password. Click on ‘careers’ to find the career you want. Please explain the difference between each career in these topics, as well as why you might choose either of these two careers. You can download the pdf “Health Care Careers” here.

Final Semester Assignments

Can you believe we are approaching the end of a semester already? Final quiz is the professional qualities quiz on Blackboard. If you are interested in extra credit, you may want to take the legal responsibilities quiz on Blackboard. All wordpress assignments are graded as pass / fail……….unless someone has done the bare essentials with no thought into the assignment. The presentation assignment should be e-mailed as an attachment to me at bbednar.esu10@gmail.com………unless you have included a video clip. If you have, please let me know, and we will try another approach. Presentations are due December 6 (Monday/Wednesday class) or December 7 (Tuesday/Thursday class). The last day to complete an assignment is December 10th. Please let me know if you have any trouble with an assignment. If you have not been able to complete a job shadow experience, but will over the Christmas break, we can still make it happen for your grade, but please let me know. If you have an emergency with an assignment, please call me at Pleasanton (308/388-2041)

Malpractice Cases in Health Care

In law, malpractice (wikipedia) is a type of negligence in, which the professional under a duty to act, fails to follow generally accepted professional standards, and that breach of duty is the proximate cause of injury to a plaintiff who suffers harm. It is committed by a professional or her/his subordinates or agents on behalf of a client or patient that causes damages to the client or patient.

Your assignment is to use google news, or another news source, and locate at least one story describingmalpractice in health care. You may have to use a variety of topics in your search, such as malpractice in Health Care, or malpractice cases in health care. Please provide a four sentence summary of the news account using the what, when, where, why or how questions. Please include the source or web link to each story.

Note: The three assignments focusing on malpractice, defamation, and negligence are not due until December 3rd.

Defamation Cases in Health Care

Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)— (wikipedia) is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. It is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant).

In common law jurisdictions, slander refers to a malicious, false, and defamatory spoken statement or report, while libel refers to any other form of communication such as written words or images. Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against groundless criticism. Related to defamation is public disclosure of private facts, which arises where one person reveals information that is not of public concern, and the release of which would offend a reasonable person. “Unlike [with] libel, truth is not a defense for invasion of privacy.”

Your assignment is to use google news, or another news source, and locate at least two stories describing defamation of character in health care. You may have to use a variety of topics in your search, such as defamation in Health Care, or defamation cases in health care. Please provide a four sentence summary of each news account using the what, when, where, why or how questions. Please include the source or web link to each story.

Negligence on the Job

Negligence is defined as a legal concept in the common law legal systems mostly applied in tort cases to achieve monetary compensation (damages) for physical and mental injuries (not accidents).

Negligence is a type of tort or delict (also known as a civil wrong). “Negligence” is not the same as “carelessness”, because someone might be exercising as much care as they are capable of, yet still fall below the level of competence expected of them. It is the opposite of “diligence”. It can be generally defined as conduct that is culpable because it falls short of what a reasonable person would do to protect another individual from foreseeable risks of harm.

Your assignment is to use google news, or another news source, and locate at least two stories describing negligence on the job in health care. You may have to use a variety of topics in your search, such as negligence in Health Care, or negligence on the job. Please provide a four sentence summary of each news account using the what, when, where, why or how questions. Please include the source or web link to each story.

Ethical Responsibilities in Health Care

“Ethics” is a set of principles related to what is morally right and wrong. These principles or rules provide a standard of conduct of code of behavior, guiding everyone involved along the same path of behavior. This allows a health care provider to analyze information and make decisions based on what people believe to be right and good conduct. However, there are many ethical dilemmas that confront a health care provider. Examples could be euthanasia (assisted death), abortion, cloning, and many more. Should a patient be told that a health care provider has AIDS? Should aborted fetuses be used in stem cell research? When should life support be discontinued? Do parents have a religious right to refuse a life saving blood transfusion for their child?

Your assignment is to choose two of the following common ethical situations, and report back in the comment section regarding what the ethical / legal responsible course of action should be.
1. When should a case of child abuse and neglect be reported to the authorities? (You may need to download the Ethical Responsibilities pdf, scroll to the appropriate slide) Please identify at least 5 criteria.
2. What are a patient’s rights? (please google ‘patients rights in health care’? Please identify at least 5 rights.
3. What is a living will and when should it be used? (please use google, and cite your source(s))
4. What is a “Designated Health Care Surrogate” or the power of attorney in health care? When should it be used?(please use google, and cite your source(s))
5. What are professional standards of behavior for health care workers? (please use google, and cite your source(s))

Teamwork / Leadership Skills in Health Care

Quality health care is dependent upon the quality of leadership and teamwork that is demonstrated everyday on the job. Effective teamwork has been a requirement for enhanced clinical outcomes for patients, but there is limited knowledge of what makes health professionals effective team members or effective leaders. There is even less information on how to develop skills for teamwork or skills in leadership. For the purpose of this assignment, Teamwork is defined as: “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”

Are you already demonstrating leadership or teamwork skills? Your assignment is to review the sites below, as well as the Health Career Academy PowerPoint on ‘Professional Qualities’. Please answer the following with at least three sentences each. After several students have made their replies, please review two others’ comments, and reply by providing compliments to their discussion entries, as well as ask a thoughtful question about how teamwork or leadership training could be improved in a high school or college course.

A. How could / should leadership be a ‘shared’ responsibility in health care? How is this the opposite to what we usually define as leadership (in school or community organizations, or in politics)?
B. How could high schools and colleges prepare future employees for leadership skills on the job?
C. How could / should teamwork skills be developed in future employees?
D. What can a high school class or college course do to prepare future employees for teamwork responsibilities?
E. How can each person develop the mind set to be an effective leader or teamworker as you reflect on your experiences with people, especially when it comes to developing trust, time management, a strong work ethic, and pride in one’s work?

1. Forbes Magazine
2. Leadership / Teamwork Essays
3. Leadership / Teamwork Skill Development
4. eHow’s tips on teamwork / leadership development

Your Professional Portfolio – An Old but New Trend

Please review the information at the sites provided below regarding an old idea, but new trend, regarding your presentation of a portfolio. The newest trend is to develop a digital portfolio, or movie clip of yourself, demonstrating a number of projects that you have completed. A portfolio is an expansion of your resume, documenting your work ethic, organization, teamwork, leadership, or other 21st Century skills. In the comment section, please list at least ten ways that you could prove to an employer that you are the best person to hire, based on your record, your achievements, work ethic, or other skills you continue to develop.
Sites:
QuintCareer (Job Skill Portfolio: http://www.quintcareers.com/job_search_portfolio.html
Colby Sawyer College portfolio ideas: http://www.colby-sawyer.edu/campus-life/career/search_prep/portfolios.html
How to Build A Career Portfolio: http://www.ehow.com/how_4746487_online-career-portfolio-free.html

Criminal Background Checks – What Can You Expect?

There are many employers who complete a criminal background check on potential employees. When making application for a job, you may be required to have this done prior to the interview, or after being selected for employment. In most cases, the employer will cover the cost of the check. Please review the site below, and discuss in the comment section, five reasons employers are turning to background checks. In addition to the five reasons, please identify at least ten things being looked at during the check.
Sites:
Privacy Rights – http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs16-bck.htm
About.com link: http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/backgroundcheck/a/background.htm

Sticky Interview Questions – How Would You Respond?

Based on the information provided by QuintCareers, please review how you should answer ten controversial / difficult / questionable questions during an interview. Please summarize how you should answer each question in the comment section. Please try to have at least a four sentence summary, either from the information, or an example of how you would answer the question.
Questions:
1. You have arrived for the interview, and it is obvious the interviewer has not looked at your resume, and does not have a clue about what should be asked. What should you talk about?
2. What is the best way to answer the question: “Tell me about yourself?”
3. How would you respond to, “What are your main weaknesses?”
4. How would you respond to, “Why should we hire you?”
5. If you were asked an ‘off the wall’ question (what color best describes you, or what animal are you like), how should you respond?
6. Please identify at least four illegal questions that you should not be asked during the interview. In addition, choose one of them, and explain how you should respond, if you were asked that question.
7. When is it appropriate to discuss your salary / wage expectations during an interview?
8. If you were asked about your reasons for leaving a previous job, what should you say?
9. If asked about your future plans in the next five to ten years, what are some excellent ways to respond, improving you job opportunity?