Answer 3 for NURS 8503 Week 4 Discussion 2 Legal and Ethical Implications
The practice change being implemented is lowering the prescription and excessive use of benzodiazepine among mental health patients through creating awareness and educating patients and staff on evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. As discussed by Ashworth et al. (2021), benzodiazepine is associated with adverse effects such as dementia, an increased rate of falls, and an increased risk of hip fracture. Continuous use of benzodiazepine after a few weeks may also result in tolerance to anxiolytic effects, which poses a risk to the patient’s health (Hernandez et al., 2018). Therefore, implementing the change program supports the following ethical principles of healthcare; beneficence and non-maleficence (Beck et al., 2021). This implies that using evidence-based guidelines will help me and our healthcare providers achieve our responsibility to act in a way that seeks to provide the greatest benefit and care to patients and achieve the commitment to do no harm to patients.
Moreover, following an evidence-based program has the legal implication that care will be affordable and accessible to patients, enhancing individuals’ quality of life. Improving the knowledge of health providers and patients on evidence-based pharmacological interventions implies that healthcare institutions and the government need to invest in educative programs and provide resources to support the change programs (Beck et al., 2021). This is because successful implementation will enhance the quality of healthcare institutions’ services and reduce the risk of psychological issues aftercare.
With the help of our health practitioners, we concluded the main effective plan to support the change program is to create awareness of the adverse effects of using benzodiazepine and how to use evidence-based clinical guideline practices (Ashworth et al., 2021). However, the development of policies to regulate the use of benzodiazepine can enhance the success of the change program and promote the use of evidence-based clinical practice to fight against psychological disorders.
References
Ashworth, N., Kain, N., Wiebe, D., Hernandez-Ceron, N., Jess, E., & Mazurek, K. (2021). Reducing prescribing of benzodiazepines in older adults: a comparison of four physician-focused interventions by a medical regulatory authority. BMC family practice, 22(1), 1-9. https://bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-021-01415-x
