The True Meaning of The Service Standard

As well as where the word derived from, and what if any changes have been implanted through out to make it better. The roots of medical malpractice go back centuries ago with a crisis breaking out in the 19th century.

It is important to strengthen the patient-physician relationship but, we also must remember that changes won’t happen overnight. It is a process but a process that must continue to be steady and not remain at a standstill. The history of the meaning standard of care comes through the early part of the 19th century. This was during a time when there was little to no scientific information available for the correct practice of medicine. During this time, medicine was based primarily on wisdom and is a shield of what medicine is today as we know it. There was of course, some early healthcare professionals who tried their best to incorporate a professional command based on their education, experiences, and economic stature but, there was little facts that could back up their claims.

During the mid-19th century under the rule of then-president Andrew Jackson, things started to change. “The American Medical Association founded in 1847, worked for reforms in medical education, standardization of medical practice, and registration of licensing laws”. Surprisingly, through the mid late 19th era, there were very rare cases of malpractice but by the middle of that year, America had faced their first bout of having a medical malpractice crisis. This has a lot to do with having unlicensed and uncontrolled healthcare professionals who were competing with not only people from their own branch but also people who were from a completely different field.

Get quality help now

Bella Hamilton

Verified

Proficient in: Medical Malpractice

5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

This chaos and havoc caused the term tort to emerge which initially worked as a self- sufficient branch. With the elements that made up the term tort back then, this also made room for the notion of medical negligence which would serve for a ruling that a branch of standard care had been violated. By the end of the 19th century, the fundamentals of the term medical malpractice would be presented in the from of tort law.

Fast forward to the year 2017, guidelines were set into place to assist in providing patients and hospital staff alike the definition to what it really means. The United States has come a long way with implanting healthcare laws to keep patients safe and all healthcare organizations compliant with striving to exceed positive results. When we think of the standard of care, medical practice is not too far behind. This is because medical malpractice is caused due too many non -complaint actions but, one of the main reasons that malpractice exist is because of negligence. Negligence meaning that a healthcare professional failed to demonstrate or act in a way which would have prevented injury towards a patient. “It is estimated that 7-17 malpractice claims are filed per 100 physicians every year.”  Another surprising finding is that the term standard of care is not a medical term but, more so a legal one which is used by lawyers frequently.

The only time we may witness a healthcare professional discuss the term standard of care is when they are in court testing during case of malpractice or, when a event is being planned that includes teaching the importance of practicing safety in healthcare organizations. The term negligence in the general sense is a legal word defined as meaning that it must have at least one of the four elements or conditions that a patient can use if they believe their care was not met by the standard of care scope. The first condition is that it must have a breach by a duty, a breach of duty, a harm or casualty. The second condition is that the breach of duty is like the standard of care. The meaning of standard of care is the degree or lack thereof and the skills that medical professionals uses while taking care of a patient.

The word negligence in general is legally defined as “the standard of conduct to which one must conform and is that of reasonable man under like circumstances.” For instance, due to health or other unforeseen circumstances, we all will experience an emergency room visit at least once if not more in our lifetime. We depend on the medical staff in charge to do their best in researching our symptoms, the causes, and figure out the best treatment possible that will return us back to good health. Unfortunately, doctors are human too and do make mistakes when diagnosing patients and prescribing certain medications that are supposed to be used in aiding in the recovery of a patient. The major problem with a doctor making mistakes is that there is little room for that to happen, especially when it involves life and death. Many providers have it extremely hard.

They are not only over worked physically but mentally around the clock tending to patient after patient and trauma emergency room situations. There are also plenty of times, where providers are pulling in 16 to 18 hours a day. On top of many nurses and aides who are subjected to staff shortage and or a high increase of patients being seen in the hospital. In these cases, what should be done to ensure that every patient is getting the quality care that they deserve? Furthermore, health staff professionals should be able to work hours that are conducive to the hospital needs and should be able to go home to their own families. This helps promote a healthy work and home balance as workers also need rest and to tend to their personal life outside of work. Before 1990, the United States standard of care was established by the legal concept of the word customs.

This means that is others in the same business are practicing in a way which has prevented hazards and accidents, then this organization can be used as an example of standard of care. Even though a jury would still ultimately have to decide whether the custom at that establishment followed these laws, and whether if it was reasonable or unreasonable was something that fell below a few cracks in the healthcare system. Standard of care can relate to informal or formal instructions that are usually acquired in the medical circle. It can also be innovated by a person, organization, and a society. The standard of care theory is sometimes developed over time while other times they are developed from a conclusion that was founded at a medical or clinical trial. Whichever way the standard of care was conducted and introduced will depend on the state we reside in and what if any limitations are stipulated within that jurisdiction.

As mentioned, each state will have its own set of rules and polices which will be looked over. It is also imperative for patients to realize that there is statute of limitations when seeking legal actions for a case where standard of care is involved. For instance, in the state of Pennsylvania, claimants must provide professional expert testimony that must come from medical experts. That expert also must have had practiced in the same similar filed that the original accused health professional has practiced. There have been many changes in Pennsylvania regarding standard of care with many of those changes starting in 2002. “Shortly thereafter on March 20, 2002, Governor Mark Schweiller signed Act 13 into law as the Mcare Act.”(n.d.) The new healthcare law implanted would be broken into three areas which included insurance reform, medical professional liability, and patient safety.

With the new changes, Pennsylvania gives potential plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases up to seven years from the alleged date the injury was discovered. There are some exceptions such as objects being unintentionally left in the body of a patient. Sadly, according to Kennerly, a trial lawyer who has extensive knowledge on medical malpractice claims in Pennsylvania are hard to render a verdict for the plaintiff. “In 2012, 133 malpractice cases went to a jury trail and 79.7 percent of them resulted in defense verdicts.”(Kennerly). It is hard to say why there have been little successful wins for plaintiffs who have a medical malpractice case. Some argue that the strongest cases never go to trail and settle out of court. This leaves less than strong cases that do go to trail not getting the results that are hoped for. This can leave many patients hopeless and discouraged to even come forward with a case. When looking at all the data and facts that are in front of us, many may wonder what is left for the future of healthcare. How can patients ensure that they will receive the best quality care that they are entitled to regardless of gender, race, religion, and financial status?

“A national standard of care presupposes that rural physicians will have the same training and exercise the same level of judgment and diligence as urban practitioners.”(Bishop) Interesting enough, it was founded that during the years of 1970 and 1980 medicine was not implemented the same in all areas. For instance, a patient in Miami was found to have stayed longer in the hospital oppose to a patient with the same alignment in Minneapolis. In 1989, the government introduced The Agency for Healthcare Quality Research which oversees constructing special clinical practices which will align with the medicine that is practiced here in America. There are also other programs that have been introduced to help aide in the changes of healthcare. Firstly, the JCAHO which the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization approved new goals in 2004 and some of those changes are as follows: Try to improve the protocol of identifying a patient identification.

This can be done by using two forms of identification when collecting blood or urine sample. Another way to confirm patient identification is a process called the time out rule. “Prior to the start of any surgical or invasive procedure, conduct a final verification process as a time out to confirm the correct patient procedure and site using active not passive communication techniques”. Secondly, it is important to ease the barrier of communication between caregivers who are assisting patients. For example, establishing ways to implement an easy verbal communication plan. This can entail a read back system where the person on the other receiving end of the phone must verify in detail the order that was requested from the caller. This will increase accuracy of all phone calls.

The organization should also make a list of all abbreviations that are used throughout the workplace. When this is complete, this should be followed up with any acronyms that are not to be used. Thirdly, update all safety regulations when it comes to using strong medications. This can be done be standardizing the number of high power medications that are easily accessible at the workplace. Lastly, “improve the effectiveness of clinical alarm systems.”  This is done by securing all alarms are operated appropriately and able to function correctly when we are faced with dire emergency situations. In closing, the standard of care here in America was introduced to provide patients the right to adequate and sufficient care under the supervision of experienced hospital staff. There are still many improvements that need to be applied in healthcare for patients and physicians alike to remain successful.