UNCC300 Shared Responsibility for Common Goods and Practices Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : UNCC300
• University : Australian Cathloic University My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Nursing

Justice and Change in a Global World

Shared responsibility can be defined as a collective approach between two or more bodies, involved in performing a task (De, 2019). This is mainly carried out to ensure creativity in the assigned task as well as to fetch the desired outcomes and results from the same. Each individual may be having a different and unique role to play in the system, which eventually contributes to the bigger picture. Each of these roles not only complements each other but are also deemed as the need of the hour.

The principle of the common good can be related to attaining full and competent social life along with sheer dignity, unity, and equality for all people (Waters, 2017). This principle also enables each and every individual to reach their respective potential to ensure the fulfillment of their respective goals and limits in life. The concept doesn’t restrict itself to just doing good for each person, rather it provides a sense of belonging and equality for each. It also increases and safeguards the potential to accomplish doing what is ascertained as good. In recent times of the pandemic of COVID-19, there was an increased demand for medical as well as personal protective equipment. As the situation was abrupt and un-called-for, the majority of the countries were not prepared for the same. The pandemic posed a significant challenge to manage the balance between demand and supply of personal protective equipment and medical equipment throughout the respective required fields. The principle of good was hampered while managing the same during the times of pandemic. Due to an abrupt rise in demand, there was incompetence in meeting the required limits for the provision of this equipment. This essay will help in pondering upon the pointers which can be followed for future inferences to avoid such situations and to be well prepared for the same in advance.

There are multiple ways in which this crisis can be handled. The primary method is to acknowledge the interdependencies within the healthcare system (Qazi, 2018). For instance, the nurses can help in scanning a patient’s requirements for ventilator use in comparison to another patient. This can be helpful in marginalizing the need for a ventilator with respect to the severity of symptoms of the patients. People who are not infected that severely can be managed conservatively, rather than making use of assistive devices to ensure delivery of required medical care and support to them. Another method can be forecasting for the demand for the medical equipment, buy duly analyzing the pattern observed in current times. As the pandemic reached a peak, healthcare professionals should have analyzed the required limits for medical and personal protective equipment, to treat the increasing number of coronavirus cases (Rowan, 2020). When the systems tend to overload, there is a bigger impact observed on the utilization of hospital resources. Although, no set forecast can be made, near accurate estimation can be made for future references, to ensure that the demand and supply are well-balanced. This will also be helpful in planning the treatment intervention for the patients in a schematic and proactive manner. It also helped in the smooth facilitation of care delivery services to the patients. This forecasting can also be carried out, by taking into account the population density, social distancing policies, common ailments the population is suffering from, and many others (Sharma, 2020).

Another effective manner in which this demand and supply can be managed is by de-bottlenecking the system. It can be done by optimizing the insufficiencies that have been in the system long before, as well as managing the current inefficiencies (Klemeš, 2020). The main purpose is to deal with the root cause by identifying the same and its overall impact on managing the current crisis. The main focusing efforts should be considered on leveraging the supply of this equipment. The new equipment for care management of the patients should also be analyzed with respect to the medical staff available in the care management of the patients. This system of optimizing demand and supply can also be done by evaluating the current capacity and inventory system. This will provide sound insight into the capacity of the suppliers, demand patterns, and the rate at which these medical equipment are consumed. This will be an excellent method to tackle the rising crisis for next time. Along with the demand forecast, the supply forecast should also be identified to highlight the potential shortages in the system. This can be helpful for planning in advance. As per the given pandemic situation, the healthcare settings are in dire need of medical equipment and personal protective gear in normal times as well. This shortage should thus be addressed on an emergent basis.

Pooling and coordinating organizational resources can be helpful in marginalizing the provision gap and misuse of these medical escapements (Miu, 2020). The method of centralization can be helpful in the given current crisis scenario. This method of pooling the resources will be helpful in coordinating uncorrelated demands for different locations. The demand and supply will be well balanced with schematically managing the inventory in this manner. The healthcare professionals aligned in the care of the patient in various departments within a hospital setting as well as in different healthcare organizations can help in providing the details required to manage the resources in an appropriate manner. Breaking down the departmental barriers can also be an effective strategy to manage the same. It will be further helpful in defining the requirements on the basis of shared information and the management of resources through a well-structural approach. This method can also allow the healthcare sectors to have an added advantage to be well-prepared beforehand to manage and future crises and enable a sufficient supply of medical equipment and personal protective gear.

Innovating and learning in real-time can be deemed as another effective approach to manage the situational crisis. This can be done by developing newer and improved solutions. The times of pandemic gave rise to the use of N95 masks, as they were reusable. This has been a boon to manage patients suffering from COVID-19 (O’Dowd, 2020). Healthcare professionals can help in repurposing the medical assets available just like these masks, to help in marginalizing and compensating for the non-availability of the healthcare equipment. 

In conclusion, the challenges faced by healthcare professionals should be balanced with the help of centralization, information-sharing, and creating flexible coordination between the various healthcare organizations and team members. This also calls for increased responsiveness from the nurses and clinicians who work as a front-line manager in safeguarding the patient’s best interest. With the right decision and right resources, effective management can be carried out for resolving these concerning issues to insufficient supply of resources in healthcare settings, especially during the time of crisis.

References for Shared Responsibility for Common Goods and Practices

De Brún, A., O’Donovan, R., & McAuliffe, E. (2019). Interventions to develop collectivistic leadership in healthcare settings: a systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 72. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-3883-x

Klemeš, J. J., Van Fan, Y., & Jiang, P. (2020). The energy and environmental footprints of COVID-19 fighting measures–PPE, disinfection, supply chains. Energy, 211, 118701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.118701

Miu, A., Cao, H., Zhang, B., & Zhang, H. (2020). Review of Mental Health Response to COVID-19, China. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 26(10), 2482. https://dx.doi.org/10.3201%2Feid2610.201113

O’Dowd, K., Nair, K. M., Forouzandeh, P., Mathew, S., Grant, J., Moran, R., ... & Pillai, S. C. (2020). Face masks and respirators in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic: A review of current materials, advances, and future perspectives. Materials, 13(15), 33-63. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13153363

Qazi, A., Dickson, A., Quigley, J., & Gaudenzi, B. (2018). Supply chain risk network management: A Bayesian belief network and expected utility-based approach for managing supply chain risks. International Journal of Production Economics, 196, 24-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2017.11.008

Rowan, N. J., & Laffey, J. G. (2020). Challenges and solutions for addressing the critical shortage of supply chain for personal and protective equipment (PPE) arising from Coronavirus disease (COVID19) pandemic–A case study from the Republic of Ireland. Science of The Total Environment, 138-532.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138532

Sharma, N., Hasan, Z., Velayudhan, A., MA, E., Mangal, D. K., & Gupta, S. D. (2020). Personal Protective Equipment: Challenges and Strategies to Combat COVID-19 in India: A Narrative Review. Journal of Health Management, 22(2), 157-168. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0972063420935540

Waters, N. P., Schmale, T., Goetz, A., Eberl, J. T., & Wells, J. H. (2017). A call to promote healthcare justice: A summary of integrated outpatient clinics exemplifying principles of Catholic social teaching. The Linacre Quarterly, 84(1), 57-73. https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00243639.2016.1272330

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