OPTION 1.

Social media, web, and mobile technologies are increasingly used in healthcare and directly support patient-centered care. Patients and their relatives/significant others benefit from disease self-management tools and as a means to contact others in a similar position to themselves. When used cautiously, social media can provide obvious advantages for health professionals such as professional networking, clinical education, and patients’ health promotion. However, when used unwisely, social media has its disadvantages such as violation of patients’ confidentiality and privacy, and can lead to formidable consequences.

Read the following case scenario and use the Markkula Framework for Ethical Decision-Making to document the decision-making process that you would implement in response to the situation described in the scenario.

In your answer, you must demonstrate how you have implemented each step of the Markkula Framework to arrive at an ethical decision and support your actions by the evidence available in the literature.

SCENARIO

Sebastian is a hospital orderly who has demonstrated a genuine interest in his job in the operating room suite of a large metropolitan hospital. The following photo was posted to his Facebook page where he expresses pride in being part of a team that looks after very ill patients.

Operating Theatre

The patient did not give consent for the use of his image and the staff in the operating room pictured also did not provide consent. The photo breaches hospital policy with states emphatically that staff is not permitted to use photographs taken in the work areas of the hospital in social media pages without the express permission of the media and communications manager of the hospital.

There is an extensive social media policy available and the requirements are stressed at employee orientation which Sebastian is recorded as having attended. You are the Health Services Manager in effective control of the operating room suite at the hospital and the matter has been referred to you by the Media and Communications Manager following a complaint from a member of the patient’s family who saw this image on the Facebook page of one of her friends who is also connected to Sebastian on Facebook.

OR

OPTION 2.

Intergenerational Workforce Working in organizations today often means joining a team with a range of ages. You may work with Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zs. As more Baby Boomers work past retirement age and as tech-savvy gen Y’s move up the organizational ladder and gen Z’s continue to graduate and enter the workforce, the stark differences in the values, communication styles and work habits of each generation are becoming increasingly pronounced.

Leading intergenerational teams is complex and the generational diversity in the workplace is growing. From Baby Boomers with years of experience to fresh-faced Generation Zs who are constantly connected, the workforce is becoming increasingly varied in terms of age.

Today, organizations often employ people from up to four (and sometimes five) different generations each generation has its own unique style, needs, goals, and traits for employers to consider.

While managing such an age-diverse workforce is certainly not without its challenges, there are many benefits to employing a team that spans multiple generations.

You are required to:

1. Discuss the benefits and challenges of an intergenerational workforce AND provide reasons why these are beneficial or a challenge to organizations.
2. Describe four issues that commonly emerge in the workplace as a result of the intergenerational workforce, and Propose strategies that you would deploy to manage generational diversity in the workplace citing the evidence from the literature to support your strategies.