COVID-19: Ethical and Cultural Perspectives of Inquiry

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Ethical Perspective of Inquiry
Cultural Perspective of Inquiry
Conclusion
References

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 is associated with the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supply in hospitals. This problem should be analyzed from ethical and cultural perspectives. From the ethical perspective, it is necessary to determine obstacles affecting the medical community’s response to the issue and how the PPE shortage can influence the quality of services.

Important ethical and legal aspects include the obligation for medical workers to perform their responsibilities in complex situations. From the cultural perspective, it is critical to identify cultural values influencing the PPE supply and state how the staff’s views can influence using PPE. Risks are observed when medical workers doff or ignore PPE.

Introduction

The usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) by medical workers is the necessity predetermined by COVID-19. However, it is possible to observe the signs of the inadequate PPE supply in hospitals. When discussing this issue from the ethical perspective, it is essential to find the answers to the following research question (Level 1): What ethical obstacles affect how the medical community addresses the issue? While referring to the specifics of using PPE, it is also important to formulate one more question (Level 2) covering ethical issues: How can the lack of PPE affect the quality of services?

The analysis of the problem from the cultural perspective also requires focusing on the following major question (Level 1): Which cultural values and/or norms influence the issue? To ensure that the analysis of the cultural aspects is complete, one should set an additional question (Level 2): How can healthcare professionals’ cultures and views influence their usage of PPE? Despite the fact that the PPE supply is guaranteed today, certain ethical issues and cultural specifics influence the problem because of challenges associated with ethical obstacles and healthcare providers’ views regarding the use of PPE.

Ethical Perspective of Inquiry

Ethical Obstacles Affecting the Medical Community’s Response to the Issue

One of the ethical challenges associated with the PPE supply in hospitals in the era of COVID-19 is the decision of medical workers to perform their duties and responsibilities in the situation of the lack of masks, gowns, and gloves. If there is a shortage of PPE in a hospital, healthcare providers are expected to resolve the ethical question and perform their duties being unprotected from the risks of contamination (Maguire et al., 2020).

The problem is that medical employees have a specific ethical duty to deliver high-quality care to patients, in spite of the fact that the lack of PPE creates additional challenges and risks for both the staff and patients (Patel et al., 2020). As a result, in the situation when patients require healthcare providers’ assistance, the response of the medical community to the shortage of PPE can be negative.

Another ethical obstacle is associated with certain legal issues and obligations of medical workers. On the one hand, if medical employees provide care and need to work with patients without PPE, they break the infection control norms and standards, and this is the case for disciplinary and legal actions (Binkley & Kemp, 2020).

On the other hand, in the situation of the shortage of the PPE supply in hospitals, physicians and nurses have to use different shields and masks that have no quality of special medical PPE (Maguire et al., 2020). In this case, it is possible to state that the personnel avoids breaking ethical and legal norms, but the quality of services decreases, and the risk of catching and transmitting the infection can still be discussed as high.

The Lack of PPE Affecting the Quality of Services

If healthcare providers have no access to enough PPE in order to protect themselves, this shortage in the PPE supply results in decreasing the quality of care provided to patients. On the one hand, medical workers violate ethical and legal norms and break the protocols related to infection control in hospitals (McGarry et al., 2020). On the other hand, when being unprotected, healthcare providers contribute to transmitting the disease in a clinical setting, causing the growth in the rate of infected patients (Binkley & Kemp, 2020).

The quality of services tends to decrease if healthcare professionals were infected and diagnosed with a certain disease that can prevent them from performing their duties. From this perspective, the ethical issue is observed when the demand for PPE declared by the staff in a hospital is not addressed, and this problem begins to influence the quality of services provided in a clinical facility (McGarry et al., 2020). The shortage of the PPE supply does not give medical workers an opportunity to prevent the transmission of infections, and physicians, nurses, and patients remain vulnerable and unprotected in this ethically problematic situation.

Cultural Perspective of Inquiry

Cultural Values and/or Norms Influencing the Issue

The representatives of different cultures have various ideas regarding the medical clothes they wear in order to protect their bodies and patients from infection. The problem is that medical workers as the members of certain cultural communities can ignore some rules regarding the usage of PPE (Patel et al., 2020).

When working in both clean and contaminated settings, some people can break the standards and remove their PPE or devices that are used instead of PPE in the situation of the shortage of necessary equipment (Gurses et al., 2019). Therefore, much attention should be paid to educating healthcare providers regarding the risks of removing gloves, masks, face shields, and respirators when working with patients, especially in the context of the coronavirus pandemic (Harrod et al., 2020). When doffing PPE because of their specific cultural and personal views and ideas, medical workers contribute to the transmission of diseases.

In remote areas and developing countries, the risks of doffing PPE are the highest ones because of the cultural factor and the lack of protective equipment to be used effectively by all the medical staff. If healthcare providers lack the required competency regarding the utilization of PPE, they can demonstrate doffing modes and become vulnerable and unprotected (Gurses et al., 2019).

Healthcare professionals are highly exposed to the threats of catching and spreading viruses, and they need to follow infection control standards and rules in order to prevent transmission of viruses and bacteria in spite of their personal beliefs and perceptions (Patel et al., 2020).

However, the specifics of the daily contacts of medical workers with patients and the patterns of doffing PPE lead to ignoring safety standards, which is a risky behavior in the context of the PPE shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, some traditions and routines adopted in remote clinical settings and typical of some healthcare providers can be regarded as threatening and ineffective.

Healthcare Professionals’ Views Influencing the Usage of PPE

In spite of the fact that all healthcare providers receive training regarding the use of PPE during the pandemic and in other cases to prevent the transmission of infections, their personal factors, including their individual views, cultural norms and beliefs, can influence their usage of PPE. Even if all the medical workers in a hospital are provided with masks, respirators, and gloves to protect their faces and hands, they can wear or use then incorrectly, demonstrating the lack of knowledge or their specific position (Harrod et al., 2020; Maguire et al., 2020).

Individual cultures and views regarding the contacts with patients can influence the usage of PPE and negatively affect persons’ compliance with all the norms and rules adopted in a hospital significantly (Binkley & Kemp, 2020). As a result, the risks of self-contamination as well as the further spread of the infection in a hospital increase significantly.

Conclusion

The current PPE supply in hospitals is assessed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the shortage of the PPE supply is reported depending on the necessity for healthcare providers to use gloves, face masks and shields, respirators, and gowns in all situations when working with patients. The problem of the PPE supply in hospitals should be discussed from the ethical and cultural perspectives. The ethical perspective allows for posing the following questions: what ethical obstacles can affect the medical community’s response to the issue and how the lack of PPE can affect the quality of services.

The answer presented in the academic literature is that ethical and legal aspects include the obligation for medical staff to perform their duties in different critical situations and follow the infection control procedures strictly.

The cultural perspective is regarded when posing the following questions: which cultural values and norms can influence the PPE supply issue and how healthcare professionals’ cultures and views can influence the usage of PPE. As it is stated in the journal articles on the problem, the risks are observed when medical workers doff their PPE because of certain cultural and personal views. As a result, these ethical and cultural issues need to be addressed to guarantee the effective usage of PPE even in the situation of its shortage in hospitals.

References

Binkley, C. E., & Kemp, D. S. (2020). Ethical rationing of personal protective equipment to minimize moral residue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 230(6), 1111–1113. Web.

Gurses, A. P., Dietz, A. S., Nowakowski, E., Andonian, J., Schiffhauer, M., Billman, C., Abashian, A. M., Trexler, P., Osei, P., Benishek, L. E., & Xie, A. (2019). Human factors–based risk analysis to improve the safety of doffing enhanced personal protective equipment. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 40(2), 178-186. Web.

Harrod, M., Weston, L. E., Gregory, L., Petersen, L., Mayer, J., Drews, F. A., & Krein, S. L. (2020). A qualitative study of factors affecting personal protective equipment use among health care personnel. American Journal of Infection Control, 48(4), 410-415. Web.

Maguire, B. J., Shearer, K., McKeown, J., Phelps, S., Gerard, D. R., Handal, K. A., & O’Neill, B. J. (2020). The ethics of PPE and EMS in the COVID-19 era. JEMS, 1-10. Web.

McGarry, B. E., Grabowski, D. C., & Barnett, M. L. (2020). Severe staffing and personal protective equipment shortages faced by nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic: Study examines staffing and personal protective equipment shortages faced by nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Affairs, 10, 1377. Web.

Patel, L., Elliott, A., Storlie, E., Kethireddy, R., Goodman, K., & Dickey, W. (2020). Ethical and legal challenges during the COVID‐19 pandemic–Are we thinking about rural hospitals?The Journal of Rural Health, 1-8. Web.

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