Abstract
The current state of scientific knowledge on using the emergency department (ED) for chronic care management indicates that using the ED for chronic care management creates health disparities and burdens healthcare systems. Ethical concerns also arise because patients use the ED for chronic care management. This article discusses health literacy, self-care behaviors, and social support and the presence of patient suffering, nonmaleficence, and beneficence in patients who seek care for chronic care management in the ED. Patient advocacy as a tool to lessen these ethical issues is further discussed. Eighty-six participants were used in a cross-sectional correlational predictive study. Findings indicated that predictive relationships exist between health literacy, social support, and self-care behaviors and using the ED for chronic care management in the sample population. Key implications from this research are the need for patient advocacy to improve health literacy, self-care behaviors, and social support among patients with chronic conditions.
Recommended Citation
Baskin, L. (2020). Patient advocacy: A tool for resolving ethical issues for patients that use the emergency department for chronic care management. Journal of Health Ethics, 16(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.18785/ojhe.1602.05Included in
Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Other Nursing Commons
