Critical Thinking 2

Scope of Practice

Cynthia Myers is a registered health information technician (RHIT). She works as a release of information (ROI) specialist at Quinbery General Hospital. Prior to going to college for Health Information Technology, she had completed a year and a half of nursing school. She did well in her classes and really excelled in Pharmacology and Pathophysiology.

At work Cynthia always received excellent performance reviews from her supervisor. She did well and her job, was always willing to help others, and frequently answered disease process questions for the coders.

One day a patient, Bob Snyder and his wife Amy stopped to pick up a copy of his medical records to take to a specialist. The patient asked Cynthia for some assistance in reading the report. Cynthia was thrilled to assist the patient. The patient had bilateral Doppler studies done on his legs to follow-up from a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT).Although Cynthia was not very familiar with the report, she told the patient that she did not see anything that looked alarming (to her). As far as she could tell, everything looked normal.

The patient, an avid runner, had been on bed rest for several weeks due to the DVT. He was not to see the specialist until next week, so he and his wife discussed the fact that the woman who gave them the reports interpreted them as normal, and decided it was OK to go running. One mile into the run, the patient developed severe chest pain and shortness of breath. The wife called the ambulance and they transported him to the emergency room at Quinbery General Hospital. Soon after arrival, Bob was pronounced dead. Autopsy showed death due to an embolism.

When the ER physician, Dr. Connie Monday, questioned the wife about what happened, she explained that the employee who provided copies of his records told them that the tests appeared normal. Dr. Monday explained that the person who gave them the records was not properly trained or licensed to determine or interpret the test results and they should have waited for the specialist to review the reports.

Critical Thinking Questions:

1. Communications: Define the problem in your own words.

2. Analysis: Compare and contrast the available solutions within this case study.

3. Problem Solving: Select one of the available solutions and defend it as you chosen solution.

4. Evaluation: Identify the weaknesses of your chosen solution.

5. Synthesis: Suggest ways to improve/strengthen your chosen solution.

6. Reflection: Reflect on your own thought process after completing the assignment.