Questions 38 – 41 refer to the following scenario from PT Ma…

Questions 38 – 41 refer to the following scenario from PT Magazine, Ethics in Action,  May 2008. Andrew is in the concluding week of his final clinical affiliation at “HHH,” a large hospital. He has been offered a position there as a staff physical therapist (PT) and was thrilled to accept—acceptance being contingent, of course, on his completing the current rotation, graduating, and passing his licensure exam. Andrew is an excellent student, due to graduate near the top of his class. But like most PT students, he is a bit nervous about taking the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE). He is well aware that every year, scores of equally competent PT students across the country fail the exam on their initial attempt. The possibility of this happening to him always is in the back of his mind. The department director who had offered Andrew the job meets with him to discuss specifics and invites him to join a hospital-sponsored study group for prospective new hires who have yet to take the NPTE. Andrew is told that the hospital will pay his exam fee if he completes review sessions as part of the study group. He scarcely can imagine a better opportunity—built-in study buddies and a significant expense that will be paid by his future employer. Later that afternoon, Andrew enters the conference room where the study group is holding its weekly meeting. The session is led by a facilitator named Don. As Don goes over the practice questions, Andrew realizes that he has never encountered some of these particular queries in the test-prep books he has been reading on his own. During a break in the session, Andrew asks one of the other participants about this and is told that the hospital has developed its own bank of questions for use in studying for the exam. Andrew’s classmate adds that these queries have been culled over the past 18 months from questions supplied by students who recently have taken the NPTE. After the break, Andrew finds it difficult to concentrate. He can’t stop thinking about the implications of what he’d been told. But finally, he decides that what the other student said probably is inaccurate, and that there undoubtedly is another explanation for the questions’ origin. He elects to ask Don, the course facilitator, to alleviate his concerns. Don is very forthcoming, but Andrew does not find the conversation comforting. Don explains that each student who takes the NPTE at the hospital’s expense is assigned to remember a question he or she was asked. Each student submits his or her question and all the submitted questions are used cumulatively to help prepare future test-takers. Don assures Andrew that this is done all over the country and is not inappropriate. It augments the study process, Don says, by encouraging students to consider how they would answer a wide variety of questions. It is his understanding, he adds, that there are two or three versions of the NPTE, each of which has 250 questions, with many questions changing from year to year. This means the potential impact on actual test results of question-sharing is minimal, and that students’ obligation to study intensively for the NPTE remains intact. Andrew nevertheless is deeply troubled by Don’s explanation and justifications. He feels trapped in a situation that compromises his integrity. Andrew doesn’t live in the part of the state where this clinical affiliation is located, and he rents an apartment that he must vacate the day his affiliation ends. After that he will be faced with a 3-hour drive to attend the HHH study group, so he decides to use the inconvenience and expense of the commute as an excuse to decline participation. He breathes an initial sigh of relief as he sees a way out of the situation. But during the last 2 days of the affiliation Andrew’s discomfort resurfaces. While he is comfortable with his individual decision, there remains a larger concern he cannot ignore. 46.  Explain into which realm(s) this situation falls: individual, organizational/institutional, or societal? (4 points)
Continue reading “Questions 38 – 41 refer to the following scenario from PT Ma…”…