OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the four ethical communities
2. Apply the ethical communities to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

I was working as a CNA for a horrible nursing home and had an exit interview
where I discussed my reasoning for leaving. CNAs are in charge of helping residents
complete daily personal care tasks like; brushing teeth, using the bathroom, shaving,
eating, etc. CNAs are usually thought to require patience, compassion, and respect for the
residents. The resident home I worked at was far from any form of care that would be
acceptable. Much of the staff ignored call lights, served dirty drinking water, made
residents feel disrespected or belittled, etc. It felt like a movie, in the worst ways possible.
Ultimately, I wanted to be someone to help change the culture and work ethic, but after I
learned I would not be able to, decided to quit. My situation focuses on the negative
experiences I had while providing care, and the conversation I had during my exit
interview. In the exit interview, I was asked why I felt like I deserve a better workplace
than the one who offered me training? I told them that it wasn't about what I deserved,
but what the residents deserved, and I was too weak to watch them receive that lack of
care and be associated with such poor care. After looking back into the organization, I
learned that it was placed on the top ten worst nursing home in America list, and closed
due to health regulation violations. I was not surprised.

2) Describe how the ethics of the organization influenced the situation.

The ethics that this organization said and wanted to stand for, was not what was
practiced among the staff. I think the ethics of the organization had very little influence
on the overall situation. If anything, the ethics the organization stood for, worsened the
situation. Much of the time, the staff felt burned out. They would describe their role and
expectations are impossible and completely unrealistic. I felt as though it was simple, but
I was new with very little experience being overworked and underappreciated.

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 The organization stood for high-quality resident care, medical privacy, honesty,
integrity, respect, lawful practices, and a safe environment for both employees and
residents. These pillars of ethics seem simple and are very common in the nursing home
world. I find that what the text describes as soul, had been corrupted within the roots of
leadership which had spread like poison to the remaining staff. "Soul and ethics are
inextricably intertwined." (Bolman & Deal, 2017). My observation was that the soul and
ethics of the home had been forgotten or abandoned by the vast majority of the staff,
which crushed the souls of the residents within the home. It is a strong opinion to have,
but one that didn't come from just one bad shift or coworker. The problems that lead me
to that conclusion had started from my first day and ultimately lead to my departure.

3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

Many ethical communities could be applied to a situation like this, that would be
a help to the experience. The type of ethical community that is most fitting for an
environment like a nursing home, would be the family approach. "Caring-one person's
compassion and concern for another-is both the primary purpose and the ethical glue that
holds a family together." (Bolman & Deal, 2017). At a nursing home, you want your
residents to feel like they are with family because that is where they live. The residents
should look forward to spending time with their actual families, but most of their
interactions are with staff, and that is a lot of the training for professionals going into the
nursing home workplace.

I would try to implement a feeling of care and compassion among the staff as a
team. Although the patients or residents should come first, the staff won't give patients
what they need if they don't have the support they need. Emotional support is almost as
important as physical support. Trying to build the feeling of family among the staff
would spread to the residents because it would make the staff want to care for the
residents as though they are family.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about ethics.

I am not sure there was much I could have done within my role to truly help
change this particular ideal. I would hope that with what I have learned, I would have
tried to talk to the HR and compliance team about some of my concerns. I would try to
use the resources available to me, to find what I could have done and how to help my
team in the best way possible. I am unsure of what change I could have caused or where I
could have started. That being said, I know I would have done things differently.

I don't think I would have left the home as quickly as I had. I look back at this
situation and wish I would have more strength and diligence to stay and try to help where

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 I could have. I stayed quiet, giving little to my team and residents. I did what felt like the
extra work because it was in comparison to what was being done. On some level, it
almost feels unethical that I left without trying to change things. If I could have known
what I do now, I know I would have tried harder to make the home better. Learning about
ethics and how it related to the human experience, makes me feel more compassion,
patience, and persistence than before. I wish I had this motivation before.

Reference or References

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Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2017). Reframing Organizations, 6th Edition. San Francisco, California:
Jossey-Bass.