The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic led to a phenomenon termed as pandemic amnesia. It is apparent that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a disturbingly similar pattern. My thesis investigated the prevalence and perils of pandemic amnesia in the context of COVID-19. I explored this issue through a review of scholarly literature...
Communication is an aspect of healthcare that affects healthcare providers and patients at each step of their medical journey. The purpose of this research is to identify the effects that language barriers cause between healthcare workers and patients and the patients’ families and how those effects are perceived by and...
This thesis aims to investigate the reasons for discordance in the physician-family relationship, to explore how to improve that relationship, and to develop a set of practices to help prevent conflicts. The research was done by analyzing research on surrogate decision making, conflicts surrounding end of life, and case studies....
As medicine in the United States has progressed, physicians have been posed with a unique task of shepherding patients into the end of their life. This research sought to determine the effect this has on physicians in the form of what has been coined “professional grief.” In this, we look...
The medical system in healthcare facilities is characterized by its hierarchical nature. This hierarchy is demonstrated in the authority assumed by physicians. Professional respect and communication between doctors and the nurses are necessary for overall job satisfaction and the creation of an optimal environment for quality patient care. The significance...
Presented via Zoom at the OSU Religious Studies 2021 Spring Conference.
This paper takes an analytical look at the 2014 Supreme Court Case Burwell v Hobby Lobbly. This case is an example of the intersection of religion with capitalism, healthcare, feminism, and public policy. This case looks to answer the...
Moral distress is the experience of knowing the right action to take but being unable to take it. It is especially prevalent in the healthcare profession, where professionals’ actions are limited by the wishes of patients and their families, hierarchies, and organizational failings. Since it is accepted that healthcare professionals...
As the importance of empathy in medicine has become more understood the dynamic of the patient-doctor relationship has changed. However, how to properly incorporate empathy into a healthcare relationship has not been thoroughly investigated. There is also continued disagreement on how to appropriately define empathy in a healthcare setting. The...
This research was aimed at providing the foundation for changing standards of care in a critical care setting using Catholic concepts of respect for human dignity, subsidiarity, common good, and solidarity as a matter of social justice. I first unpacked the nature of ICU care and the inevitability of the...
Despite research advancements, the medical field contributes to many health disparities, or situations in which groups that were historically oppressed also experience systematically worse health and greater health risks than more advantaged groups. Although some researchers have paid attention to this population, most studies focus on transition-related care (mostly surgeries...