Assignment:

Read this scenario: 

You have been hired as Assistant Manager of a Home Health Care Agency. The agency offers a wide range of skilled medical services such as nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy from qualified medical professionals. The agency also provides home health aide services including assistance with activities of daily living, such as bathing and eating.

Your supervisor told you that she recently received a call from an advocate whom an employee consulted via the Employee Assistance Program because the employee felt that she had been treated unfairly after contracting an illness. She explained that a few months ago, one of your agency’s home health aides, Sara, became ill. Sara had been coughing for approximately six weeks, lost weight without trying, had no appetite, was having difficulty sleeping, and had an intermittent fever. She became concerned and went to see a healthcare professional who diagnosed her with active tuberculosis (TB).

Sara missed a lot of time from work while completing treatment for TB. Her physician cleared her to return to work after she was no longer contagious. Upon returning to work, Sara felt isolated because her boss and co-workers refused to spend time with her. She heard that someone from the agency’s Human Resources Department told her co-workers her diagnosis. The stressful circumstances at work became even worse when another home health aide started to display the same symptoms Sara had.

Your supervisor has asked you to review the entire situation and how it was handled by the agency.

Watch the Dealing with Diversity and the Sick Doctors Admit to Spreading Infections at Work videos before working on this assignment.   

Write a 3-4 pages paper that outlines your processes throughout the investigation and your findings. Your paper should include an interview with the relevant individuals, departments, and agencies that are involved in this scenario; evaluation of the information you gathered throughout the course of your investigation; determination of the best course of action. 

Please make sure you take into consideration the language barrier since one of Sara’s co-workers in this scenario only speaks Spanish. Also, make sure to provide the financial implications of Sara missing work as well from the financial point of view of the agency. Health care coverage, or lack thereof, is to be considered here. 

Below is an outline of key headings that I will be looking for in your paper.

1. Introduction: (background and context of the problem)
2. Importance/relevance and extent of the problem
3. Causes
4. Stakeholder issues
5. Legal, ethical, and financial implications—Sarah’s perspectives.
6. Legal, ethical, and financial implications—agency’s perspectives.
7. Possible solutions and current attempts
8. Specific plan (policies or education program) and its likelihood of success
9. Conclusions
10. References