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How important is professionalism
Professional ethics of medicine
Essays on theories and principles of ethics in healthcare
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Socrates was a man of many questions; seeking answers to better his self and society. Socrates strongly believed in living the best life possible life and encouraged his students to do the same. Socrates believed in three ideas: living right, never doing wrong and keeping agreements. Medical office personnel have an enormous ethical responsibility to the patients they work with, the facility they work in, and to themselves. A medical office administrator’s duties include interacting with patients, answering phones, scheduling appointments, organizing and updating medical records, process insurance forms and bookkeeping. By following Socrates ideas one can full fill their obligations fully and for the maximum benefit of the patient. Living right, …show more content…
D.A., 2010). The goal is to be respectful, approachable, and courteous so that you can build and maintain relationships with the facility’s patients and coworkers while enabling the facility to perform at its maximum ability. Medical office staff is typically the first to greet patients, therefor it is important to maintain a professional and approachable persona via your attire and language. Not only does your professional persona represent you as an individual, it sets the tone for the facility and the expectations of the patient. Always address those in the room with a pleasant, respectful, and kind tone of voice. Greet each patient when they enter the facility, formally address patients and coworkers, and practice small courtesies or graces: holding open facility and elevator doors, help carry bulky or cumbersome items, share your umbrella, say “please” and “thank you”, and smile(Hills, L. D.A., 2010).. Proper etiquette also means arriving to work on time, practicing good telephone …show more content…
The Greek philosopher Socrates’ virtue ethics emphasizes acquiring good traits and character (Littleton, V., 2010); something all medical office administrators as well as physicians, nurses, and aids should strive for as well. One of the first codes of ethics is known as the Hippocratic Oath. Today, different organizations and associations such as The American Medical Association, as well as individual facilities have a code of ethics they follow inspired by the Hippocratic Oath. There are seven universal principles or values in health care ethics: autonomy or self-determination, beneficence, nonmaleficence, confidentiality, justice, role fidelity, veracity (Judson & Harrison, 2016). Autonomy is the ability to make your own decisions based on the needs of the patient, your own reasoning skills, and your duty; accountability. Accountability is important in the daily tasks of office personnel such as updating patient charts, scheduling appoints, coding and billing for services rendered and seen. Beneficence is one of the basic medical ethical values which recognizes that there is a general obligation to protect individuals from harm and to ensure their welfare (Littleton, V., 2010); this is especially important considering medical office administrators handle sensitive patient information. Failing to keep protected
According to Terrence F. Ackerman, as of the 1980s the American Medical Association had to include the respect for a person’s autonomy as a principle of medical ethics (Ackerman 14, 1982). This includes having the physician provide all the medical information to the patient even if the information could cause negative implication onto the patient. The physician is also expected to withhold all information of the patient from 3rd parties (Ackerman 14, 1982). Although it is seen as standard in today’s world, in
What are the five key areas of responsibility for healthcare leaders according to the ACHE Code of Ethics?
The four ethical virtues of health care must be shown, compassion, discernment, integrity and trustworthiness. Respecting a person’s autonomy understanding and acting on the belief the people have the right decision to make decisions and take action based on their beliefs and value systems. The ethical issues that would be encountered will be to treat each person with passion and respect regardless of sex, race, and religious preference. The environment has no human rights violations, sustains nursing ethical
An ethical issue or dilemma is a situation that is usually complex and it often involves an apparent mental conflict between moral imperatives. The moral imperatives must be obeyed resulting in transgressing another. When it comes to medical assisting, ethical issues frequently arise in health care according to the article on the ANM healthcare website. A medical assistant is an unlicensed support person who must work under the direction of a licensed professional and also may come upon ethical issues related to the field of practice. Ethical codes in the health care often derive from medical ethics in which they include expectations such as compassion, competency, and professionalism. “The AAMA Medical Assistant Code of Ethics requires medical
Even since ancient times, it was recognized that doctors had power over their patients, and that there must be ethical implications coming with this responsibility. This was first represented in the Hippocratic Oath, which was created by an Ancient Gree...
The four major ethical principles in health care are: Autonomy – to honor the patient’s right to make their own decision (the opposite is paternalism - the health care provider knows best for the patient), Beneficence – to help the patient advance his/her own good, Nonmaleficence – to do no harm (many bioethical controversies involves this principle), and Justice – to be fair and treat like cases alike. All 4 principles are considered to be in effect at all times. In theory, each is of equal weight or importance. Ethical responsibilities in a given situation depend in part on the nature of the decision and in part on the roles everyone involved play.
Nurses everywhere face problems and challenges in practice. Most of the challenges occur due to a struggle with the use of ethical principles in patient care. Ethical principles are “basic and obvious moral truths that guide deliberation and action,” (Burkhardt, Nathaniel, 2014). Ethical principles that are used in nursing practice include autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, veracity, confidentiality, justice, and fidelity. These challenges not only affect them, but the quality of care they provide as well. According to the article, some of the most frequently occurring and most stressful ethical issues were protecting patient rights, autonomy and informed consent to treatment, staffing problems, advanced care planning, and surrogate decision making (Ulrich et. al, 2013). The ethical issue of inadequate staffing conflicts with the principle of non-maleficence.
Physician-assisted suicide refers to the physician acting indirectly in the death of the patient -- providing the means for death. The ethics of PAS is a continually debated topic. The range of arguments in support and opposition of PAS are vast. Justice, compassion, the moral irrelevance of the difference between killing and letting die, individual liberty are many arguments for PAS. The distinction between killing and letting die, sanctity of life, "do no harm" principle of medicine, and the potential for abuse are some of the arguments in favor of making PAS illegal. However, self-determination, and ultimately respect for autonomy are relied on heavily as principle arguments in the PAS issue.
Healthcare professionals in the medical office should be friendly and open. Patients entering the medical office should be greeted immediately with a smile and having a gentle touch also let the patient know you care. “Healthcare professionals in a medical office are held to a higher standard than most professions because they are dealing with the dignity of patients and the ability to be healed” (Wolff). Educating the staff to be professional in the medical office represents the office as being excellent in patient care. Patient-centered care success is required by the whole office which is treatment and patient experience, from the time they enter the office until they leave.
Vice versa ethical principles clarify a nurse by eight factors which are autonomy, beneficence, confidentiality, fidelity, justice, non maleficence, and veracity. These virtues have hidden moral guidelines and the precepts to the nursing profession. Autonomy is defined as freedom to drive sound judgment in the clinical setting. Beneficence is my good in worth than the whole good for the patient care. Confidentiality is not exploiting information on the records and holds of the patient. Fidelity is the explicit and implicit oath of a person’s will. Justice is the strong force for what is righteous and morally disciplined. Non maleficence is doing no harm. Veracity is exact opposites which are truthful or deceive someone. These morals promote patient’s rights by promoting self governing, ensuring nurse, and act in a way that aids the patient, respecting a patient’s own info, and making faith filled and oaths. Also, a provision of appropriate, fair, and equal cares (Dohert & Purtilo, 2014).
The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, which means character (1). Being moral always fills a nurse with morals respects, guidelines of good judgment and expert lead. There are three essential obligations for nurses, among many other which are the duty of autonomy, confidentiality, and obligation of care to all patients (2). There are professional duties with becoming distinctly legitimate obligations if any law and policies are ruptured in between professional practice. In 2001, a review found that there was an apparent requirement for more guidance on moral predicaments inside the medical professionals, subsequent to expanding legal cases and open request (3). Medical attendants ought to withstand to regulatory law and statutory law while managing the nursing practice.
The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses has five elements that pertain to the Principle of Autonomy. Each individual element applies to “respect individual persons” (Baillie, McGeehan, Garrett T, M., Garrett R. M., 2013, p.33). In Chapter 2 of the Health Care ethics: Principles and problems text, it discusses thouroghly the consent of an individual to make their own decisions regarding their health and future requests of care. As a nurse or within all heath care professions, we must treat each individual patient with care, respect, and to remain mindful to the patient regarding any aspect of their lives. In the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses, it explains ways of maintaining the empathy required in the health field. It further discusses that the respect for human dignity must be a priority, relationships to patients must remain neutral, the severity of the situation, the right to self-rule, and the professionalism that must be upheld by the nurse and their associates.
Garrett, T. M., Baillie, H. W., & Garrett, R. M. (2010). Health care ethics: Principles and problems (5thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Working in health care is an important job. People put their trust in us to do our very best to provide them with the absolute best care. Being entrusted with such responsibility requires nurses to conduct themselves both professionally and ethically. Nurses must adhere to the professional values of human dignity, integrity, autonomy, altruism, and social justice. It is these five values that guide us in our practice and as nurses we must promote and emulate these values. They play an important role in the quality of treatment and success of an organization and help us determine right from wrong.
Health care providers are faced with bioethical issues every day when caring for a wide variety of patients. Bioethical principles are outlined in order to help these professionals provide the best possible care for their clients. The first principle focuses on the autonomy of individuals. This is the foundation of “informed consent” that is required before performing any medical care on a patient. The patient must completely understand the benefits and risks associated with any medical acts and make their own decision. The second principle states that no intentional harm or injury to the patient can result from the medical decision. This principle of nonmaleficence helps set standards of care to prevent wrongdoing. Beneficence is the third bioethical principle that states that it is the responsibility of the health care provider to benefit the patient. The fourth bioethical principle refers to justice and that each patient is treated with fairness. Every patient is entitled to impartial medical care to ensure the appropriate distribution of goods and services (McCormick, 2013). These bioethical principles help guide health care professionals when making difficult decisions related to controversial topics and practices.