Vidant Health Code Of Ethics

• Does the Code of Ethics reflect the stated values and purpose of the company?

I chose to write on the Code of Ethics Plan for Vidant Health. The Code of Ethics Plan does reflect the values and purpose of the company. The company’s values are safety, excellence, compassion, teamwork, educations, and innovation. The ten page plan is titled “Ethics and Compliance Plan” and is broken down in numerous sections to include: purpose, mission, vision, key elements, program goals, standard of conduct, and responsibilities of all stakeholders. The Standard of Conduct is where I found information related to the values and purpose of the company. The following statement supports the reflection, “It is the policy of Vidant Health to maintain a Hospital

Ethics Committee to ensure that human dignity and patient rights remain of paramount importance, and to establish a system that allows a staff member, patient or family members to request the convening of the Hospital Ethics Committee to address ethical issues” (Vidant Health, 2015).

• Are the components of the Code of Ethics clear and set definable expectations of employee and corporate conduct? Did you have to go to multiple sites of sources to completely understand the Code of Ethics?
The components of the Code of Ethics was clear and did set definable expectations of employees and corporate conduct.

This plan has very explicit expectations for the following job roles: Board of Directors, Audit and Compliance Committee of the Board, Entity Board of Directors and Subsidiary Boards, Vidant Health CEO/Divisional Presidents, Corporate Compliance Steering Committee, Chief Audit and Compliance Officer, and Vidant Health Personnel (Vidant Health, 2015). Each section has listed bullet points of expectations for conduct. I was able to obtain the plan by accessing the company’s policy and procedure section located on the company intranet homepage. Every employee completes an annual requirement related to the “Code of Ethics Plan” and their responsibility. Also, the company has “Compliance Hotline” stickers placed on all phones with a number to contact for any ethical

concerns.

• What from the readings can you identify as within the Code of Ethics? What from the readings is missing or should be included?

Ethical codes are put in place to assist stakeholders of organizations in understanding the difference between ‘right and ‘wrong’ and to help them conduct their actions in accordance with its primary values and ethical standards (code of ethics, 2015). The authors of the journal article titled “Similarities in Business and IT Professional Ethics: The Need for and Development of A Comprehensive Code of Ethics”, describe a study completed in 1990 that concentrated more on the values postulated as being important to society, rather than on the levels of morality at which the values may be present (Payne, 2005).
“The values identified in that article as being important were the values of integrity, justice, utility and competence.

At the highest level of morality, these values can be described in the following ways. First, integrity requires the decision-maker to adhere to the values of sincerity, honesty and candor. Justice entails the use of equality and fairness in decision-making. Competence is the value that forces workers to be competent, to maintain state of the art knowledge in their fields. Fourth and finally, the concept of utility dictates that the decision-maker will ‘‘actively seek information on the impact its decisions will have on all parties and it will weigh this information equally (Payne,

2005)”

Code of Ethics should be written with the company’s profession and culture in mind. This plan should not and will not lay out specific rules and/or processes for every situation that may arise in the business. Spiro mentions the following about a company’s Code of Ethics: “It should address both the particular nuances of the company's industry as well as its broader goals for social responsibility and should be concrete enough to serve as a guide for employees in a quandary without laying out rules for every situation that could arise (Spiro, 2010).”