The Ethical Codes Of Healthcare Professions

Nursing is a career that is governed by a set of ethical principles. The duties of a nurse consist of care and support and its important that nurses are aware of their professional ethics. These principles are put into place to uphold and maintain moral values in healthcare. The American Nurses Association (ANA) code of ethics for nurses consists of nine provisions, outlined in the Code of Ethics for nurses with Interpretive Statements. These provisions are constructed to blueprint the role and responsibilities of a nurse. The chosen provisions being discussed will refer to the three main principles of patient autonomy, patient confidentiality, and patient rights.

It is cited that the most common forms of fraud and abuse in today’s health care industry are false claims, submitting duplicate bills, upcoding services to receive higher reimbursements, as well as kickbacks from referrals (Buchbinder and Shanks, 2012). Health care fraud and abuse unfortunately are common occurrences. In the U.S., allied health care professionals target Medicare, Medicaid, even private insurance companies because of the lure of money without regard for moral, ethical and legal stances. It is a plague that not only affects the U.S. but the whole world in general. It

As the nursing profession progresses throughout the years, its nature becomes more complex in meeting the professional standards and codes of ethics that are required by all nurses. The American Nurses Association has a specific code of ethics that each nurse should follow and adopt as their own beliefs. The public and the patients should be the priority when providing care in the healthcare setting. The knowledge and education that nurses’ gain is valuable and allows them to encourage health, avoid illness, restore health, and aid in coping for those who are all ill. (LeMone, pp.192) Given that the code of ethics is put into place, there are many registered nurses who violate these codes in various situations. The following will discuss

I feel that an individual should have a foundation in ethics in relation to health care. It is important because the community puts their trust into health care organizations and professionals. According to Flite and Harman (2013), an organization must have a code of ethics in order to maintain the community’s trust.

In today’s health care industry, mechanical restraints are often used to maintain patients’ behavior and ensure their safety when treating the elderly and the severely ill (Gatsmans & Milisen, 2006). There are many variations of mechanical restraints, but all are defined as “any device, material or equipment attached to or near a person 's body and which cannot be controlled or easily removed by the person and which deliberately prevents or is deliberately intended to prevent a person 's free body movement to a position of choice and/or a person 's normal access to their body” (Gatsmans & Milisen, 2006, p.

Truth-telling is an important issue within the nurse-patient relationship. Nurses make decisions on a daily basis regarding what information to tell patients. The specific issue in question is whether a nurse should abide by the Code of Ethics for Nurses by revealing the truth to the patient or refrain from telling the truth to the patient because they are respecting the wishes of the patient’s family. Nurses and health care professionals should always tell the truth to their patients unless the patient forgoes their rights to autonomy or cannot think for themselves. By providing the patient with the truth, they allow the patient to come to terms with their conditions and give them the options for further treatment.

The Code of Ethics that I chose was the American Nursing Association’s Nurse’s Code of Ethics. The example I picked has to do with the Provision 3—3.6 and the ethical principle of beneficence. Provision 3 states “The nurse seeks to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient.” (Slate, 2015). This means that the nurse acts in regard to the wellbeing of the patient, placing the patient at the top of the care being delivered. Further in depth, Provision 3.6 is based on addressing impaired practice if it ever takes place. “The duty of the nurse is to protect the patient, the public, and the profession from harm when a colleague’s practice appears to be impaired.” (Slate, 2015). This requires the nurse to protect the patient and the colleague

Professional code of ethics is the fundamental cornerstone in relation towards human services. According to Reamer (1998) ethics in human services consist of four main periods: the morality period; the ethical theory and decision making period; and ethical standards and risk management period. That is why the area most relevant to human services from the three general subject area, normative ethics studies the moral action regarding acceptable behaviours and conducts for practitioners to follow regarding the standards and values that deem pertinent and appropriate for those working these fields. It helps cover real dilemmas that might take place concerning the duty of care, responsibilities and the rights of the different parties that are associated with the situation. The use of the professional code of ethics within human services equips the practitioners to ask the right set of questions that would help assist in decisions making and taking the right actions that are morally right or wrong.

In the mid-19th century, medical codes focused on issues such as not doing harm, not taking life, not revealing personal information, but the codes didn't mention much about telling the truth. The American Medical Association’s code of ethics did state that physicians had a “sacred duty” to “avoid all things which have a tendency to discourage the patient and depress his spirits.” The issue of not doing harm was so important that it was acceptable for doctors to lie in order to not do harm. In the past, telling the truth about fatal or serious diagnoses was assumed to cause harm to the patient, so physicians traditionally did not tell the truth to patients. But times have changed and the importance of patient autonomy is growing. Patients have

Healthcare professionals will be faced with ethical dilemmas throughout their career, particularly in the hospital environment. Having an education regarding professional healthcare ethics will provide some direction in how to best address these dilemmas at a time when either the patient or their family is in need of making decisions for themselves or their family member. It can be difficult for healthcare professionals to weigh professional protocol against their own personal beliefs and ethical understandings when determining critical care for their patient.

The nursing profession has become one of the most respected profession of our time. Nurses have been perceived as honest and ethical for the work that they do. The increasing demand and popularity of becoming a nurse as a career has increased over the past years, but what does it take to become a successful nurse? The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics has accounted nurses to demonstrate the values of integrity and wholeness of character (ANA, 2015). Devine & Chin (2018) defines nursing profession demonstrates “respectfulness, responsiveness, compassion, trustworthiness and integrity” (p. 133). It is imperative that the future of nursing depicts a culture of professionalism relating to moral integrity. The purpose of this concept

Ethical behavior is virtuous and beneficial for business in any type of organization. In healthcare, the outcomes are improved patient care, dedicated staff and healthcare providers, and amplified market share. It obliges leaders, managers, directors, and supervisors to have a comprehensive interpretation of the role of ethical decision making (Winkler, 2005). Ethical health care organizations have incorporated and combined ethical practices and values, continuing education on ethics for everyone involved, successful ethics substructure, and morally spirited and dauntless leaders (Winkler, 2005). These organizations have a vision and statements that directs behavior and decision making.

In most senior living homes there is a company policy that does not allow the nurse to give a resident CPR. I was not surprised to learn that there was “company policy” about a nurse in an independent seniors’ residence not giving nursing care. The law does not actually allow what we think of as hands-on nursing to be given to residents who are not in a skilled nursing facility (nursing home). Neither the state nor federal departments of health license or regulate independent living or assisted living homes. (Rosenblatt) It is sad to think this nurse did not help out this elder woman when she is trained in giving people CPR. This is definitely a medical ethics issue. The nurse

Everyday, healthcare professionals are faced with ethical dilemmas in their workplace. These ethical dilemmas need to be addressed in order to provide the best care for the patient. Healthcare professionals have to weigh their own personal beliefs, professional beliefs, ethical understandings, and several other factors to decide what the best care for their patient might be. This is illustrated in Mrs. Smith’s case. Mrs. Smith is an 85 year old who has suffered from a large stroke that extends to both of her brains hemispheres which has left her unconscious. She only has some brain stem reflexes and requires a ventilator for support. She is unable to communicate how she wishes to proceed with her healthcare. Mrs. Smith’s children, Sara and Frank have different views regarding their mother’s plan of care. The decision that needs to be made is whether to prolong Mrs. Smith’s life, as Sara would like to do, or stop all treatments and care, as Frank feels his mother would want. In the healthcare field, there are situations similar to this case that happen daily where moral and ethical judgment is necessary to guide the decision that would be best for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss, compare and contrast the personal and professional values, ethical principles, and legal issues regarding Mrs. Smith’s quality of life and further plan of care.

"Our results indicate that the informal methods ("manager sets an example" or "social norms of the organization") are likely to yield greater commitment with respect to both employee attitudes than formal methods ("training courses on the subject of ethics") (Adam, et al, 2004).