Professional Ethics in Healthcare

     Like the last blog post we talked about HIPAA and the harms caused when going into patients charts that you do not have permission to go through. Just like HIPAA there are plenty more ethical dilemmas that come up in the healthcare profession. 

    In the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics they say to:

            1. Seek truth and report it

                In the hospital it is often hard to "seek truth", a lot of what happens in the healthcare industry is chart chart chart, to cover your butt. They tell you to chart what you see, hear, smell, any and everything that can be charted, do it. They say this because if the patient comes back with a claim against you or against the hospital, they will start checking everything that was charted. When I say it is hard to seek the truth, I say this because what we chart and what they say can be different things. Sometimes it may be that we need to seek truth with the doctor and take things with a grain of salt when it comes to what the patient actually says. 

            2. Minimize harm

                You can minimize harm by either:

                        A) Deciding whether or not it is truly appropriate to act on what you may be trying to act on. What is the harm you could be causing the patient by fighting whatever it is or bringing it up. 

                        B) Does it do you more harm to bring up something that could be settle easily at bedside and bringing in more drama than needed. 

                At what point does harm play a significant role in your ability to do your job and the ability to represent the truth. Hence why seeking the truth is always the best first step.

            3. Act Independently

                Acting on your own and independently really streamlines from saying if something comes up that you feel you have needed to do steps 1-2 so far, then don't go blabbing your mouth to everyone about what they situation may potentially be. It is unfair to yourself and others to start drama if there is no concrete evidence to back up what you are saying. In the case of having concrete evidence in healthcare situations it is still not advised to go running your mouth to whoever because that can cause you to destroy not only your own character but that of someone else as well. 

            4. Be Accountable and Transparent 

                Being accountable happens if you are asked to be there and do what needs to be done, then you need to show up and do what needs to be done. Being transparent means that if asked a question about something then you need to tell the truth as you know it and have the ability to back up your statements. 

Professional Ethics has a thin line in healthcare because little things that people don't think of can be completely unethical. Talking about a patient at the front nurses station (even without saying their name) can be completely unethical. That fine line is a like a seesaw everyone is trying to balance on.