Pima Medical Institute: Ethics In Healthcare

Ethics in Healthcare
Tranieka M. Jenkins
Pima Medical Institute
English 101
June 11, 2015
Kelly Heisinger

Ethics in Healthcare
Healthcare is a diverse field with many specialties, but a commonality in all aspects is provider’s ethics. Ethics means following the standards and guidelines set by institutions as it relates to job duties, professional behavior, and patients. The decisions made by healthcare professionals, be it physicians, nurses or medical staff, affect real people and may mean the difference between life and death. The health and welfare of patients, along with the very serious aspect of treatment facilitation, requires that ethical standards be followed every step of the way for the health care professional.
“Guidelines are usually produced at national or international levels by medical associations or governmental bodies, such as the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Local healthcare providers may produce their own set of guidelines or adapt them from existing top-level guidelines.” (Guidelines & recommendations, n.d.) “Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances.” (Institute of Medicine, 1990). Such documents have been in use for thousands of years during the entire history of medicine. (Wikipedia) Clinical protocol is a predefined written procedural method in the design and implementation of experiments.” Protocols are written whenever it is desirable to standardize a laboratory method to ensure successful replication of results by others in the same laboratory or by other laboratories. Detailed protocols also facilitate the assessment of results through peer review. In addition to detailed procedures and lists of required equipment and instruments, protocols often include information on safety precautions, the calculation of results and reporting standards, including statistical analysis and rules for predefining and documenting excluded data to avoid bias.”(Wikipedia) All aspects of guidelines all have a form of ethics that
The Code of Medical Ethics made by the American Medical Association (AMA) which was founded in 1847 unanimously adopted the world 's first national code of professional ethics in medicine. Since that time it has been the authoritative ethics guide for practicing physicians. “The Code articulates the enduring values of medicine as a profession. As a statement of the values to which physicians commit themselves individually and collectively, the Code is a touchstone for medicine as a professional community. It defines medicine’s integrity and the source of the profession’s authority to self-regulate.” (AMA) This code has set the guidelines for the medical industry. The Hippocratic Oath also shows how guidelines are set in medicine. Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by doctors and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine honestly. There have been ethical guidelines in medicine a long time, the “Hippocratic oath was written in 5th century BC.” (Tyson, 2001) Such documents have been in use for thousands of years during the entire history of medicine. Each medical facility has their own ethical guidelines to follow and it plays an important role in healthcare and plays a role on patients. The last code is the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ). NAHQ’s