Many doctors see patients as just a disease or an illness. This approach to medicine can be detrimental to the health and well being of the patients they are trying to treat. It is very important for doctors to learn that their patients are more complex than just a disease, and good health care should address all aspects of a person. Effective communication and understanding with patients is also extremely important for good patient care, and it is a skill that must be learned and developed by all doctors. Doctors must use these skills with patients to improve doctor-patient relationships and patient well being. These skills can be improved by practicing the bio-psycho-social model of health care, improving health care literacy and by using the four principles of bioethics when making decisions. If these skills are utilized, it may lead to …show more content…
Doctors are in the position to make important decisions on behalf of their patients everyday, and it is essential that they are able to make decisions that are in the best interest of their patients, and for the institution of health care. Many of these decisions may be in a grey area with no single correct answer, and colleagues may disagree about the best course of action in a given situation. When this is the case, it is important to have a method for making the best decision possible in many possible scenarios. In modern medical practice, doctors should learn to utilize the four principles of biomedical ethics (Beauchamp and Childress, 1991). These four principles were designed to assist doctors in making ethical decisions. They acts as a checklist of what an ethical decision should involve, and every decision a doctor makes in their practice should satisfy all four principles before being put into effect. The four principles are: autonomy, justice, non-maleficence, and
The committees involve individuals from diverse backgrounds who support health care institutions with three major functions: providing clinical ethics consultation, developing and/or revising policies pertaining to clinical ethics and hospital policy and facilitating education about topical issues in clinical ethics. The goals of ethics committees are to promote the rights of patients; to promote shared decision making between patients and their clinicians; to promote fair policies and procedures that maximize the likelihood of achieving good, patient-centered outcomes; and to enhance the ethical environment for health care professionals in health care
This paper will explain the seven principles of patient-clinician communication. It will then apply three of those principles to my interactions with my patients. Next, it will describe three methods being used in my area of practice to improved communication between the patients and clinicians. It will ultimately choose one of those principles that applies best to my practice and clearly describe how I use it. It will describe ethical principles that can be applied to issues with patient-clinician communication.
The main function of the healthcare ethics committee is to resolve ethical conflicts by providing consultations and conflict resolution, answer ethical questions, promote patient rights and shared decision making between patients, surrogates, and their clinicians, promote fair policies and procedures that increases the probability of attaining good and patient-centered outcomes, and provide education (Ethics Committees, Programs, and Consultants, 2013). The committee reviews cases on a case-by-case basis and assists patients, family, and staff with coming to an agreement on the options that best met their needs (Healthcare Ethics Committee, 2013). The healthcare ethics committee is structured to include a broad span of community leaders in positions of political stature, respect, and diversity (Healthcare Ethics Committee, 2013). The healthcare ethics committee should include a multifaceted team, consisting of physicians,
The committees involve individuals from diverse backgrounds who support health care institutions with three major functions: providing clinical ethics consultation, developing and/or revising policies pertaining to clinical ethics and hospital policy and facilitating education about topical issues in clinical ethics. The goals of ethics committees are: to promote the rights of patients; to promote shared decision making between patients and their clinicians; to promote fair policies and procedures that maximize the likelihood of achieving good, patient-centered outcomes; and to enhance the ethical environment for health care professionals in health care
The question of ethics has been an ongoing issue. Two things that are very important in medical ethics is morality and religion because this gives the rights to the physician, or doctor and also the relationship between the patient. In the article, The Code of Medical Ethics, a physician/doctor must recognize the responsibility to their patients, as well to society, to other health professionals, and to themselves (Riddick). Most people do not know who Henrietta Lacks is, or know how important her cells are. Unlike most cells, Henrietta’s seemed to be immortal; her cells never died.
It examines and evaluates the decision making process integrating ethical principals. Advance practice nurses must be aware there are ethical consequences for decisions that are made. This core competency addresses the need for ethically sound solutions to be applied to complex issues. During this course ethical principles of decision making was addressed in the case studies. For example, a patient became pregnant and contracted a sexually transmitted infection from her estranged spouse.
The patients I have worked with have become my greatest teachers. I can’t sit down and flip to a chapter in a textbook that would teach me how to listen to a patient and let their unique history paint the picture of their present illness. A physician that I shadowed told me something that has since resonated with me. She told me how every patient has a story, and you always need to listen carefully because these stories aren’t pointless, they often can lead to your diagnosis. I personally believe the most important member of the care team is the patient; without communicating with the patient there is no chance to obtain crucial insight as to the illness that is presented to you.
But bioethics also raises new questions about old issues, like the use of placebos and the treatment of pain. Some of the early founders of bioethics put into view four principles which formed this framework for moral reasoning. These four principles are: (1) Autonomy which means that one should respect the right of individuals to make their own decisions. (2) Non-maleficence which means that one should avoid causing harm. (3)Beneficence meaning that one should take positive steps to help others.
The case study “The Court Was Appalled” details Tomcik v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Corrections. In 1989, Tomcik was in custody within the Ohio Department of Corrections. She received an initial medical evaluation by a physician, Dr. Evans, employed at the facility she was detained at, including a breast exam, who determined she was healthy. Tomcik conducted her own breast exam and found a lump in her right breast. She made repeated attempts to be re-evaluated and several mistakes were made during the subsequent evaluations she did receive.
Informed consent is relatively new in the world of modern medicine and is still a highly debatable topic. Patient autonomy, or informed consent, is the right of a patient to be informed by their physician(s) or health care provider about their current well-being and having a say in their options for treatment. Until informed consent was required, it was the physician or health care provider’s decisions that are trusted by the patient and their family to benefit the patient. One thing that I found to be interesting was that in the past, information about a patient’s current medical condition and treatment could be withheld in order to keep them with a positive attitude and hopeful. This was interesting because it is contradictory to was informed
When faced with an ethical problem or issue in any career affecting societal concerns, I would use moral reasoning and the knowledge about ethical principles I learned in my assignments and courses to make an informed and moral decision when presented with an issue. In my courses at Ashford, I learned a great deal about ethics in the SOC 120: Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility course. From the academic knowledge I’ve gained through this course, I am able to apply the four ethical principles, autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice, as guidelines when faced with clinical decisions working in the medical field. In SOC 120, I was able to learn and research how ethics applies to healthcare, health professionals, and hospitals, which is essential for my career in health informatics, and as a pharmacy
Religious devotion should be dismissed at when a patient is in a life-threatening situation. (BBC, Ethics) Life is considered more important than religion and should be valued more. Principles of Biomedical Ethics Respect for Autonomy: Autonomy in medicine is defined
Ethical Complexity of Distribute Justice and Rationing Medicine is a practice based on moral standards applied to clinical values and judgments, also known as medical ethics. Ethical values consists of beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy and justice. However, these ethical principles are affected when distributive justice and rationing of health care resources are implemented “…in a world in which need is boundless but resources are not…” (Scheunemann & White, 2011, p. 1630). The historic Hippocratic Oath described the four main principles of medical practice and established a moral conduct for clinicians. Beneficence demands that health care providers develop and maintain skills and knowledge, consider individual circumstances of all patients, and strive for the patient’s benefit.
The practice of health care includes many scenarios that have to do with making adequate decisions when it comes to a patient’s life, and the way they are treated. Having an ethical code in all health care organizations is very important, because it helps health care workers with reaching a suited and ethical decision when it comes to the patient. In health care, patient will always be put first, and their autonomy will always be respected. Nevertheless, when there is a situation where a patient might be in harm, or might be making their condition worse because of the decisions they made. Health care workers will always be there to
Conventional wisdom use to hold that the “doctor knows what is best for the patient”, leading to a paternalistic and unbalanced relationship between most physicians and patients. This idea of medical paternalism stems from the Hippocratic oath which states that “ [a physician] will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to [his] ability and judgment”. The Hippocratic oath as historically said by all physicians and medical students is based on a foundation of beneficence yet the oath does not emphasize the personal autonomy of the patient. The oath focuses on the characteristics of a doctor and duty of a doctor yet doesn’t mention the role of doctor in respecting the patients wishes. This principle of paternalism was accepted