Guidelines For Ethical Conduct For The PA Profession

The Code of Ethics I’ve selected is the “Guidelines for Ethical Conduct for the PA Profession” distributed by the AAPA. I am on the Physician Assistant track, so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about their ethical framework. The PA Code of Ethics discusses that there is an ethical framework to follow, but each patient interaction is different (AAPA 2). It’s important for PAs to use their best judgement all while considering preferences of the patient and the supervising physician (AAPA 2). The guidelines PAs must consider when providing care can be outlines by four principles: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice (AAPA 2). The first principle, autonomy, refers to the patient’s ability to self-rule. PAs are in

Respecting your patient’s autonomy while acting in their best interest may contradict each other. While PAs are not expected to ignore their own values and scientific or ethical standards, or the law, they should not let these personal beliefs interfere with their patient’s access to proper care. It is their ethical obligation to see that each of their patients are given appropriate care. The third principle, nonmaleficence, goes hand in hand with beneficence. It means to do no harm to your patients (AAPA 2). It is not okay to inflict unacceptable and harmful practice on your clients. If there is a treatment plan that causes more harm than good, then it should not be considered as an option for your patient. As a PA, it is your job to take care of your patient with their best interest in mind. Your patients trust you as their healthcare provider to provide them the best treatment. The last principle is justice. Justice means treating each patient with equality through fairness in decisions and care. Patients with similar conditions should be receiving similar care (AAPA 2). This includes fair distribution and accessibility to resources, risks, and costs (AAPA 2). Additionally, an individual’s race, religion, financial portfolio, or gender should influence the care PAs

However, there are instances in which misconduct occurs. Some of these common instances are improper diagnoses, medical error, failure to supervise a patient or review their medical history. Another common area of misconduct is not diagnosing a patient in a timely manner, causing their condition to worsen. These mistakes can easily be prevented by prioritizing the relationship between the PA and their supervising physician, and the patient. The PAs care is an extension from the supervising physician since the PA practices medicine directly with the physician (AAPA 3). The primary value of the PA role is to respect the health, well-being, safety, and dignity of all their patients. To ensure that misconduct does not occur, PAs should always be professionally and ethically committed to providing care for each patient. By being sensitive to the beliefs and expectations of the patient, they should be able to recognize that each patient is unique and their type of care will vary. They are treating human beings, not a disease or