scholarly journals Professional Ethical Aspects in the Study and Internship Environment: Research in Tallinn Health Care College

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 148-167
Author(s):  
Kate-Riin Kont ◽  
Kateriina Rannula ◽  
Kristiina Puura

The exposure of healthcare professionals to (un)ethical situations starts in the educational institution, and the first serious cases occur during internships. The aim of the current study is to investigate the problems and causes (concerning unethical situations) related to students’ perception of ethics in the study and practice environment and to describe the awareness of Tallinn Health Care College’s students of professional ethics and the use of existing support systems in solving unethical problems.The findings indicated the importance of ethical communication and behaviour by all respondents. Empathy, ethical feedback, and confidentiality were perceived to be an integral part of ethical standards within the study and training environment. Respondents pointed out that ethical issues may occur not only between a health care professional and a patient, but also between a health care professional and doctor, supervisor, or teacher. A practical approach to ethical decision-making integrated into professional training has been assessed by all respondents.

2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. L. Sithole

Ethics as a discipline is the study and analysis of values and standards related to duty, responsibility, and right and wrong behavior. The ethical obligations of optometry toward patients are similar to those of other health professionals. These obligations generally require optometrists to recognize, respect, and protect the rights of their patients. This approach encourages patients to participate actively in their care and allows them to develop arelationship with their optometrist based on trust. The ethical codes which contain guiding principles serve to help practitioners in their decisions and in practicing in accordance with a set of standards that are expected of a health care practitioner. There are four major ethical principles in health care, namely; beneficence, non-maleficence, and respect for autonomy and justice. Because these principles are easily recognized as being among the primary ethical goals of health care, using them as the basis for ethical analysis may help to explain the moral justification for certain professional actions as well as to identify unethical behavior. However, in clinical practice, the specific demands and rationales of these broad principles may be difficult to apply. This illustrates the paradox that whilst these principles are essential tools for ethical practice, if applied too rigidly, they can be problematic. How-ever, the goal of ethical decision making in optometry should be to identify one or more courses of action that will honor the profession’s essential values while minimizing conflict with other values and professional standards. Every profession, every practice and every practitioner is governed by not only legal constraints, but also by the ethical concerns of ensuring that the patient is properly served. Considering our practices from a patient’s perspective can help optometrists understand the multiple responsibilities of clinical practice. (S Afr Optom 2010 69(2) 93-99)


Author(s):  
James M. DuBois ◽  
Beth Prusaczyk

This chapter focuses primarily on the protection of human participants in D&I studies. It begins by reviewing the Belmont principles that undergird US research regulations and considering the ethical case for D&I research. It then proceeds to examine some ethical issues that might arise during the course of a public health, D&I research agenda in middle schools. It covers the ethical case for D&I research and common ethical challenges. The chapter also discusses strategies for ethical decision-making. While these strategies may be beneficial to all researchers, the authors believe they are of particular value to dissemination and implementation researchers because the nature of their work—context specific, complex, and unfamiliar to many peers, collaborators, and reviewers—means they will deal with uncertainty and conflict on a regular basis, and solutions to the problems they face will rarely be found through simple reference principles, rules, or regulations.


Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Pope

This chapter examines how ethical issues are approached differently by two prominent psychological associations, how they are encountered by psychologists, the formal complaints they give rise to, and how they can be approached systematically to avoid missteps. Included are basic assumptions about ethics; the unique approaches to developing a ethics code taken by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), and what each of these two codes provides; empirical data about what ethical problems psychologists encounter and what formal complaints they face; four major sets of ethical issues that are particularly complex and challenging (confidentiality, informed consent, competence, and boundaries); an area of major controversy (clinical psychology and national security); steps in ethical decision-making; and four possible lines of future research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 2247-2258
Author(s):  
Mobolaji Famuyide ◽  
Caroline Compretta ◽  
Melanie Ellis

Background: Neonatal nurse practitioners have become the frontline staff exposed to a myriad of ethical issues that arise in the day-to-day environment of the neonatal intensive care unit. However, ethics competency at the time of graduation and after years of practice has not been described. Research aim: To examine the ethics knowledge base of neonatal nurse practitioners as this knowledge relates to decision making in the neonatal intensive care unit and to determine whether this knowledge is reflected in attitudes toward ethical dilemmas in the neonatal intensive care unit. Research design: This was a prospective cohort study that examined decision making at the threshold of viability, life-sustaining therapies for sick neonates, and a ranking of the five most impactful ethical issues. Participants and research context: All 47 neonatal nurse practitioners who had an active license in the State of Mississippi were contacted via e-mail. Surveys were completed online using Survey Monkey software. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the University of Mississippi Medical Center Institutional Review Board (IRB; #2015-0189). Findings: Of the neonatal nurse practitioners who completed the survey, 87.5% stated that their religious practices affected their ethical decision making and 76% felt that decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment for a neonate should not involve consultation with the hospital’s legal team or risk management. Only 11% indicated that the consent process involved patient understanding of possible procedures. Participating in the continuation or escalation of care for infants at the threshold of viability was the top ethical issue encountered by neonatal nurse practitioners. Discussion: Our findings reflect deficiencies in the neonatal nurse practitioner knowledge base concerning ethical decision making, informed consent/permission, and the continuation/escalation of care. Conclusion: In addition to continuing education highlighting ethics concepts, exploring the influence of religion in making decisions and knowing the most prominent dilemmas faced by neonatal nurse practitioners in the neonatal intensive care unit may lead to insights into potential solutions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 946-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Robert Valentine ◽  
David Hollingworth ◽  
Patrick Schultz

Purpose Focusing on ethical issues when making organizational decisions should encourage a variety of positive outcomes for companies and their employees. The purpose of this paper is to determine the degree to which data-based ethical decision making, lateral relations and organizational commitment are interrelated in organizations. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from business professionals employed at multiple locations of a financial services firm operating in the USA. Mediation analysis (based on structural equation modeling) was used to test the proposed relationships. Findings Results indicated that employees’ perceptions of data-based ethical decision making were positively related to perceived lateral relations, and that perceived lateral relations were positively related to organizational commitment. Research limitations/implications Given that information was collected using only a self-report questionnaire, common method bias could be an issue. In addition, the study’s cross-sectional design limits conclusions about causality. Another limitation involves the study’s homogenous sample, which decreases the generalizability of the findings. Finally, variable responses could have been impacted by individual frames of reference and other perceptual differences. Practical implications Results suggest that information flow enhancements should support or be consistent with horizontal information flow enhancements, and that together these factors should increase employee commitment. Originality/value Given the dearth of existing research, this interdisciplinary investigation is important because it fills gaps in the management literature. This study is also important because the results could inform decisions regarding the use of data analysis in ethical decisions and lateral forms of organizational structuring to improve work attitudes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (suppl 4) ◽  
pp. 1580-1588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carine Vendruscolo ◽  
Letícia De Lima Trindade ◽  
Marta Lenise do Prado ◽  
Maria Elisabeth Kleba

ABSTRACT Objective: to understand the contributions of the National Program of Reorientation of Professional Training in Health (Pró-Saúde) for the change in the model of care and training of health professionals. Methods: a case study with representatives of the teaching, care, management and social control, participants of the management units of the Pró-Saúde (Charitable institution for social and hospital assistance), in a municipality of the south of Brazil. Data collection took place through interviews and observations between October 2012 and February 2013. Results: the Program acts as a device for the transition of health care and training models, by promoting the problematization of daily work and the approximation between teaching and service. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the subjects’ commitment and the different perspectives on the community. Conclusion: Pró-Saúde leaves visible marks in the process of qualifying students and professionals, as well as promoting collaborative action in the fields of management, care, teaching and social control in the SUS (Brazilian Unified Health System).


Author(s):  
Patricia Larres ◽  
Martin Kelly

AbstractThis paper contributes to the contemporary business ethics narrative by proposing an approach to corporate ethical decision making (EDM) which serves as an alternative to the imposition of codes and standards to address the ethical consequences of grand challenges, like COVID-19, which are impacting today’s society. Our alternative approach to EDM embraces the concept of reflexive thinking and ethical consciousness among the individual agents who collectively are the corporation and who make ethical decisions, often in isolation, removed from the collocated corporate setting. We draw on the teachings of the Canadian philosopher and theologian, Fr. Bernard Lonergan, to conceptualize an approach to EDM which focuses on the ethics of the corporate agent by nurturing the universal and invariant structure that is operational in all human beings. Embracing Lonergan’s dynamic cognitive structure of human knowing, and the structure of the human good, we advance a paradigm of EDM in business which emboldens authentic ethical thought, decision making, and action commensurate with virtuous living and germane to human flourishing. Lonergan’s philosophy guides us away from the imposition of over-arching corporate codes of ethics and inspires us, as individual agents, to attend to the data of our own consciousness in our ethical decision making. Such cognitional endowment leads us out of the ethics of the ‘timeless present’ (Islam and Greenwood in Journal of Business Ethics 170: 1–4, 2021) towards ethical authenticity in business, leaving us better placed to reflect upon and address the ethical issues emanating from grand challenges like COVID-19.


Author(s):  
Bonnie Rogers ◽  
Anita L. Schill

Work has become increasingly technologically driven and fast paced, with long work hours, new/emerging hazards, and rising health care costs. Threats to worker safety, health, and well-being including non-traditional work arrangements and practices, precarious work, uncertain hazardous exposures, and work organization issues, such as heavy workloads, design of work, uneven work hours, and difficult interpersonal relationships among workers and managers are apparent. Furthermore, the relationship between personal health risk factors and workplace risks and exposures has drawn increased attention and concern. As employer economic pressures continue to build, it is anticipated that ethical dilemmas for practitioners will become increasingly complex. A review of relevant Total Worker Health (TWH) literature, related ethical constructs and competencies, an examination of codes of ethics for occupational safety and health and health promotion/education disciplines was conducted. A case study for TWH utilizing an ethical decision-making model for the analysis of key ethical issues and solutions was completed. TWH approaches to protecting safety, promoting health, and advancing well-being are increasingly being adopted. These approaches can reveal ethical dilemmas, and ethical constructs are needed to guide decision-making. A core set of proposed ethical competencies for TWH professionals are identified as a transdisciplinary framework to support workplace ethical culture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 445-454
Author(s):  
Aaron J Grace ◽  
Heather A Kirkpatrick

Medical ethics training is as variable as it is widespread. Previous research has indicated that medical learners find systematic approaches to ethical dilemmas to be helpful. This article describes a bioethics educational module. It includes an overview of common bioethical principles and presents a tool for organizing health-care providers’ thinking and discussions about challenging ethical dilemmas. We discuss an area of bioethics that is often neglected, clinical integrity, and the role that a health-care provider’s clinical integrity plays in ethical decision-making. We provide several hypothetical ethical vignettes for practice and discussion using the clinical integrity tool. The article also describes how this module has been implemented in one medical education setting and provides suggestions for educators.


Author(s):  
Charles R. Feldhaus ◽  
Julie Little ◽  
Brandon Sorge

As an introduction to recognizing individual and organizational conflict as well as ethical issues within global firms, the goals of this chapter are to equip Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professionals, especially those in engineering, with solid decision-making tools, including self-awareness, ethical perspectives and theories, ethical decision-making models, and various conflict resolution approaches. Given the current challenges in business and industry that have often led to unethical practices, and ultimately conflict, it is critical that both organizational leaders and followers possess the necessary tools and perspectives to create an ethical climate that deals appropriately with various types of conflict. This chapter examines new trends in conflict coaching and the delivery of ethics training in an effort to provide the aforementioned tools and perspectives.


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