Professionalism in Healthcare (B)

Question 1

There are at least two essential components to bioethics:

Answer 1

1. Ethical evaluation/analysis of major bioethical issues
2. Professional ethics

Question 2

What is the focus of ethical evaluation in major bioethical issues?

Answer 2

The focus is on ethical dilemmas and issues related to healthcare practice, medicine, etc. It seeks to use moral theories, philosophy, rational argument, and analysis to make decisions about these ethical problems. Teachers equip students with cognitive skills to reason through these complex ethical issues and encourage self-reflective critical reasoning to resolve them, not to adopt a particular position. Academic values promoted include consistency, coherence, clarity, rigor, thoroughness, perseverance, and academic integrity.

Question 3

What does professional ethics entail for healthcare professionals (HCP)?

Answer 3

Professional ethics for healthcare professionals encompasses a knowledge and understanding of the regulations and guidelines of professional councils, the laws applicable to HCP and their practice, and the expectations of patients, society, colleagues, employers, and the profession. Teachers are expected to be prescriptive in professional ethics, telling students how they ought to act.

Question 4

• Some form of professional ‘medical ethics’ can be discerned in very _____ times.
• Healers accorded a special social status,
• Expected to use knowledge for good & adhere to _____ codes

Answer 4

ancient
ethical

Question 5

Code of Hammurabi (1750 BCE):

Answer 5

If a doctor performing an operation on nobility, using a bronze lancet, should cause death or the loss of an eye, his hand should be cut off.

Question 6

Sanctuary of Asclepias:

Answer 6

Doctors should be ‘like god: saviour equally of slaves, of paupers, of rich men, of princes and to all a brother, such help he would give’.

Question 7

Hippocratic oath

‘I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asclepius, and Hygieia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses as my witnesses, that, according to my ability and judgement, I will keep this Oath and this contract…’

What are the intricacies of the oath? (2)

Answer 7

• Early ethical code for physicians
• Establishes tradition of oath taking

Question 8

Hippocratic oath:

“I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or injustice to them. I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.”

Early expression of principles of = (2)

Answer 8

• Beneficence (Seeking to benefit others)
• Non-maleficence (Seeking not to harm others)

Question 9

Hippocratic oath

“Whatever I see or hear in the lives of my patients, whether in connection with my professional practice or not, which ought not to be spoken of outside, I will keep secret, as considering all such things to be private.”

Early expression of principles of =

Answer 9

Privacy & confidentiality

Question 10

Hippocratic oath:

“Into whatever homes I go, I will enter them for the benefit of the sick, avoiding any voluntary act of impropriety or corruption, including the seduction of women or men, whether they are free men or slaves.”

Early expression of principles of:

Answer 10

• Avoidance of crossing professional boundaries and inappropriate relationships

Question 11

Hippocratic oath
‘To hold him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to be a partner in life with him, and to fulfill his needs when required; to look upon his offspring as equals to my own siblings, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or contract; and that by the set rules, lectures, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to students bound by this contract and having sworn this Oath to the law of medicine, but to no others.’

Early expression of principles of =

Answer 11

• Professionalism

Question 12

Health Professions Council of South Africa Ethical Guidelines for Good Practice Booklets.

What are the 10 points?

Answer 12

Question 13

What are examples of unprofessional conduct that could lead to disciplinary action by the HPCSA? (9)

Answer 13

• Over-servicing of patients
• Unauthorised advertising
• Improper relationships with patients
• Operating without patient consent
• Disclosure of patient information without
  consent
• Over-charging
• Racial discrimination
• Rude behaviour towards patients
• Incompetence in regard to treatment of patients

Question 14

Smith’s Hospital Visit Thought Experiment:

Virtue ethics insists that morality is not just about what we do or don’t do, it is also about who we, our _______.

Virtue ethics says we need to strive to become the right kinds of people and then we will naturally do the right things.

Answer 14

character

Question 15

Aspirational Ethics:

Answer 15