Physician Assistant Ethics the Health

Physician Assistant Ethics

The health care field addresses a very important aspect of humanity. A human being can only live a happy, productive life if he or she is in as optimal a physical shape as possible. Professionals in the health care field therefore have a very important responsibility - ensuring human health to the best of their ability. Human health is however also a very complex field, governed not only by the physical state of a person, but also by the ethics, ideals, and wishes of both the physician and the patient. Because physical health is so vital to life itself, providing ethical health care is of great importance for the continued optimal health of human beings. In the physician assistant field specifically, the professional should include a variety of actions to ensure that an optimum of ethical and physical service is provided to each specific patient. There are a variety of ways in which this can be done.

The first important consideration in providing ethical health care is considering the standard health care ethics and models provided to professionals in the field. I believe that this should be the starting point of all ethical systems of health care. The American Medical Association (2001) for example has a specific code of nine principles that all medical workers need to adhere to. The most important element of this code is the rights, dignity and needs of the patient. As such, a physician is expected to act only according to what is in the best interest of the patient. The rest of the code is built upon this central principle. A physician's assistant is then also required to follow the same set of ethics and principles. The patient's, needs, rights, and dignity are paramount, as is patient confidentiality, and the assistant should help the physician meet these.

Forester-Miller and Davis (1996) suggest a further five ethical principles for use in the counseling field. Although the focus here is not principally physical health, the concepts can as easily be applied to the physician profession. The principles include 1) Autonomy, 2) Nonmaleficence, or no harm, 3) Beneficence, 4) Justice, and 5) Fidelity. Briefly, autonomy refers to the physician's ability to let the patient, as far as possible remain autonomous in his or her health care decisions. The no harm principle is probably the most documented throughout the medical field. Beneficence refers to the physician's responsibility to promote the well-being of the patient. According to the justice principle, each patient is to be treated in a fair manner, according to his or her circumstances and needs. Fidelity refers to a mutual relationship of trust and commitment between the doctor and patient.

To a very minor extent, the physician's personal ethics may also play a role in treating patients. These however should never interfere with the already established professional ethics under which one is obliged to operate. While there are global principles for all physicians, each specific organization might have its own specific codes of conduct that should be adhered to. If a specific action or treatment is therefore estimated to be unethical according to organizational principles, personal ethics should never override this.

In combining one's personal and professional ethics, it is also necessary to address the issue of ethical dilemmas. Being a human-centered profession, these will inevitably form part of the physician and the assistant's duties during any given period of time. In this, the assistant can play a very important role. The physician and assistant together can for example work to resolve ethical dilemmas and find solutions with the help of the patient. It is important to remember the principle of meeting the patient's needs in such a case.

As a leader in this field, I believe my first moral responsibility would be towards patients. They are to be treated according to the main principles mentioned above; with dignity and respect for their needs. My responsibility would also be to provide the professionals working under me with very clear guidelines regarding ethical issues. As such, my job would entail researching all ethical codes related to the medical profession. I would then combine these into a set of core principles. In practical terms, I would organize all the principles that are important in treating patients into a comprehensive document, in front of which I would summarize the core principles. Each professional working in my organization would then need to be aware of at least the core principles, and where in the document more information can be found regarding specific ethical issues. As a leader, I will also require my staff to conduct their own research on ethical issues, and bring to me any additional information that may be helpful in our quest to be of excellent service to patients. The first moral principle would therefore be service to patients.

Secondly it is also important to ensure that my staff are operating at an optimum level, again to ensure that the patients at my establishment receive the best treatment possible. My second moral obligation as a leader would therefore be to ensure the well-being of my staff. Each staff member will therefore be required to speak to me if they are concerned about any aspect of their own or their colleagues' health.

In my general moral vision, I would first ensure that I am well aware of every moral principle that applies to the medical field. I will examine these critically, and discuss with my superiors any concerns or misgivings I may have, especially if any principle disagrees with my personal sense of morality and responsibility. Secondly, I would always place the interest of the patient above other considerations in treatment. Unless the patient is mentally incapable, I would let him or her make decisions regarding treatment.