In medicine, integrity is the basis of patient trust, which is responsible for a healthy therapeutic relationship between the patient and the physician. When perceived from an accepted conduct and living form, and commitment, integrity is a symbol that reflects honesty in professional attitudes and values are responded to (Mulholland et al., 2017). In patient-surgeon relationships, the issue of integrity is critical since it establishes how the physicians approach their patients and perform their responsibilities. As such, it brings in the element of respect, which results in understanding and agreement between the practitioner and the patient. When patients feel respected, they increase their sense of security in the physicians and trust them to make the appropriate decisions about their health conditions.
In surgery, integrity allows the physician to communicate about the possible adverse outcomes during the act effectively. It allows the professionals to mention every significant and essential element of the operation (Mulholland et al., 2017). When dealing with patient care, surgical integrity enables the professional to respect and attend to the patient’s needs while maintaining accountability and preciseness in their records. The ability to follow through with the needs of the patients facilitates trust in them and fosters a relationship that promotes healing. When social contract has been considered in the course of history, it has always been approached using integrity and accountability, and in patient-physician relationship, it is essential in how the professionals acquire self-regulating privileges (Mulholland et al., 2017). The trust that develops through integrity allows surgeons to take responsibility for any possible error that might occur, correct it, and apologize to the patient. Moreover, integrity triggers a sense of reasoning, stability, and justified moral values, which are critical when making consistent healthcare judgments on behalf of the patients.
Reference
Mulholland, M. W., Lillemoe, K. D., Doherty, G. M., Upchurch, G. R., Alam, H. B., & Pawlik, T. M. (2017). Greenfield’s Surgery: Scientific principles and practice. Wolters Kluwer.