It is worth noting that the principles of medical ethics must be observed by medical professionals in their daily activities. The duty of the medical professional is to care for the patient at the highest professional level and never, under any pretext, participate in actions against people’s physical and mental health (Lee et al., 2020). Thus, adherence to the principles of medical ethics in medicine improves the chances of successful therapeutic interventions. Moreover, observing codes of ethics creates comfortable conditions for coexistence of medical workers and patients and prevents most conflicts. Therefore, it is advisable to research and develop a code of ethics for a health clinic.
Steps for Preparing the Code
It is essential to stress that in order to start creating a code of ethics, the interests of all hospital staff and patients must first be identified. At the same time, it is possible to conduct a survey to find out problematic cases that have occurred in the hospital in order to establish in the Code the behavior that should be followed by medical staff. Thus, the next step is to prepare a document that will outline the main problematic issues and interests of employees (Lee et al., 2020). Thus, it will provide a draft of the Code, and then it is possible to create specific criteria for evaluating the actions of employees according to the clauses of the Code.
Secondly, when the main needs, interests and problems are identified, it is necessary to determine the systems and methods of rewarding employees who clearly and competently comply with all the clauses of the Code. It is also essential to decide at the initial stage whether preventive measures are needed to prevent violations of the Code (Lee et al., 2020). Moreover, in order to create measures of punishment for violation of norms and rules of conduct, it is required to study the practice of other medical institutions and regulatory measures adopted at the level of authorities. It is necessary to develop a hospital Code that meets legal standards and is based on proven effectiveness in other medical institutions.
Thirdly, it is also crucial to create a plan for the implementation of the Code of Ethics in the activities of the staff and to appoint responsible employees for this process. It is especially important at the stage of development to discuss each point of the Code of Ethics at different levels of the team: among nurses, doctors, administrators and patients. Finally, the last stage is the adoption of the Code of Ethics at a general meeting of the staff and the distribution of the text of the Code among the entire team and placement on the hospital’s website.
Participants
It is essential to remember that the Code of Ethics should address the interests of all people interacting with the hospital. Therefore, the participants are doctors, nurses, technical staff, and patients. Accordingly, patients are persons who apply to the medical institution for diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive care. Thus, it is crucial that their rights are respected; they receive proper attention, maintenance, and treatment regardless of social, economic, political, and other characteristics.
At the same time, they must comply with the obligations that are also provided for in the code of ethics, that is, to disclose the necessary information about themselves and the disease and to adhere to the basic principles of respect for hospital staff. Hence, the development of the Code of Ethics has a direct influence on them, as they are participants in the treatment process and have constant contact with medical staff.
In addition, hospital technical staff working to support the functioning of the hospital must also adhere to the basic rules of ethics. For example, when interacting with patients or medical staff, they learn confidential information and should not disclose it. Although, the most attention in the Code of Ethics should be focused on medical nurse assistants and doctors. This is because they should not only provide proper treatment and care to patients but also respect the honor and dignity of patients. At the same time, it is doctors and nurses who have confidential patient information, which is why they have to follow ethical rules for its use and storage.
Moreover, a trusting and regulated relationship in the team between nurses and doctors is important for the overall image of the hospital and effective patient care. Accordingly, they must be parties to the Code of Ethics and participate in its development.
Elements
It is significant to emphasize that the Code of Ethics in the Hospital will be based on two main elements. First, medical ethics is the science that studies the norms, principles, and methods of assessing the interaction of health workers with patients and colleagues. Another element is deontology, a branch of medical ethics that consists of ethical norms and principles of behavior of medical workers in the performance of their professional duties (Taylor, 2019). Furthermore, medical deontology is identified with medical ethics.
According to medical ethics, the Code should address the following basic points. The issue of medical secrecy and confidential information about patients. Therefore, the cases of reporting, storage and dissemination of information should be regulated (Taylor, 2019). Moreover, preventive measures should be established to ensure non-disclosure of information and means to punish in case of illegal disclosure.
Furthermore, the Code of Ethics of the hospital should also contain measures to prevent and overcome problems of relationships in the medical community (Taylor, 2019). That is, specific rules for the relationship of hospital staff with patients and their relatives and rules regarding intimate relationships between doctor and patient should also be established. The medical ethics section should also include the rules of relations between hospital staff. Accordingly, the participants of the Code should certainly report violations of medical ethics by their colleagues. Besides, it is essential that physicians and nurses are to be honest with patients and colleagues.
Nevertheless, according to deontology, the main duties of medical professionals are that they should always maintain the highest professional standards. Additionally, when making professional decisions, doctors and nurses should be guided by considerations of the good of the patient, not their own material interests (Taylor, 2019). Independent of their professional specialization, healthcare professionals should be guided by compassion and respect for the patient’s human dignity and take full responsibility for all aspects of medical care. In order to preserve the health and life of the patient, medical personnel should use all their professional potential. If the medical examination or treatment is beyond the capabilities of a particular doctor or nurse, they should refer to more competent colleagues.
Furthermore, the Code of Ethics of the hospital should have a separate element that indicates actions that are incompatible with the rules. Such actions include self-promotion, payment of commissions by a doctor for referring a patient to them, or receiving a fee or other remuneration from any source for referring a patient to a certain medical institution without sufficient medical grounds (Stievano & Tschudin, 2019). Moreover, intentional harm and disrespect for patients and their health are also prohibited.
Although, the Code of Ethics of the hospital should also specify the responsibilities of patients, it is important for communication and cooperation between them and the staff to be effective. Accordingly, they should disclose all necessary information about their health condition and respect the work of nurses and doctors. Furthermore, they should follow the advice and medical prescriptions in order for the successful treatment to proceed (Stievano & Tschudin, 2019). Additionally, patients should report violations of the Code of Ethics by hospital staff.
Impact on Participants
It is significant to highlight that adherence to the established rules will regulate the rules of conduct for all stakeholders who enter into relationships with each other within the hospital. For example, patients will be able to be sure that they are receiving quality care and that the medical staff is making every effort to provide them with proper care (Moreira et al., 2021). At the same time, they express respect for the work of doctors and nurses, which helps to establish effective communication. Furthermore, the technical staff of the hospital can perform their work in accordance with the established standards; they receive the rules that regulate the preservation of patient information (Moreira et al., 2021).
Moreover, doctors and nurses can maintain a favorable climate in the work environment by adhering to ethical standards. Besides, the positive side for them is the establishment of relationships with patients based on respect and trust in their professional qualifications and experience.
Plan for Educational Sessions
Table 1. Plan and organizational structure of the training session.
Educational Sessions
It is crucial to observe moral, ethical and aesthetic norms of relations with a sick person. Therefore, mastering is a mandatory part of the professional training of a doctor and nurse. Thus, in order for students to master the skills presented in the table, it is required to assess their initial level of training. That is because in educational institutions doctors and nurses studied courses of medical ethics and should have certain knowledge. Once the level of knowledge is established, special attention will be devoted to learning the updated rights of patients, especially the right to confidentiality. In this way, medical staff can solve situational tasks that are proposed in the textbook or participate in practical exercises (Moreira et al., 2021). This will enable them to form rules of conduct that will comply with the basic standards.
In order to provide effective and ethical interaction between hospital staff and patients, it is necessary for doctors and nurses to familiarize themselves with the main documents that are adopted to regulate ethical issues in the medical field. Moreover, critical evaluation of their own actions during trainings will allow to identify problematic issues. Thus, physicians and nurses who undergo this training will be able to improve their skills in problematic areas (Moreira et al., 2021). It is especially significant in such lessons to use not only theoretical material, but also to consider known cases from practice related to ethical standards. This is because in this way it is possible to explain to medical professionals how to act correctly when controversial situations emerge.
Furthermore, the educational sessions’ feedback form will allow to review the lessons learned and offer additional training if necessary. Individual feedback to each student will help physicians and nurses in the hospital to try to address their weaknesses (Tiruneh & Ayele, 2018). In the complex, such educational sessions should help medical staff not theoretically, but practically master the basic ethical rules that are mandatory in their field of activity.
Implementation
These sessions can be conducted in a hospital setting in order to involve a large number of medical staff in turn and not interrupt patient care. At the same time, patients with their consent can also participate in the training to help simulate certain situations in which doctors and nurses face moral choices (Bannister, 2018). Moreover, patients will also gain additional knowledge and will be able to report unethical behavior of the staff. Therefore, special classrooms will be organized in the hospital where theoretical and practical classes will be organized.
In order to provide students with professional teachers, cooperation with the Center for Health Care Ethics will be organized. Thus, their employees will develop special educational material, training, tasks and practical exercises based on the Code of Ethics of the hospital (Bannister, 2018). Accordingly, professionals in the field of medical ethics will be able to effectively explain to the hospital’s medical staff the basic theoretical foundations of ethical principles and ways of their successful practical implementation. For example, specially equipped rooms will be used to receive patients by a medical doctor who makes ethical mistakes specifically for educational purposes (Bannister, 2018).
Accordingly, the task of doctors and nurses is to identify them and explain how they would act in certain situations. Furthermore, the provision of tests specifically designed for the Ethical Code of the hospital and problematic situations that have already occurred will allow medical staff to attempt to answer ambiguous questions.
Involvement of professional teachers is a way to check the knowledge of doctors and nurses based on their answers to tests and questions during trainings. Besides, this way of training implementation will provide an opportunity to adjust the program and pay attention to the problems that most often arise among hospital staff (Tiruneh & Ayele, 2018). As a result, medical staff will not only learn the basic rules of their Code of Ethics and learn how to apply them in practice, but will also be advised on ambiguous situations that often occur in practice.
Performance Evaluation
It is essential to highlight that the visiting lecturers will also evaluate the effectiveness of the student’s learning. For this purpose, they have developed control methods that will allow them to assess healthcare professionals’ practical and theoretical training. Meanwhile, if they consider that the doctors or nurses need additional training, they will be able to offer them to study the ethical rules with which they have problems (Yeom et al., 2017). Moreover, specialists will provide them with additional training information and monitor their progress through online communication.
The invited teachers will check the effectiveness of the student’s learning using two control methods. First, hospital medical staff will solve tests and participate in atypical situations at the end of each topic. Finally, after completion of the general course, teachers will conduct individual control of practical abilities and professional training in solving non-typical problems (Yeom et al., 2017). Based on these methods, each physician and nurse will receive an assessment of their ethical professional capabilities and confirmation from the Center for Health Care Ethics that they have completed the training course.
Conclusion
Hence, the Code of Ethics for hospitals is a guideline for healthcare professionals in their professional activities. Therefore, the process of drafting and developing this document should consider the interests, needs, and problems of the staff of a particular hospital. Accordingly, it is crucial to consider medical ethics and deontology to develop the Code of Medical Ethics, which is based on the rules that support a healthy climate in the team and establish the basic principles of interaction with colleagues and patients. However, implementing the Code requires additional training of the staff, which can be organized by inviting specialists in the field of medical ethics. Consequently, such actions will contribute not only to the development of the Code of Ethics but also to its effective implementation.
References
Bannister, K. (2018). From ethical codes to ethics as praxis: An invitation. Ethnobiology Letters, 9(1), 30-43.
Lee, L. M., Ortiz, S. E., Pavela, G., & Jennings, B. (2020). Public health code of ethics: Deliberative decision-making and reflective practice. American Journal of Public Health, 110(4), 489-491.
Moreira, F., Teixeira, P., & Leão, C. (2021). Effectiveness of medical ethics education: a systematic review. MedEdPublish, 10(175), 175.
Stievano, A., & Tschudin, V. (2019). The ICN code of ethics for nurses: A time for revision. International Nursing Review, 66(2), 154-156.
Taylor, H. A. (2019). Framing public health research ethics. The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics, 331.
Tiruneh, M. A., & Ayele, B. T. (2018). Practice of code of ethics and associated factors among medical doctors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. PloS One, 13(8), 0201020.
Yeom, H. A., Ahn, S. H., & Kim, S. J. (2017). Effects of ethics education on moral sensitivity of nursing students. Nursing Ethics, 24(6), 644-652.