Business Code of Ethics - Coursework Example

Business of Ethics Part Ethical Issues in Elderly Care For this portion of our studies in Business of Ethics, I have chosen to concentrate on an issue that I feel directly relates to my chosen field of Elderly Care. The issue I shall be discussing is an elderly patients right to privacy. This is an issue that I feel strongly about because the elderly have begun to lose their voices and right to be heard because the younger generation deems them feeble and incapable of caring for themselves. Although parts of that belief may be true, the caregiver has no right to gossip or use any information they find out about their ward for their career advancement or personal gain (Somers, M. PhD., “Ethical Issues”). As the geriatric care manager of my own senior care facility, I may be faced with the following scenario based upon the aforementioned ethical issue: During the last staff meeting, my staff supervisor takes me aside in order to report that she caught four of our regularly employed on site caregivers gossiping about their wards inability to control their bladder and bowel functions and how they hated havign to clean up their wards and that they could not help but scold them for making such a mess of themselves at their ages. They bragged about often getting away with holding snacks, meals, and desserts from their ward in order to “teach them a lesson” . A closer investigation using surveillance video on the supervisors part shows that these particular employees regularly verbally abuse and indirectly physically assault their patients. As the owner and president of this company. It is my duty to ensure that my geriatric residents are treated properly and fairly. More importantly, I must guard against any abuses of their rights and privileges as a human being. Knowing fully well that there are state and national laws against such abuses, my license will now be on the line and could be taken away from me at any given time should any of my employees be caught in the act of abusing a patient. It is up to me to put an end to the abuse before a relative of the resident discovers the situation and takes legal action against the employee and my company. I must therefore take our company Code of Ethics into consideration when deciding as to how to deal with the erring caregivers. After all, a violation of a company code of ethics should be grounds for immediate dismissal. I understand that all of my employees shall come to me with a theoretical and practical knowledge of how to care for senior residents. However, not all of them will have the psychology training that is required for this type of specialized care. Therefore, it is incumbent upon me to provide them with the guidelines pertaining to proper and fair treatment of our senior residents based upon a specifically developed code of ethical standards that our company strictly adheres to and implements. Part 2. Develop A Business Code of Ethics Purpose: The ABC Senior Care Residences code of ethical behavior prioritizes the constant improvement of patient life by respecting their rights and conducting business with them in an ethical manner. We recognize the patients right to considerate care and will always respect their personal dignity regardless of their cultural, psychosocial, and spiritual values. A clear understanding of these factors will help us meet the patients needs and preferences. Therefore we recognize our ethical responsibility to: Consider the patients wishes at all times specially when pertaining to their decisions to discontinue treatment; Conduct our business under the responsibilities set by law; Keep the patients informed as to their responsibility in their personal care; Conducting our patient relationships in an ethical and public manner. Code of Ethics Our Ethical Standard: The ABC Senior Residences caregivers and employess are expected to adhere to our company motto of “Always Doing the Right Thing”. This motto should be all the guidance that the caregivers and employees need in order to help them navigate their daily work lives. This is also the guiding thought that should help them decide on the right thing to do when faced with moral and ethical issues in the workplace. Conduct in the Workplace All employees and caregivers are required to wear the prescribed uniform and identification tag of their respective stations. The ABC Senior Residences staff are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times regardless of the presence of administrative staffers, patient residents, and their guests. Staffers are expected to use the common rules of decency when in situations arise that may put their professional conduct in question. Patients Admissions, Transfers, and Discharge The Admissions Staff have the sole responsibility for patient admission, transfer, and discharge forms and communication. The information contained therein shall be treated with the utmost of confidentiality and shall never be used for personal gain nor shall the same be sold to third parties for any reason. The Admissions staff shall bear the sole responsibility for the security of the client information and its dissemination to properly authorized parties only by written consent of the resident patient, his/her family members, or court mandated orders. Conflicts of Interest In the event that a valid and reasonable situation should arise wherein a conflict of interest shall present itself before any ABC Senior Residence employee, he/she is expected to immediately report the situation to his/her immediate supervisor in order to get an official decision pertaining to the matter. Examples of these conflicts shall include: 1. Taking care of a relative up to the third degree of consanguinity who is in residence; 2. A work contract being considered by the residence that an employee may have a connection to; 3. Gifts, favors and entertainment offered to the employees directly; 4. Fund raising Confidentiality As previously discussed in the earlier pages, ABC Senior Residences considers patient confidentiality of the utmost importance in building a trustworthy working relationship with our patient residents and their families. Patients and their family members will be informed before hand that all of their residents activities shall be recorded via CCTV camera in order to keep surveillance on their health status and get them the necessary treatment as soon as the need arises. These security cameras will also insure that all ABC Senior Residence employees conduct themselves in a proper manner that takes patient confidentiality into special consideration. Due to the high rate of senior citizen abuse in the country, it is obvious that the patients right to privacy and confidentiality is the most abuse prone area of their stay at a geriatric residence. That is because the patients are usually dependent on their caregivers and are fearful of the new surroundings that their family has placed them in. This results in a sense of isolation and dependence within the resident patient. Some unscrupulous caregivers tend to use that patient fear to control the patient and blackmail them into submission. Oftentimes, these caregiver employees compare patient notes and control methods. This is a direct violation of the patients right to privacy and should be taken as a terminable offense by the management of the residence. Any employee who is proven to have violated the patients right to privacy in the form of idle gossip, selling of information, blackmailing the patient and his/her family, or physical abuse of the resident shall be dealt with by the residence in the most severe manner which may include legal action whenever and wherever necessary. Therefore, a caregiver, upon employment with ABC Senior Residence shall sign a binding contract of ethical standards that outlines the finer details of our company Code of Ethics and informs them of the repercussions both legal and criminal of any violation on their part of the Code of Ethics as set forth by the company. Sources Providers Web. (2012). Care Giver Code of Ethics. Welcome to Providers Web. Retrieved from http://www.providersweb.com/ethics.aspx Somers, M. (n.d.). Ethical Issues. Senior Citizens Guide. Retrieved from http://www.seniorcitizensguide.com/articles/health/ethical-issues.htm Read More