Ethical Self- Assessment Essay

Running head: Ethical Assessment Ethical Self-Assessment Ethical Self- Assessment â€Å"The purpose of the American College of Healthcare Executives ethical self-assessment is to help identify an individual’s ethical areas in which they are strong in, or those that need further reflection†, (ACHE, 2012). â€Å"Based on the Code of Ethics, the Ethics Self-Assessment is intended for your personal use to assist you in thinking about your ethics-related leadership and actions†, (ACHE, 2012). It is also advised that the ethics assessement should not be used as a tool to evaluate the behaviors of others (ACHE, 2012). After successful completion of the self-assessment, I learned that I am likely to consider the vision and mission of my organization in my day to day job assignments. There were a lot of the questions in the assessment that did not reflect toward my day to day operations but for those that did, I always used the ethical approach of my organization. I am also one that tries to avoid conflict and controvesy. I know at times these are not easy to avoid but I try to as much as possible. I never promote discussion of controversial issues. This is also another way of avoiding conflict. â€Å"The fundamental objectives of the healthcare management profession are to maintain or enhance the overall quality of life, dignity and well-being of every individual needing healthcare service and to create a more equitable, accessible, effective and efficient healthcare system† (Board of Governors, 2011). My current employment does not deal with direct patient care. I collect data that is used for clinical research for cancer patients but even in the data collection, I am ethical in my approach. I make sure that my data is accurate and collected in a timely manner for the benefit of the treatment outcome of the patient. Although I am not directly working with patients, I still feel that it is my ethical duty to be effective and efficient in my clinical research to provide the patients with the best possible patient care. I also want to be an ethical role model for my fellow employees. I have assisted in the training of new employees. I am very accurate in the collection of my data and I instill that in the employees that I am training. The ACHE Code of Ethics states that, â€Å"It’s necessary to create an organizational environment in which both clinical and management mistakes are minimized and, when they do occur, are disclosed and addressed effectively†, (Board of Governors, 2011). It is your professional and ethical responsibility to report any error that will effective the outcome of a patient. I would have to say that my individual ethics influence my decision making by me being a consciousness person. I have a really guilty conscious about not doing what is right. A guilty conscious allows you to make better decisions and have better actions based off ethical and moral principles. There is always something that chimes in, whenever I feel like the choice I am making is not right. This can be good and bad because in some cases you will have to just do what is best for the situation. Everything does not have a right or wrong. It depends on who is involved with the situation and how they want it handled. A strategic plan to improve ethical decision making in the future, would be to continuing to meet the growing demands of the healthcare field. As a healthcare professional, you have to stay current with the changes. Most licensing bodies require that all medical professionals have to do continuing education courses in order to reinstate healthcare licenses every couple of years. This allows the professional to stay current with all the changes that are happening. In conclusion, as healthcare professional, it is your obligation to continue to work at better ethical behavior for the organization and the patients. It also helps to encourage that same type of environment with fellow co-workers. â€Å"Work to promote a healthy work environment which includes freedom from harassment, sexual and other, and coercion of any kind, especially to perform illegal or unethical acts†, (Board of Governors, 2011). Always report anything that is unethical. The Code of Ethics is always available for any uncertain situations. Reference: ACHE. (2012, July 19). Welcome to ache.org. Retrieved September 6, 2013, from ACHE: http://www.ache.org/ Board of Governors. (2011, November 14). AMERICAN COLLEGE OF HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVES CODE OF ETHICS. pp. 1-2.