| | Medical Ethics: The Delinquent Patient | Medical Ethics: The Delinquent Patient
Medical Ethics: The Delinquent Patient
Patients are the lifeblood of a practice, considering that no practice can survive without patients. If you have a service that no patient is willing to pay for, you will never have a stable practice. Patients pay the bills and provide opportunities for your practice to grow.
However, sometimes patients are encountered in practice, who make the lives of the practitioner and staff miserable. Difficult patients can leave you and your staff angry, empty, and frustrated. The way difficult patients are handled will define the quality of the patient experience. Not knowing how to deal with difficult patients may lead to low staff morale, low patient volume and a damaged practice reputation.
At times, managing difficult patients can hinder your ability to get your work done. But if handling difficult patients is seen as an opportunity rather than trouble, you may find that you can strengthen your patient service skills while retaining their business.
Practicing medicine in your own private practice requires a fine balance between caring for patients and running a business. Harry Rosen | 3 | | R480.00 |  |
| | Medical Ethics: Embelishment and Exaggeration in Practice | Medical Ethics: Embelishment and Exaggeration in Practice
Medical Ethics: Embelishment and Exaggeration in Practice
Overview
“I am so hungry I could eat a horse.” “This ice cream is out of this world.”
Exaggeration is common in everyday language, and phrases such as those stated above are well known. Embellishing stories about one's accomplishments or qualifications, whether by exaggeration or misstatement, is part of human nature, experts say, and almost everyone is guilty of it at one time or another. Left unchecked, however, exaggerations that seemed innocuous at first can result in serious, potentially career-ending consequences.
Thanks to the Internet, it is easier than ever to get caught in an exaggeration, experts and others note. But the temptation to embellish has also never been greater, as recession-weary workers feel pressured to justify their worth and a 24-hour news cycle demands that leaders have an immediate, sound-bite-ready answer for everything. If you are prone to exaggeration, however, this could mean that you habitually overstate the truth.
This article examines exaggeration in all its guises but with a particular reference to the risks and responsibilities of a health care provider.
Harry Rosen
| 3 | | R485.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Ethical Challenges: Beyond Covid | Medical Ethics: Ethical Challenges: Beyond Covid
Medical Ethics: Ethical Challenges: Beyond Covid
Overview
“Ethical challenges will intensify as the pandemic wanes”.
The disruptions caused by COVID-19 have heightened the risk of unethical behaviour in different sectors, including in healthcare, where trust is our lifeblood. We’ve seen an outbreak of misinformation during the pandemic, ranging from fake cures, false claims, and harmful health advice. We’ve seen bad-acting opportunists take advantage to trade illegitimate or non-compliant products.
For the past two and a half years, the world has been duly tested by the challenges resulting primarily from the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, health care providers have shown tremendous resilience. However, as jurisdictions around the world progressed toward a more hopeful future, the ethical challenges health care providers face are far from over.
In fact, they might intensify.
As the pandemic fades, but taking cognisance of continued threats such as the ‘5th and 6th wave’ in South Africa, many entities as well as individuals will be eager to demonstrate their potential by posting quick wins and an accelerating recovery. Others will continue to navigate the intricacies of government support schemes, and, as those taper, some entities will find themselves on the brink of insolvency. Just as the economic impacts of this crisis unfolded in an uneven and unpredictable manner around the world, so too will recovery efforts. Health care providers must anticipate a continued period of heightened uncertainty and prioritize their ethical responsibilities all the more.
Harry Rosen | 3 | | R425.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: The Rule of Law in Turbulent Times | Medical Ethics: The Rule of Law in Turbulent Times
Medical Ethics: The Rule of Law in Turbulent Times
Overview
Primarily, as a result of the advent of Covid, planet Earth has been thrown off its axis. South Africa is no exception, with the added aggravation and devastation due to looting, floods, etc.
The consequences to practitioners, practice staff, families and patients have been immeasurable.
Within this turmoil, there have been an avalanche of diverse factors and forces introduced into the healthcare arena, that, in way or another, impact or have the potential to impact on practices.
These factors are discussed in this study.
Harry Rosen
| 3 | | R485.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Ethical Pitfalls in Practice | Medical Ethics: Ethical Pitfalls in Practice
Medical Ethics: Ethical Pitfalls in Practice
Overview
We live in a world where we face challenges daily. In technical terms, Ethical Pitfalls relate to that field of research, within the ambit of behavioural ethics , which focuses on how people behave when they're confronted with dilemmas and respond in ways that contradict their values, without even knowing they're doing it. In essence, the conduct of practitioners or staff may knowingly or unknowingly transgress existing ethical boundaries.
In practical terms, when an activity in a practice environment conflicts with moral human principles and affects individuals involved working within the practice, it becomes an ethical issue. While regulator-enforced rules can hold employees and employers accountable for lawbreaking conduct, they can't entirely prevent individuals from acting unethically. Thus, it is the responsibility of the practice owner to address ethical concerns and establish clear guidelines. This coursed discusses this ethical issue.
Harry Rosen
| 3 | | R465.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics - Ethics in Practice | Medical Ethics - Ethics in Practice
Medical Ethics - Ethics in Practice
Overview Ethical issues in a practice environment can be a difficult challenge to navigate for any practice owner. Though there are laws and statutes that exist to hold workers and employers accountable, these alone do not entirely deter employees from behaving unethically. Avoiding ethical issues in the practice always starts with top management. Providing clearly written policies and processes that ensure those policies are both acknowledged and adhered to, can ensure transparency and ethical practices are applied. To effectively detect and, most importantly, deter ethical issues in practice from surfacing in your organization, there are several everyday efforts you can take. Be sure to communicate and enforce a robust code of ethics when making decisions and ask the same of your employees. Remain aware of the discrimination laws that exist in your region. Stay informed on the rules that impact your industry, and ensure your organization is acting in compliance with those regulations. Collaborate with accountants, maintaining transparency and honesty in your financial reports. Be present in your company, making sure your organization and employees alike are always doing the right and ethical thing.
Authors Harry Rosen | 3 | | R460.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Professional Practice: A Moral Enterprise | Medical Ethics: Professional Practice: A Moral Enterprise
Medical Ethics: Professional Practice: A Moral Enterprise
Overview Practice as a health care professional is based upon a relationship of mutual trust between patients and health care practitioners. From the perspective of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), to be a good health care practitioner, requires a life-long commitment to sound professional and ethical practices and an overriding dedication to the interests of one’s fellow human beings and society. In essence, the practice of health care professions is considered a moral enterprise. In this spirit the HPCSA presents ethical guidelines to guide and direct the practice of health care practitioners, primarily to protect the public. These guidelines form an integral part of the standards of professional conduct against which a complaint of professional misconduct is evaluated. Conducting business ethically is critical to a company’s success in the marketplace. Customers, suppliers and employees will not support a company that is involved in fraudulent, dishonest or unethical practices. Setting high standards of integrity in business relations and promoting their adherence by employees will enable the company to merit the confidence and support of its customers and the public at large.
Author Harry Rosen
| 3 | | R425.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Ethical frameworks for complex medical decision making in older patients: A narrative review | Medical Ethics: Ethical frameworks for complex medical decision making in older patients: A narrative review
Medical Ethics: Ethical frameworks for complex medical decision making in older patients: A narrative review
Overview With an ageing population, physicians are more and more faced with complex medical and moral situations. Medical professional guidelines are often of limited use in these cases. To assist the decision-making process, several ethical frameworks have been proposed. Ethical frameworks are analytical tools that are designed to assist physicians and other involved healthcare workers in complex moral decision-making situations. Most frameworks are step-by-step plans that can be followed chronologically during moral case deliberations. Some of these step-by-step plans provide specific moral guidance as to what would constitute a morally acceptable conclusion, while others do not. In this narrative review we will present and discuss the ethical frameworks used for medically complex situations in older people that have been proposed in literature. Twenty-three studies were included in the review, containing seventeen different frameworks. Twenty studies described step-by-step-frameworks, with the number of steps varying from three to twelve. In four studies suggestions were made as how to balance conflicting moral values. Ethical frameworks are meant to assist healthcare professionals who are faced with morally complex decisions in older patients. In our view, these frameworks should contain a step-by-step plan, moral values and an approach to balancing moral values.
Acknowledgements: Authors Rozemarijn Lidewij van Bruchem-Visser, Gert van Dijk, Inez de Beaufort, Francesco Mattace-Raso Journal Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics | 3 | | R465.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Managed Health Care: Protestation and Dissent? | Medical Ethics: Managed Health Care: Protestation and Dissent?
Medical Ethics: Managed Health Care: Protestation and Dissent?
Overview Recent times has put the words ‘dissent’ and ‘protest’ at the centre of our vocabulary. Practitioners are speaking out against perceived injustices, voicing opposition to interventions they disagree with and organising to effect change. ‘Dissent’ is an expression of opinions at variance with those commonly or officially held. ‘Protest’ is closely related to ‘dissent’ but they are different. ‘Protest is an expression or declaration of objection or disapproval, often in opposition to something where a person is considered powerless to prevent or avoid’. Managed care for SA healthcare in general, is a fact of life.
In essence, for the purpose of this article, Managed Health Care can be defined as a group of activities intended to reduce costs of health care provision and providing health insurance whilst improving the quality of care. Managed care, in practical terms encompasses the management of cost, management of information and management of risk.
It is important for practitioners to have a reasonable understanding of the principles of managed care and the role of the Managed Care Organisations. At times, there are cries of foul play aimed at the interventions instituted by the managed Care Organisations where, in fact, such interventions are indeed lawful.
Author Harry Rosen
| 3 | | R465.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Ethics in Practice -The Obligations that Define a Profession | Medical Ethics: Ethics in Practice -The Obligations that Define a Profession
Medical Ethics: Ethics in Practice -The Obligations that Define a Profession
Overview The use of the word ‘profession’ has expanded so far beyond its original meaning that a clear definition has become obscured and marred by colloquial usage. It is not uncommon to find the term ‘professional’ misused to describe sportsmen, tradesmen and even politicians. Yet, when we speak about a ‘professional’ there is a tacit understanding that only individuals engaged in certain occupations belong to that category: doctors, lawyers, teachers. A fundamental distinction between a profession and any other occupation, is that individuals engaged in a profession have an ethical obligation to whomever they provide their services. In other words, a profession is required to have a Code of Ethics. Unlike laws and regulations, which are prescriptive and rigid, the principles of ethics are flexible and how they are applied depends on the individual practitioner. It is these responsibilities and expectations that are the hallmarks of a profession.
Author Harry Rosen
| 3 | | R485.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Social Media Violations | Medical Ethics: Social Media Violations
Medical Ethics: Social Media Violations
“I remember when Blackberry and Apple were just fruits.”
Overview
In practical terms, social media increase connectivity and is one of the fastest growing industries in the world.
Social media are forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)
Businesses large and small are turning to social media as an outreach to potential customers worldwide, to advertise their products and services, and to engage with customers. In recent times we have seen how social signals are becoming an important part of search engine optimization.
There is no doubt that a well- planned social media strategy has the potential to make or take down a brand. For example, Lady Gaga (personal branding) quickly became a smash hit, and social media played a major role in her rise to stardom. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all other social media websites are great communication tools. After all, they help us be connected to people from all over the world. However, if poorly managed they can cause huge damage.
Author Harry Rosen
| 3 | | R465.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Artificial Intelligence Ethics – Too Principled to Fail? | Medical Ethics: Artificial Intelligence Ethics – Too Principled to Fail?
Medical Ethics: Artificial Intelligence Ethics – Too Principled to Fail?
Overview
AI Ethics is now a global topic of discussion in academic and policy circles. At least 63 public-private initiatives have produced statements describing high-level principles, values, and other tenets to guide the ethical development, deployment, and governance of AI. According to recent meta-analyses, AI Ethics has seemingly converged on a set of principles that closely resemble the four classic principles of medical ethics. Despite the initial credibility granted to a principled approach to AI Ethics by the connection to principles in medical ethics, there are reasons to be concerned about its future impact on AI development and governance. Significant differences exist between medicine and AI development that suggest a principled approach in the latter may not enjoy success comparable to the former. Compared to medicine, AI development lacks (1) common aims and fiduciary duties, (2) professional history and norms, (3) proven methods to translate principles into practice, and (4) robust legal and professional accountability mechanisms. These differences suggest we should not yet celebrate consensus around high-level principles that hide deep political and normative disagreement.
Acknowledgment Author
Brent Mittelstadti Journal
Nature Machine Intelligence November 2019
| 3 | | R420.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: What is the place for philosophy within the field of medicine? A review of contemporary issues in medical ethics | Medical Ethics: What is the place for philosophy within the field of medicine? A review of contemporary issues in medical ethics
Medical Ethics: What is the place for philosophy within the field of medicine? A review of contemporary issues in medical ethics
Overview This extended essay seeks to unpack some of the key aspects of philosophy which are applicable to medical thought and practice. It proceeds via an analytical discussion of the contemporary debate in three key areas of medical ethics: euthanasia, concepts of health and disease and psychiatry. The main claims are as follows:
1. The case for legalising euthanasia is strong on philosophical grounds but there are numerous practical obstacles. 2. Elements from the normative and naturalistic definitions of disease are necessary for a thorough definition that dodges common objections to either. 3. Mental health cannot be subsumed under a purely physicalist model of health rendering it distinctly different from other fields in Medicine.
Through a detailed discussion of three salient issues in the philosophy of medicine, it is argued that the application of profound philosophical thought to medicine and its practices reveals a depth that necessitates exploration before simply following the aims of curing all. Philosophical rigour matched with modern medicine has the potential to engage patients and help them make independent, informed decisions and assist physicians to think more clearly, analytically and empathetically.
Acknowledgement
Author Richard Fenton Journal Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine
| 3 | | R465.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Ethical considerations in forensic genetics research on tissue samples collected post-mortem in Cape Town, South Africa. | Medical Ethics: Ethical considerations in forensic genetics research on tissue samples collected post-mortem in Cape Town, South Africa.
Medical Ethics: Ethical considerations in forensic genetics research on tissue samples collected post-mortem in Cape Town, South Africa.
Overview
The use of tissue collected at a forensic post-mortem for forensic genetics research purposes remains of ethical concern as the process involves obtaining informed consent from grieving family members. Two forensic genetics research studies using tissue collected from a forensic post-mortem were recently initiated at our institution and were the first of their kind to be conducted in Cape Town, South Africa.
This article discusses some of the ethical challenges that were encountered in these research projects. Among these challenges was the adaptation of research workflows to fit in with an exceptionally busy service delivery that is operating with limited resources. Whilst seeking guidance from the literature regarding research on deceased populations, it was noted that next of kin of decedents are not formally recognised as a vulnerable group in the existing ethical and legal frameworks in South Africa. The authors recommend that research in the forensic mortuary setting is approached using guidance for vulnerable groups, and the benefit to risk standard needs to be strongly justified. Lastly, when planning forensic genetics research, consideration must be given to the potential of uncovering incidental findings, funding to validate these findings and the feedback of results to family members; the latter of which is recommended to occur through a genetic counsellor.
In conclusion it is hoped that these experiences will contribute towards a formal framework for conducting forensic genetic research in medico-legal mortuaries in South Africa.
Acknowledgement
Author:
Heathfield LJ, Maistry S, Martin LJ, Ramesar R, de Vries J
Journal:
BMC medical ethics.
Publisher:
BioMed Central
| 3 | | R370.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: Ethics of the Placebo in Clinical Practice. | Medical Ethics: Ethics of the Placebo in Clinical Practice.
Medical Ethics: Ethics of the Placebo in Clinical Practice.
OVERVIEW
The placebo is not easy to define. As a matter of fact, some scholars are despaired of the possibility of ever finding an adequate definition for the term. However, many current definitions invoke the non-specific nature of the treatment effects as the leading feature of the placebo.
The object of this article was however to address the question of the placebo in clinical practice. This article nonetheless argued that the placebo could be an effective treatment. The article further argued that the use of the placebo does not entail deception. This article equally highlighted guidelines under which the placebo may be used for clinical purposes. This article further suggested that in selected cases, the use of the placebo may also be morally imperative. It is imperative to state that the arguments in this article were presented by three case vignettes.
The article was concluded that the placebo can be beneficial to physicians of many clinical situations
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
AUTHORS:
Lichtenberg U Heresco-Levy, U Nitzan
JOURNAL:
BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics
| 3 | | R425.00 | |
| | Medical Ethics: What Do International Ethics Guidelines Say In Terms of The Scope of Medical Research Ethics | Medical Ethics: What Do International Ethics Guidelines Say In Terms of The Scope of Medical Research Ethics
Medical Ethics: What Do International Ethics Guidelines Say In Terms of The Scope of Medical Research Ethics
OVERVIEW
The question of ‘which is an ethical issue and which is not’ often arises doing research ethics. There are however many internationally known ethic guidelines and depending on which ethics guideline we consult, we may have various answers to this question. It is however ironical that we do not have a harmonized document which tells us what these various guidelines say and shows us the areas of consensus.
For this study, we extracted relevant information or imperatives from five internationally-known ethics guidelines and took note where the imperatives came from. Results of this research nonetheless indicated that there is no consensus on many of the imperatives and that in only 8.2 % of the imperatives were there at least moderate consensus. The results further indicated that there was a lack of consensus in most of imperatives from the five internationally-known ethics guidelines.
The reason was however partly attributed to the differences among the guidelines in terms of their levels of specification as well as conceptual/ideological differences.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
AUTHORS:
Rosemarie D. L. C. Bernabe, Ghislaine J. M. W. van Thiel and Johannes J. M. van Delden
JOURNAL: BMC Medical Ethics
| 3 | | R330.00 | |