Question

How can you meet market challenges and still be an ethics-based health care administrator?

Answer 1

The field of medical ethics has long existed, arising from the Hippocrates oath, and tenets of the early religious healing traditions of the West.

In today’s medical science Health care ethics is a very important factor, as it is the simplest set of moral principles, beliefs and values that guide in making choices about medical care. Thinking carefully about the ethical aspects of health care decisions helps us make choices that are right, good, fair and just.

As mentioned above, contemporary medical ethics, the doctors in the USA were the first to develop a modern code of ethics. During the first meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA), a committee was appointed to report on a code of ethics for the organisation. However, in the modern era medical codes of ethics are based on the works that are credited with giving much thought to the future of the profession. The International Code of the World Medical Association, an organisation representing physicians was founded, ensures that physicians strive for the highest possible standards of ethical behaviour and care at all times

Hence, the Ethical standards promote the values of cooperation and collaborative work. The ethical standards in medical care promote other important moral and social values such as social responsibility, human rights, patients' welfare, compliance with the law, patients' safety.

Now, the impact of science and technology, there was an increase in the growth of specialisation in the field of medicine, public expectations from new medicines and surgical techniques, changes in the financing and delivery of health care, and the transformation of medical schools into large medical centres. The field of medical ethics was focused on the moral responsibility of a physician to a patient. With more stakeholders, such as medical devices companies, pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic clinics, insurance companies, clinical trial organisations, and other service providers entering the field, there was a need to expand the scope of the definition of ethics within the field of medicine.

Finally, in order to meet the market challenges incorporating the medical ethics there has been the terms of bio medical ethics, bio pharmaceutical ethics and health care ethics which are now gaining importance and needs to keep the pace with the market to maintain the ethics. The term bio medical ethics includes the issues related to reproductive biology, such as stem cell research and human cloning and the ethical dimensions arising out of these changes. The term bio pharmaceutical ethics refers to the ethics associated with the discovery and development of the products. The term health care ethics as mentioned above is increasingly and is used as an umbrella term to encompass ethical aspects previously included in medical, bio medical, bio pharmaceutical ethics and also organisational and business ethics of different stakeholders involved in the providing, delivery and implementing of health care services.