Organizational ethics, as applied in healthcare, refer to the ethical analysis of decisions and actions taken by healthcare organizations as well as individuals working for these organizations (Castlen et al., 2017). Healthcare organizations comprise within their structure, institutional boards, or committees whose sole responsibility is to monitor and analyze the day to day decision making processes of healthcare institutions and how these decisions affect patient care. The concept of organizational ethics is vital to healthcare organizations because it is the backbone of all decisions that physicians, doctors, and institutions have to make daily. Ethical decisions cannot be avoided, and whenever doctors make a clinical decision, they are almost always making an ethical decision, consciously or not. These ethics ensure lives are saved and not lost, and they also ensure medical malpractice does not go unpunished (Castlen et al., 2017).
There are often different arguments as to who should set organizational ethics in healthcare institutions. Doctors and other physicians regularly consult the organizational ethical codes set by their professional organizations. They may also look to their hospitals' ethics committees for guidance, but these committees only work in an advisory capacity. The American Medical Association (AMA) was formed in 1847 and is governed by a house of delegates and a large association of physicians. This body maintains the AMA code of medical ethics and is the guide to the ethical practice of medicine. As such, its responsibility is to ensure all medical organizations have and follow the organizational ethics standards set by the association (Stolt et al., 2018). To ensure these directives are followed, the association has healthcare professionals in every medical organization who ensures doctors and their institutions comply with these important directives.
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During my tenure as a 2 nd -year resident, I experienced my attending making disparaging remarks about a patient who was under sedation and was in direct violation of the organizational ethics set by the hospital. The organization's ethics at that time in the hospital demanded that all physicians maintain a respectful relationship between themselves and their patients for them to avoid being caught up in malpractice lawsuits. My attending was unethical in that he was not showing respect to his patient, but the patient ended up not filing any lawsuit. In general, organizational ethics are set to ensure physicians provide the best care they can to their patients and that they, at all times, use-values, facts, and logic to decide what the best course of action should be (Castlen et al., 2017).
References
Castlen, J. P., Cote, D. J., Moojen, W. A., Robe, P. A., Balak, N., Brennum, J., ... & Broekman, M. L. (2017). The changing health care landscape and implications of organizational ethics on modern medical practice. World Neurosurgery , 102 , 420-424.
Stolt, M., Leino-Kilpi, H., Ruokonen, M., Repo, H., & Suhonen, R. (2018). Ethics interventions for healthcare professionals and students: A systematic review. Nursing ethics , 25 (2), 133-152.
