Code of Ethics Essay

The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System is built up of a number of hospitals, specialty facilities, and continues care facilities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. According to NewYork-Presbyterian (2014), most System members are academic affiliates of either Weill Cornell Medical College or Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. NewYork-Presbyterian understands the challenges of today’s medicine and makes it their mission to improve their patients’ care by educating the patients researching in their own community. Their belief is that through awareness they may be able to teach the patients the things they need to know to then take responsibility for their own health. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medical College help the NewYork-Presbyterian to improve their knowledge by research and academic capabilities. The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System is always looking for every way possible to improve patient care and give all patients the best possible treatment in their facilities. The organization’s mission statement is â€Å"NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System is dedicated to improving patient care, medical education and research throughout this region of the United States.† (nypsystem, 2014) Therefore this gives them three goals. The three goals are promoting patient care, promoting medical education, and to research medical aspects in order to have improvement for society. These three goals are tied to ethical principles because they are three categories, which will show advancement for the entire healthcare community. An example is improving patient care. This is straightforward because if NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System is able to improve the patient care that will clearly be and advancement for society and healthcare system as a whole. This is because helping out patients is a large part of the healthcare system. Medical education is very important principle ethically. This is because education makes an entire society more prepared for the future. By encouraging medical education it prepares doctors,  nurses, or anyone in the healthcare industry to perform the best they possible can perform. Lastly, research will fundamentally make for a better society because this would lead to advancement in the medical industry, ultimately ethically the correct thing to do. This organization values giving the best quality healthcare to different healthcare facilities in the North East region and they value being able to spread knowledge in order to better the medical community. This is a very important ethical value towards them. This is because it will not only better the current generation, but the next generation will have all the tools in order to better educate the generation after that. Another value that is important to NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System is simply improving the healthcare for anyone in need in this area. This is ethically important because they feel everyone should have the best opportunity to get the best treatment possible. They feel with the tactics that are used they are ethically doing the right thing because of improvement and accesses to healthcare that is being provided. An organizations culture includes experience, philosophy and expectations; very similar to a mission and vision statement. (Thomas Garrett, 2010) An organization’s culture can be presented as strength, muscle and a strong point. The significant importance in how the unity of an organization is demonstrated is closely related to the organization’s culture. Most importantly a company’s culture is derived from visions and policies of the company. Ethical thinking and ethical decision making are inherently a product of making all decisions with the understanding of how it impacts other employee actions and the product produced. There is a direct correlation between culture and ethics. Cultures are based on beliefs, customs and attitude. An individual’s culture and values are established early in life. For example, some cultures allow the behaviors of being stubborn and/or or structured. The mission statement of an organization may lean more toward adaptable, flexible and compliance. If an employee’s personal values and egos interfere with the flow of an organization it can change the overall complexion of making ethical decisions. (Thomas Garrett, 2010) Organizational culture and ethical decision making are both intricate components in running a seamless organization. Employees have their own  cultures and values and employees must make this transition in order to accept the directives of their organization. Ethical thinking means having an awareness of how it impacts individuals and the organization. Ethical decision making begins with the premise of choice and balance. Choice and balance allows individuals to involve individual accountability when making decisions. Working in a team helps with making ethical decisions because the closer the team gets individuality is lost. Most importantly ethics and values impact our social environment which leads to and organizations marketing and success. Decision making involves defining and clarifying the issues. Gathering the information and informally brainstorming becomes a component of making the decision. The code of ethics in any sort of business or organization is arguably the most important key to success. It gives the organization stability and allows the all process to run smoothly. [A code of ethics guides all managerial decisions, creating a common framework upon which all decisions are founded. This can help to create a cohesive understanding of the boundaries within an organization and the standards set for interacting with external stakeholders. A formal, well-communicated code of ethics can also help to protect a company’s reputation and legal standing in the event of a breach of ethics by an individual employee.] (Small Business – Chron.com, 2014) The question is, is it important for an organization’s ethical values to support your own ethical values? From these standards I believe that it is important for the ethical values to be similar, but every organization is going to have a different idea of what is important when it comes to their code of ethics. I feel that it can be beneficial to have more than one viewpoint on ethical values because it can allow a broad spectrum to go off of. It can be compared to the middle section of a problem solving equation. There will be the original solution that seems to be better than the rest, but then there are other solutions that need to be looked at. Having the multiple solutions allows variation and compromise. While the original code of ethics may be working just fine for all involved, but there could be a few tweaks that can be found by comparing and contrasting with another set of ethical values. It wouldn’t be known how well different aspects could work in your own ethical code without testing the waters. The worse that can happen from testing it out would be the realization th at your original ethical values are as good as it gets. NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System was founded to improve the way healthcare is being delivered to the communities. Positive change is continuous and a major part in our quest to provide the best possible treatment for our patients and implement modern medicine in the New York region of the United States. The social responsibility to the community as a healthcare system leader is to develop organization operations that will foster patient well-being and benefits. The culture of the organization is top quality, all decisions and actions stem from our organization morals and professional principles that ensure integrity and fairness in caretaking. These principles empower our planning process and give support to health regulations and laws. The ethical behavior at our facilities is an example of our dedication to public health and safety. Every staff member is required to be aware of guidelines that govern the healthcare industry. Patients can expect treatment to include confidentiality, respect, safety and professionalism. An extension of our responsibilities is making education and knowledge sharing one of our best practices. N.Y. Presbyterian Health Care System takes initiative on improving our knowledge base by drawing upon the research of two medical schools, Weill and Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The social responsibilities to local communities are what shape our planning process to improve every aspect of healthcare. The outcomes are measured against core issues; improving qualities, reducing readmissions, finances, clinical and administration functions, technology, and medical research. The System conducts system quality reviews to distinguish ourselves from other healthcare institutions recognized as high performers. NewYork-Presbyterian produces monthly newsletters and utilizes the world wide web as communication tools to provide the latest information regarding our healthcare system. This allows the community access to the process, initiatives and performance. Effective decisions to positively impact lives has recognized NewYork-Presbyterian as â€Å"One of the most comprehensive health care institutions in the world, the hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.† (â€Å"New York-Presbyterian  Hospital Recognized For Innovative Patient Bedside Tablet†, 2014). The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System is recognized quite a bit in the medical world, mainly because of the stance it has taken in regards to their patients. This particular healthcare system feels that it owes the patients the best care possible and it owes them the ability to be as informed as they can be about their own health. The facilities included in the system feel an ethical pull towards all of their patients, no matter what their own individual beliefs are. They strive to understand and accept each and every one of their patients, no matter how different they are. The community that surrounds the facilities within NewYork-Presbyterian knows that we are socially responsible to them by giving them the knowledge they deserve, not only about our healthcare system but about health and medicine as a whole. The NewYork Healthcare System wants its patients and their community to be aware to their own health and how the medical world around them can change their lives for the b etter. References: NewYork-Presbyterian. (2014). About Us. Retrieved from www.nypsystem.org/about.html. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Recognized for Innovative Patient Bedside Tablet. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.nyp.org/news/hospital/2014-infoweek-elite100.html. Small Business – Chron.com,. (2014). Importance of Creating a Code of Ethics for a Business. Retrieved 24 May 2014, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-creating-code-ethics-business-3094.html The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nypsystem.org/press.html. Thomas M. Garrett, H.W. (2010). Health Care Ethics: Principles and Problems. Prentice Hall.