Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Ethics and Professionalism
Lecture:Ethics and professionalism
Slide content:The Principles in Action Respect for autonomy Informed consent Medical confidentiality Beneficence and nonmaleficence Requires that treatments be designed to maximize benefits and minimize risks Justice The risks of medical research should not fall disproportionally on one group of people 11
Slide notes:The general principles of respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence , and justice have many specific applications in the health care setting. As previously mentioned, informed consent is a major duty that flows from respect for autonomy. Another duty based in respect for autonomy is confidentiality. In general, a person has no obligation to keep the secrets of another. However, in the health care setting, confidentiality is both a legal and an ethical duty. The principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence are closely related. One implication of these duties is that health care treatments must be designed to maximize benefits and minimize risks. The principle of justice obliges the health care profession to ensure that the risks of medical research do not fall disproportionally on one group of people. As previously mentioned, another implication is that health care will be distributed fairly among patients. 11