There is no question as to the “sense” of morality concerned upon a profession or workplace where each and every activity from what to wear to what to say and how it should be said is ethically guided, this guidance can therefore be seen as the rudimentary basis of professionalism, it is what makes one a professional.
What then are ethics?
Ethics are a set of moral principles that governs a person’s behavior and/or
conduct. It is the beacon shining a light on right and wrong.
Ethics can be divided
into three:
• Meta ethics or analytic ethics which basically tells what morality is;
• Normative ethics which is a practical means of determining a moral course of
action by questioning what actions are right and which are wrong; and
•Descriptive ethics which is the application of normative ethics to cases to
ascertain what is right and wrong.
Importance of ethics.
• Ethics serves to guide behavior on a personal and professional level. If one
is not guided by ethics then moral reasoning will be impossible.
• It also helps to establish credibility both professionally and personally.
Ethics of Medical
Laboratory Science.
Medical Laboratory
Science is an aspect of medicine that deals with the analysis of body fluids
like blood, urine, Cerebrospinal fluid e.t.c and tissues of humans in both
normal and abnormal state for the purpose of treatment diagnosis, treatment, and
research.
Seeing how important
this profession is, it has to have a set of moral principles guiding the
profession and its professionals.
Ethics of medical
laboratory science refers basically to the moral values and judgments that apply
to the practice of medical laboratory science. It encompasses the personal and
corporate standards of behavior expected of medical laboratory scientists in
the delivery of their services.
Characteristics of
Medical Laboratory Science Ethics.
These include;
§
Loyalty: Medical laboratory professionals are loyal to the
profession and abide by its laws, loyal to their colleagues and other healthcare
professionals than to the patients.
§
Autonomy: Medical laboratory professionals should be able to act
independently, have the authority to make decisions and freedom to act
according to the knowledge gained over time.
§
Non-maleficence: Medical laboratory professionals adhering to
ethics will have the interest of patients at heart and treat samples as they
treat lives to avoid irreversible harm.
§
Fairness: Medical laboratory professionals should treat
patients, other colleagues, and the general public with equity and in a fair
manner without being biased.
Components of Medical
Laboratory Science Ethics.
These are the wheels
that drive Medical laboratory science ethics and they are;
§
Honesty: This involves being sincere and truthful while
discharging duties and with other colleagues in a working environment.
§
Integrity: This is basically having strong moral values and
doing the right thing at all times even when there is no one looking. Being
true to oneself and one’s profession is very important in discharging duties as
a professional.
§
Transparency: This implies being open, working in such a way
that people can see your actions either by adhering to standard operating
procedures while working or providing accurate information about a patient from
tests conducted.
§
Accountability: This involves taking responsibility for one’s
action, for a professional to be accountable, he/she already knows the
consequences for the actions for which responsibility is being taken especially
when mistakes arise or when there is misconduct as this is what makes one an
ethical professional.
§
Confidentiality: This is one key part of the ethics ‘engine’
that cannot be overlooked because if it is breached, the trust the patient has
for the medical laboratory professional will be lost. Confidentiality basically
refers to the duty of the professional to keep information about a
patient/client private and revealing such only when given consent. A medical
laboratory professional must always respect people’s wishes to keep certain
information about the private and consent should not be implied at all,
consent given should be explicit i.e the patient/client would have stated in
clear terms either in a written or spoken form that the information is shared.
§
Respect: In the Medical Laboratory Science profession, respect
is not just aimed at the authority, fellow colleagues, and other healthcare
professionals but also guides how patients/clients should be treated as well as
samples, and patient information. Samples should be handled properly as they
are representatives of lives, they should be processed without delay and
results should be dispatched as soon as possible to fill the following laboratory
investigations. Patients should be handled with respect and their privacy
should be respected.
§
Obedience to the law: The Medical Laboratory Science profession
is guided by certain laws that were created and enforced to regulate the the behavior of Medical Laboratory professionals. Laws like adhering to general
safety precautions, standard operating procedures, and above all keeping to the
rules and regulations guiding the profession are to obeyed by the professional.
§
Loyalty: This is also important as a Medical Laboratory
professional should be faithful to the profession and the practice. A
professional should also be loyal to patients/clients, code of conduct of the
profession, fellow colleagues, and other healthcare professionals.
Now, how important is
ethics to medical laboratory science as a professional?
Ethics are important
to medical laboratory scientists because treatment decisions are mostly based
on the laboratory test results and as an ethical professional, these ethics
serves as a code of conducts to be followed in order to maintain good working
relationship in the working environment, treat patients with respect and above
all give credible test results for treatment.
Conclusively, the importance of ethics to the Medical Laboratory Science profession can not be
overstressed as they guides and define how every activity is conducted by
professionals. There is no gainsaying therefore the amount of attention it
should be paid.
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