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Tip of the week: Managing with ethical principles in mind

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, July 30, 2009

All administrators and healthcare professionals should have a solid understanding of the five ethical principles outlined in the following list. Business decisions cannot be separated from the ethical environments within which they are made. Therefore, these important principles become a guiding influence in shaping the decisions we make in long-term care.

• All decisions should follow the first principle of nonmaleficence: that you should do no harm. In healthcare, success in business is found in more than income statements; it is found in the care provided and the enhancement in residents’ lives.
• Beneficence is an important ethical principle, promoting what is good for residents, their family members, and the facility’s workers. Healthcare professionals are bound to doing what is good or best for the individuals served.
• Autonomy refers to the ability to have a level of free choice. It is important for residents to have autonomy when making decisions, as no individual should feel coerced into making a decision.
• Justice refers to treating individuals fairly and according to a level where differences and biases are not interjected. One of the biggest complaints among residents, family members, and even workers is that they are not being treated equally or in a just manner.
• Veracity deals with being truthful. Being less than forthright initiates a culture of apprehension and anxiety. Residents, family members, and workers do not want this.

This is an excerpt from HCPro’s book, The Long-Term Care Administrator’s Field Guide, by Brian Garavaglia, PhD.

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