Introduction
Health and human
service delivery continue to evolve necessitating responsibility and change of
the model, practice and an evaluation of the service providers against the
demands and needs of the clients in the heath care system. the kind of health
care required in the modern society is one where there is participation by the
consumers as well as one that operates in an environment that focuses on cost
reduction, quality improvement and improvement of the general satisfaction of
both consumers and service providers. It thus requires the service providers to
come up with innovative means of providing health care services. Supporters of
professionalism in health care and human service delivery take
professionalization to cover not only solutions to specific professional
requirements or managerial and administrative issues but also the manner in
which the standards of effective health care are achieved (World Health Organization, 2001). This essay examines what it means for health scientists to
act professionally.
Professionalism in health care
The health care
profession is based on a genuine desire to take care of and serve others,
together with a sense of commitment and compassion. Health care service
providers are special individuals. Professionalism in health care and human service
delivery is a process in which considerable specialized knowledge and
experience emanating from physical, biological, and behavioral sciences are
applied to the care of individuals undergoing changes in their usual health
processes and an implementation of the clinical routine as prescribed by an
individual license to work as a health care provider (O'Neill, 2001). Professional health
care providers perform tasks and responsibilities that are defined by the
profession and are founded on acceptable competence and educational preparation
within the structure of restorative and supportive care. The real meaning of
professionalism is the possession of unique and specialized knowledge as well
as the self-imposed commitment to serve the society. Professionals in health
care are expect to reveal a high level of special achievement, altruism and
self-sacrifice in their contact with the rest of the society (Miller, 2010).
Professionals in
health care have unique attributes that set them apart from other
professionals. The profession is characterized by ongoing search for knowledge,
a sense of accountability and responsibility for people’s concerns, preparation
through specialized education, autonomy and altruism (Miller, 2010). They have
to be properly trained in their specialized professions. They need to be
competent in their special areas especially due to the fact that they have a
responsibility for others people’s lives. Required qualification educationally
and in practice is important for health care service delivery. Human service
providers require an understanding of the opportunities, responsibilities and concerns
inherent in the medical practice. Commitment and observance to civic values is
another unique attribute of the profession. Standards and guidelines characterize
medical practice founded on ethical commitments (Thomas, 2004). Professionalism
in health care includes an engagement in scholarly inquiry for the purpose of
identification, evaluation, refinement, and expansion of the body of knowledge.
This reveals a high level of commitment to service to community. Additionally,
the desire to carry on with the learning process is in line with development of
competence and professionalism in health care delivery. Confidentiality is a
very important factor in health are and human service delivery. Patient
confidential information divulged to a health care profession should remain
confidential. A high level of confidentiality in health care reveals a high
level of professionalism (Atwal, 2009).
Quality care and service
Provision of
quality health care is a central focus in the health care system in Australia. As a
result, health care professional organizations and the government have designed
and implemented guidelines to enhance quality of care. Health care should thus
be provided within a safe and secure environment and it should be what is
needed and required by the clients. People seeking health care services should
be treated safely, ethically and within legal guidelines. Ethical and legal
standards are in place to ensure that this is done. There are six main elements
of quality of care: “choice of methods,
information given to clients, technical competence, interpersonal relations,
follow-up and continuity mechanisms, and the appropriate constellation of services”
(O'Neill, 2001:17). In Australia,
public health care initiatives include organized social efforts by the
government and health care service providers together with communities, in
ensuring provision of quality health care (Veatch, Gaylin and Steinbock, 1996).
Ethical practice
The principle of beneficence in healthcare refers to
the acts which are in the best interest of the person in need of care. Another
principle related to this is the principle of non-maleficence which refers to
averting causation of harm in health care service provision. The principle of
autonomy states that individuals should be allowed to come to decisions that
affect their lives (Ridley, 1998). Health care providers are normally
faced with various ethical dilemmas that necessitate rational decisions. The
ability to deal with different situations determines the quality of care in the
health care system. This is the idea behind the application of ethical
principles. The principles are applied differently according to the situation
one is dealing with. As a health care profession one should be able to apply
the right principle to the right situation. Ethical principles define the
standards of professional practice. Code of ethics may therefore work as an
assurance to promotion and protection of the wellbeing of the patients. The Australian Nursing &
Midwifery Council codes are the standards guiding nursing practice in Australia.
Provision of quality health care services is possible where there exist
guidelines and standards in health care provision. The Australian Nursing &
Midwifery Council refers to a professional body that provides the guidelines,
networking, research and administration in health care provision in Australia. Ethical
decisions in the practice are guided by the codes of ethics in the country. The
codes of ethics dictate acts of malpractice and negligence and also how they
should be dealt with Kerridge and Lowe et al. 2005).
Legal frameworks
Australia has
one of the high quality health care systems in the world. Due to the relentless
of the government efforts in professional practice as well as decision making
related to the system, the system rates well internationally, and serves a lot
of people in the society. The continuing quality and safety of health care in
the country is a major concern of the government. The Australian Commission on Safety and
Quality in Health Care is a government-funded aimed at developing a national
tactical framework to guide the efforts towards improvement of safety and quality
of the health care services across the country. The commission has been working
in conjunction with Australia’s
National Agency for Health and Welfare Statistics and Information to ensure
quality and safe service delivery in the country’s health care system. Professional
incompetent or failure to act professionally refers to one or more occurrences
of failure to act according to the established standards to a level which
amounts to gross negligence. The development in technology and the resulting expansion
of roles in the health care system have increased cases of incompetence and
malpractice (Phillips, Davidson, Jackson and Kristjanson, 2006). The Nursing
Practice Act is one of the most important legislation in the practice. The law
of the country dictates acceptable behavior in the health care system.
Negligence and malpractice are commonly utilized interchangeably. There is a
criterion set out by law to prove malpractice in health care: is begins with
duty to the patient, then a breach of the duty, foreseeability for harm as a
result of the breach, and lastly causation. In the case of negligence, there
are two kinds of liability: the real actions omitted or committed and the
resulting harm from the actions. Such acts can result to legal redress, payment
for the harm or termination of employment. In some cases, the professional will
be punished by law and loose his or her job. There are cases where punishment
by law will be omitted but the person is fired, or a stern warning is given and
the person remains in employment. This depends with the extent of the crime and
the dictates of the law regarding it (Lovi and Barr, 2009).
Health scientists’ behavior
Healthcare science
refers to the applied science that deals with the use of science, technology,
math or engineering in the delivery of health care (Bunton and Macdonald,
2002). Health scientists are therefore the scientists who are directly involved
in “diagnosis, treatment, care and support of patients in health care systems”
(Morrone, 2001: 7). Professional associations have come up with different
mechanisms to guide monitor and control the behavior of health scientists. The
professional associations have developed regulations that should be observed by
all health scientists. Professional associations have come up with code of
ethics to ensure that the scientist act ethically and that they make ethical
decisions (Mittelmark, Kickbusch, Rootman, Scriven and Tones, 2008). An example
of such code of ethics is the
Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council codes that are the standards guiding
nursing practice and research in Australia. Such are the
mechanisms that ensure that heath scientists in the area of nursing and
midwifery are guided monitored and controlled. Other professions too have their
own standards that guide practice and research. Besides legislations that guide
health scientists, the government of Australia has a register of courses
(Silverman and Silverman, 2003). The register is aimed at ensuring that health
scientists comply with the requirements for accreditation. This and the
legislations are the legal mechanisms that guide, monitor and control the behavior
of health scientists. Individual health care institutions have also developed
their own standards for the purpose of ensuring that health scientists act and
operate professionally. The behaviors of all health scientists operating in the
country are guided, monitored and controlled by these mechanisms, to maintain
professionalism in the health care system (COI, 2008).
Quality improvement
In the 90s, the
quality focus in health care service delivery changed to continuous quality
improvement. This entails a change in the manner of looking at standards and
accreditation (Kickbusch, 2003). The main agencies involved in the development
of commercial standards for healthcare institutions are the Australian Council
on Healthcare Standards and the Quality Improvement Council. The Australian
Council for Healthcare Standards develops standards that are used predominantly
in institutional settings (Treacy and Brosi, 1996). The Quality Improvement
Council develops standards for community and primary healthcare settings. The
Home and Community Care has also designed its own standards that are used for
agencies that are funded by HACC. The Royal Australian
College of General
Practitioners has come up with commercial standards to be applied in general
practice. Quality standards developed by the International Standards
Organisation represented in country by Standards Australia as the Australian
Business Excellence Framework developed by the Australian Quality Council can
be used across all sectors, though they are commonly used in healthcare. The
frameworks used in the country include: the Australian Business Excellence
Framework and the Service Excellence Framework (Skok, Swerissen and Macmillan,
2000).
Though quality
improvement through accreditation has been given a lot of importance in
research, this process does not in itself ensure improvement of quality in
health care systems. Multidimensional
processes are required for reduction of harm and enhancement of the quality of
health and human services by health scientist (NSW Health, 1999). In a
multidimensional process, a number of quality improvement processes that cover
different components of healthcare services are considered. The processes
consist of activities dealing with the designing of services and programs as
well as the evaluation of the quality and ongoing improvement. Accreditation
agencies encourage health care service providers to take part in quality
improvement processes. There are various innovative approaches that are being
researched by health scientists in the improvement of quality at a service
level (Skok, Swerissen and Macmillan, 2000).
Conclusion
This essay
examines what it means for health scientists to act professionally. Australia has
one of the most effective health care systems in the world. This has generally
been as a result of the commitment of stakeholders in the system to service to
the society. There effective ethical and legal frameworks that guide health
care service delivery in the country. Since the 1990s, the country has shown
its commitment to quality improvement in the healthcare sector. This is evident
in the establishment of quality improvement agencies, as well as development of
standards and frameworks for accreditation and quality improvement. These have
kept the health care system in the country amongst the highest quality health
care systems in the world.
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