Mihlali Potso
3674312
Ethics assignment
17 September 2018
I have chose this piece of art or this picture because it relates to my clinical experience on my paediatrics block. Ethics talk about patient confidentiality concerning their personal information ,having consent forms and so forth. It does not dwell on clinicians keeping their confidentiality . But on this case my patient asked for my number. Not because he was going to update me on his well being since I am his student physiotherapist. But he made it clear that he wants to keep in touch and that I should pray for him. Which took me back to the importance of religion of a patient. Because you cannot have conversations about prayer when you don’t even know what they believe and what they don’t believe in.
I was quite hesitant when he asked for my number. I thought to myself is it acceptable in regards to ethics. But another thought came to me. I have looked at this and I have found out that there are disadvantages and advantages in giving away your number to patients. But before anything, are you going to give your number to every one? If no then which patients are you going to give it to them and why them? Firstly, you can’t be there for everyone. For instance, if you were to give your number to a patient and they were to contact you after hours , the therapist shouldn’t be dispensing advice in that circumstance and if the therapist did, the patient wouldn’t want it and that is the first disadvantage. Patients are going to call you anytime and look at this, during the day you are at work and after that you want to spend time with your family. But I once overheard a conversation of a doctor and a patient. The patient asked for his doctors number and emphasized that he must not worry he won’t call him but just having a number of him comforts him.
This has stayed with me vividly since I heard that man saying that it is comfort that knowing his doctor’s cell phone number brought him. In the midst of providing care and hopefully cure our patients, surely comfort is just as important. In day hospitals some patients return when they are not getting better, others don’t and if they don’t we assume they are better. But personally I think it would be simple when you give away your number to your patients especially those who have anxiety. Enabling them to contact us directly increases our bond and promotes understanding and trust, which is professionally gratifying.
As a management tool, cell phones have the potential to become a standard of care in the field. Cell phones may materially offset the cost of chronicity by helping patients avoid preventable events of care in licensed health facilities, something much more economically powerful than attempting to reduce the costs of producing care in those settings. My conclusion is that it is acceptable to give away your contacts to patient but also varies because some patients don’t need it.
3 thoughts on “Mihlali Potso. Ethics assignment”
Hi Mihlali
Thank you for sharing this experience with us.
Comments from guideline:
Guideline Poor Satisfactory Excellent
Content: Does the essay reflect the module content so far? Is it aligned with class discussion? (X satisfactory)
Argument: Are claims made? Are the claims supported with evidence? Are reasons given for claims? (x Poor)
References: Are they present? Correctly formatted? (x Poor)
Writing: Is the writing grammatically correct? Are there spelling mistakes? Does the text flow logically? (X satisfactory)
General comments:
You have quite a few important concepts that links to this topic which is very good as it covers a great deal of content with regards to ethics.
I have found that within your piece you made several statements for example “I have looked at this and I have found out that there are disadvantages and advantages in giving away your number to patients.”, I definitely agree with you but what are these disadvantages and advantages? What do you think is it?
I think that you should choose a side, do research on both the advantage and disadvantages to strengthen your argument.
In addition you mentioned about circumstances where you can give your number to your patient, try to elaborate more on this, find literature on how health professionals with similar experiences handled the situation.
Writing: in your paragraphs when you are conveying these important ideas, try to elaborate more on each one or choose to one you want to focus on – this will help you to maintain a logical thread within your explanation. It will indicate areas you want to emphasize and allow the reader to distinguish between your point of view and the view of others (literature).
I think this a very thought provoking and important matter that you’re bringing under our attention. It is therefore important to focus on literature that can guide you to making the appropriate choices.
I hope this helps a bit.
Good luck.
Hi Mihlali , thank you for sharing.
According to the guidlines
Content: good , This reflected on an ethical issue, however please be clearer about your actions about the situation e.g did you give you number or not , and then proceed to explain how it made you feel.
Argument: Good, I like how you discussed/ battled to conclude if this was ethical or not and how you gave us the perspective of the patient ( with the doctor).
References: poor – please add ref for your picture
Writing: good – make sure to double check for spelling errors and grammar , try to ideas together e.g talk about what happened in the situation , then how it made you feel , then the perspective of the patient.
Comments: overall i liked your piece and my eyes was opened to your experience and i learnt something new.
I hope this helps
Goodluck
Hi Mihlali.
Thank you for you submission. I can clearly see how this scenario relates to ethics. My comments below are according to the rubric guidelines.
Content: I definitely see how this situation relates to ethics and how it can become a “grey area” as to whether it is right or wrong. I would suggest that you include what you did in your experience and then explain the reasons as to why you did or did not give your patient your number.
Argument: I like that you state that there are advantages and disadvantages but I think if you describe them it will improve your argument. I would then also suggest you find literature that speaks about this situation in order to create a better argument. I think your conclusion could be improved by stating whether you think it is acceptable or not. If you are unable to choose one as shown in your conclusion, then say for what reason.
References: I think you should add the reference of where you got your picture from. I would also add references of literature that speaks about considerations to take into account before giving your number to a patient.
Writing: I thought your writing flowed but that you do need to check some spelling and grammar mistakes. The one sentence that stood out for me was: “Say you give the number to patient and they text you after you have two glasses of wine, the therapist shouldn’t be dispensing advice in that circumstance and if the therapist did, the patient wouldn’t want it.” I suggest you try and explain this scenario in a more academic format… My suggestion would be to start by saying: “For instance, if you were to give your number to a patient and they were to contact you after hours … etc”
Generally I thought this was a good topic to choose as it is a situation that many physiotherapists encounter and so if you could show when giving your personal number to patients is appropriate it would really improve your argument.
Thanks
Halinka