Ethics draft
“Life is precious” I’m sure all of us have heard this said at least once in our lives. As healthcare professionals we are beginning to realize just how precious life is and just how much we take for granted.
I chose this piece of art, it is a painting that forms part of a series called Decaying by Valerie Hegarty which was meant to represent neglect of something beautiful or precious.
I chose to focus on the topic of neglect because during my clinical practice so far, I have come across a lot of instances of neglect by other health care professionals which has made me think a lot about my own professional ethics. Not that we had to be told but ethics and professionalism are cornerstones of our interactions with patients. Morals have always been a big thing in my family so for me I never expected that people would need to be taught something like ethics. Yes, the specifics need to be taught but I never imagined that there would be people in this world that would neglect people the way I have experienced so far.
Most of what I have seen has been medical doctors that have either not asked the right questions or only asked questions and not done a physical exam before making assumptions and merely referring to the physio. In these specific cases the problem I identified in my exam was blatantly obvious and if doctor had examined the area of pain and listened to the patient they would have come to the correct diagnosis straight away. In stead they neglected their patient and wasted everyone’s time. A couple of times they missed a serious diagnosis which if not caught could have had serious repercussion for the patient.
When a patient is assigned to you or comes to you for help you take their precious life into your hands. You become responsible for their health and it is your duty to everything in your power to help them. It shocked me that this much neglect happens by people who are meant to have the same ethics as us and it makes me wonder how much empathy these people have, if any. It also makes me realize how important empathy is, empathy for others would make it harder to neglect them.
We have the knowledge and duty to take care of our patients.
2 thoughts on “Neglect”
Negligence and empathy were topics spoken about in class, which means that the essay reflects the module content. Maybe you could add the definition of negligence and empathy, and maybe an article addressing both issues in the medical field?
References should be added to support what you are saying, trust that it will be updated when you submit.
The text flows logically- spelling and grammar is good. Make sure to change “if doctor” to “if the doctor”.
Dear Brynn, I enjoyed reading through your written piece, especially because you included your personal opinions and upbringing.
Content: Your written piece addresses negligence, empathy, professionalism and ethics which were in fact topics which we addressed in class.
Clinical practice: You have incorporated appropriate examples of your own clinical practice experience in this assignment. However, I’d suggest that you be more specific by discussing a particular incident which relates to your written piece. Along with that, I’d suggest that you include brief patient demographics; patients diagnosis; anything that might have happened during your initial- or reassesment; how the patient reacted and felt; how you reacted and felt; how did other health professionals react and feel (if relevant); how did the patients family or friends respond to what was happening?; what your action was in response to all of this.
Art: The piece which you have identified is appropriate as it of high quality, and it is of a painting which appears to be neglected, which links to one off your topics of neglect.
Evidence: I’d suggest that you include evidence to support your assignment (i.e. health professionals that neglect patients; consequences of doctor’s missing clinical signs?). Possibly look for definitions too (e.g definition of ethics, neglect, empathy, etc.).
Language: your reflection is well-written, with few grammatical and spelling errors. It is also rather easy to follow. Good job.
Digital literacy: You have in fact used features of the website, as you have included an image to support your assignment to tell a compelling story.