Does
it pay the company to have strong ethics programs for your
facility and employees? There are studies that indicate that
companies who are willing to put into place, strong ethics
programs, ethics committees and ethics officers, shows that
you care deeply about your customers, employees and can increase
your revenue by 500 percent. So it obviously pays to have
these strong programs in place.
Ethics programs are not one-day seminars or
in-services! It is an ongoing process that begins from the
moment a new employee is interviewed, through new orientation
and training and is incorporated into your daily work life
and personal life.
It can include but certainly not limited to
ongoing training, mentoring programs for new employees, community
volunteer programs, to posted strong work ethic statements.
Sunrise Corporation posts their work ethic statement outside
every elevator. It is not only a reminder to employees but
also to the outside community who visit the facility. Genesis
Corporation posts their Ethics Motto in a beautifully displayed
poster in a glass case that is prominently displayed in their
main center hallways.
Two” principles” of care giving
that we should make clear to our employees and make sure they
understand are:
Autonomy: To allow for the residents right
to choose. To encourage and permit the resident to make informed
choices.
Beneficence: To do what is in the resident’s
best interest.
To do good. To prevent harm. To remove harm.
Here are some ideas to
incorporate into your ethics program that may help your organization
get message across;
° Ongoing Training and In-services. Nothing is
more valuable than training and education.
° Workshops and Role Playing. It is very impacting to
all who participate when provided with an actual situation
and asking the group to come to an ethical decision. This
can be very inspiring and thought provoking.
° Provide ethic resources. Make sure your break rooms
are stocked with valuable information about ethics.
° Annual Ethics Awareness Day. If you do not have one,
begin one.
° Respect others spiritual beliefs, don’t impose
other beliefs which is disrespectful and violates fundamental
democratic values concerning religious freedom. Have cultural
diversity days. Educate everyone about different beliefs and
cultures.
° Praise conduct that exemplifies the core ethical values,
especially when the conduct was not easy.
° Ethics calendars for employees
° Screen Savers with 12 building blocks of trust and ethics
questions.
° Code of Conduct and Ethics posted on your company web
site.
° Email reminders of code of Ethics and Conduct.
° Post table tents with ethics posted on the cafeteria
tables.
° Send out bulletins of ethic related issues.
° Wear Character count pins.
° Seasonal Ethics Bulletins, for example at Christmas,
you send a policy about accepting gifts from vendors.
° Ethics and Character counts posters.
° Opinion surveys of your employees, customers and stockholders.
° Recruit and retain top quality people.
° Focus groups to gauge responses to Ethics Initiatives.
“You may not be able to measure the impact of Ethics
training but you can read how employees view ethics initiatives.”
° Build employee character during hiring, training and
promotion activities.
° Fostering a more satisfying and productive working environment.
° Encourage mentoring-Think of your employees, especially
your younger ones, as people whose personal and work values
will be influenced by what you expect of them and how you
treat them.
° Wallet Size Cards that every employee carries that states
Ethical and
Value Questions on the back of the card. Some questions
could be:
• Is the action legal?
• Does it comply with your values?
• If you do it, will you feel bad?
• How will it look in the newspaper?
• If you know it’s
wrong, don’t do it!
• If you’re not sure, ask.
• Keep asking until you get an answer.
A 2003 survey conducted, indicated that most
long-term care facilities do not have ethics committees. It
is required of all hospitals but not nursing homes. Typically
a nursing home may use the resources of your local county
ethics committee. In the state of NJ the program is called
the NJ Seed Project.
The NJ Seed project
goals are to:
*Strengthen and expand existing regional and long-term care
ethics committees by providing ethics education and case consultation
skills for all participating facilities.
*To act as an educational resource for established ethics
committees
*To create new regional long-term care ethics committees in
NJ.
To enhance and utilize regional ethics committees case consultation
skills by addressing ethical issues at the bedside.
*To provide ongoing education and bedside support to regional
ethics committees to facilitate growth and continuity.
To develop and strengthen policy and consultation functions
of all regional long term care ethics committee in NJ
To conduct long-term care research.
To find a list of NJ Regional Ethics Committees,
please go to
http://www.state.nj.us/health/senior/ombudethics.shtml
or call
NJ office of the Ombudsman NJ Ethics Consortium 609 588 3607.
I had the pleasure of attending the December
training by the NJ Seed Project and The NJ office of the Ombudsman.
I found it to be extremely interesting and professional, packed
with tons of information. I strongly encourage the NJ facilities
to become actively involved in your regional committees. One
of the speakers was Deborah Whisnand. If you are looking for
a dynamic and thought provoking Ethics Speaker, we would highly
recommend her you can contact her through dwhisnand@tmh.tmc.edu
Weather we are talking about Ethical Decisions as it relates
to medical issues or employee misconduct, Ethical Committees
serve a vital role in every facility. A recent survey that
was conducted reported that 44% of employees do not report
misconduct because:
1. Employees believe that no corrective action would be taken.
2. Employees were fearful that reports would not be confidential.
These are two very compelling reasons why ethics committees
need to implementented and education and training ongoing.
There are still facilities that are unclear
of what to do with guardianship, DNR and DNH when faced with
serious life threatening issues.. There are some facilities
whose policies are not to have DNR and DNH in their facilities.
You might have a confused resident who is still able to make
decisions about health care. Or, two family members with conflicting
opinions about inserting a feeding tube. Ethics committees
make sense! If, for no other reason, than the many difficult
medical issues that every facility at one point will have
to address. But remember, if you are going to begin an Ethics
Committee, make sure you have people who will have different
opinions and not necessarily agree with each member.
It is a myth that employees are ethical, so
we don’t need attention to business ethics. “Ethics
programs cultivate strong teamwork and productivity. A critical
component in the work place is openness, integrity and community
which in turn, employees react with motivation and performance.”
We can’t be afraid to say, “your paid to smile,
have a good attitude, to be ethical, to follow our moral code
and report bad behavior!”
Ethics Resources:
Forming a Moral Community: A Resource for Healthcare Ethics
Committees available through The Bioethics Consultation Group
510 486 0626 We strongly recommend this publication.
ISBN: 1-882674-00-6
www.state.nj.us/health/senior/ombudethics.shtml
NJ Ethics Committee
State Initiatives in End of Life Care Publication 816.221.1100
x 237
http://eldercareethicsassociates.com
Elder Care Ethics Associates
www.eoa.org
Ethics Officer Association
www.iit.edu/departments/csep/publicwww/codes/health/html
Code of Ethics for Healthcare
www.ethics.org
www.charactercounts.org
www.qualityfirstnursinghomes.com/pledge.html
Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care Code of Conduct
www.aahpm.org
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
www.dyingwell.org
Dying Well
www.midbio.org
Midwest Bioethics Center
NJ Protection and Advocacy, Inc. 1800 922 7233
Guardianship Services of NJ 1609 292 0055
The NJ Seed Project 856.234.7233
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